An interview with Steve Clark, Progressive Conservative Candidate for Leeds-Grenville
February 22, 2010
How would you describe the northern part of your riding to an MPP newly arrived in Toronto from Thunder Bay?
Westport is a tremendously unique municipality in Leeds and Grenville. We all covet its waterfront. North Leeds also has a unique commercial component with the high-end shops in Westport and Newboro. When our friends from all over Ontario come to visit, they often drive up to Westport and Newboro for the shopping experience.
But to explain anything about North Leeds you must begin with the people. Last week I walked into Kudrinko’s Grocery Store, and whether they were going to vote for me or not, they welcomed me with a smile. Friday night I dropped in at the Junior B hockey game at the Arena. Westport and Gananoque were in this fiercely competitive game, but the fans were just so nice to me. It was one of the highlights of last week’s campaign, going to Westport and spending an hour or two watching the game. It doesn’t matter whether people are supporting you or not, people in North Leeds are very welcoming. Visitors here can’t help but appreciate this.
In North Leeds you still have this tremendous rural component. I have fond memories of the plowing match. I have advocated for the municipality with regard to the illegal fishing issue. I have worked with Rideau Lakes on some police budget issues. Demographically, forecasts show an aging population in all corners of Leeds-Grenville. I’m committed to work with staff to provide more effective services for our community as needs increase.
Sawmill owner Kris Heideman recently told us at the Kemptville Woodlot Conference that some American mills are dumping red pine on the Toronto market for less than Ontario landowners get for their timber. From your point of view as an aspiring MPP, what are the issues here?
Here is how I would attack the issue:
1. I would meet with the local folks to get the details of this incident.
2. We would use our office as an opportunity to talk to the Minister of Economic Development and Trade to find out what Ontario Government policies are in place which have allowed this to happen.
3. Because it is an American company which is dumping the product, I want to sit down with Gord Brown to see what Federal Government policies are in place that allow this to happen.
In a recent article Senator Runciman ripped Premier McGuinty for his green plan, claiming that Hydro will have to pay out “outrageous” amounts to homeowners with solar panels. He described Mr. McGuinty’s pricing as “the stuff of fantasy”. Are you prepared to stand by Runciman’s hyperbole, or would you care to offer a more balanced view?
I think Mr. Runciman does make a good point. As someone who is CAO of a municipality, I have received information from the Provincial Government promoting the installation of solar panels on our buildings at a rate of return far exceeding market value. The bigger concern that I am hearing at the doors is from seniors and working families regarding the impact on energy costs of the HST and the installation of smart meters.
Your opponent Steve Armstrong claims that manufacturing is doomed in Leeds-Grenville. Care to comment on that?
We have lost a lot of manufacturing jobs in Leeds-Grenville, no question, and I think in the future we need to be aggressive in promoting the idea that Leeds and Grenville is open for business. We need to work together at the municipal level to realize that not every municipality is going to build an industrial park and become a manufacturing hub. We need to find what works, and then promote the daylights out of it.
What I mean by that is that the tourist sector may continue to carry some communities. Others may find growth around cultural pursuits. The Biosphere Project has possibilities. We need to look at more than the traditional manufacturing model to spirit us out of the current downturn.
What issues do you see emerging in Leeds-Grenville over the next ten years (and how are you uniquely suited to face them as our representative in the Ontario Legislature)?
In the next ten years Leeds-Grenville will have to be innovative in the way we run our municipalities and economic development. We need a representative who can forge alliances between groups who may never have worked together before. My example is the International Plowing Match at Crosby in 2007. When I first made the pitch to host it in North Leeds, people told me that it would be tough to get groups who did not know each other to work together on a project of that size. If successful on March 4th, I think I will be able to bring all corners of Leeds-Grenville together to work on projects which will sustain us in the future.
When as a 22 year old I first knocked on doors in Brockville in the mayoral race, people told me I would have to attend the school of hard knocks before I would be ready. But I won. Now at 49 I have the same way of thinking in this campaign that I had 27 years ago. The number one thing I do at the door is I listen. I hear some really innovative ideas. I am excited by the energy I see in our community and I hope I can be the advocate of those big dreams after March 4th.
Property values in Westport are higher than in Smiths Falls.
What’s going on in North Leeds?
Smiths Falls has lost several of their biggest employers. That would probably be the main reason.
Mr. Harper and Mr. McGuinty have jointly created the 13%
Harmonized Sales Tax. Its implementation weighs heavily on voters’
minds. What’s your take on this tax reform?
It is wrong. At a time when Ontarians are being laid off in record numbers and even people that are working are going further in debt, our leaders, Harper and McGuinty increase the people’s cost. To tax hydro, gas and other energy costs is unbelievable. These are items that people have no choice but to purchase. People have to heat their homes and drive to work.
The Progressive Conservatives under Bob Runciman initially supported the HST but then backtracked because of public outrage. Mr. Runciman and the Progressive Conservatives still believe it is a good idea but just not right now because of the economy. That is crazy, if the economy improves, he thinks it is okay to tax the working poor. Despite Mr. Runciman not “following” Mr. Harper’s wishes, he still was rewarded with a Senate job.
The NDP, both federally and provincially, have always stood side by side on this and are against the unfair tax. The least the Liberals and Conservatives could do is exempt items that people have no choice to purchase: hydro, heating fuel, and funerals, to name a few.
Mr. McGuinty’s 50 Million Trees Program sponsors the planting of
trees on privately owned land in Ontario. From your perspective as a
candidate to represent Leeds-Grenville in the Legislature, what do you
think of this and other green-shift plans?
Planting trees is obviously a good idea, but I really do not have enough information on this. I didn’t know that Mr. McGuinty had any green plans.
Should there be a bounty on coyotes?
Generally if coyotes or other wildlife become a problem, the locals (usually farmers) take care of it themselves.
What issues do you see emerging in Leeds-Grenville over the next ten years?
Mostly the lack of good jobs available and our healthcare is continuing to be under funded. Free trade has decimated Leeds-Grenville. As long as the Conservatives and Liberals continue to make new free trade deals, you can bet there will be almost no manufacturing jobs. Without a manufacturing base, Ontario will continue to be a have-not province.
Free trade has eliminated thousands of jobs. It has allowed hundreds of corporations to move to Mexico and the United States. We have to go back to Sir John A. MacDonald’s original rule: if you take natural resources out of Canada and then sell us the finished goods, we are going to put a big tariff on these products. The tariff will be lifted if you build the factories here. That is how all the major US companies came to Canada – Ford, GM, Chrysler, DuPont, Black and Decker, Hersheys, etc.
We had 95% free trade before NAFTA was signed. What this agreement really allowed, was for companies to just leave if they want to. Before, if they left, their products would face a big tariff coming back into Canada. Now, there is no reason for the companies to stay.
We have high waiting times at Brockville General Hospital and high infection rates. Our young people will continue to leave because of the lack of good jobs. Our communities will only be offering low paying service jobs.
Westport grocer Neil Kudrinko has earned the Green Party nomination to run in the March 4th by-election to replace Leeds-Grenville MPP Bob Runciman.
Property values in Westport are higher than in Smiths Falls. What’s going on in North Leeds?
Let’s face it. North Leeds is a great place to live. An increasing number of retirees look to the area around Westport, so increased demand has driven up the value of property.
As a business owner what concerns me about rising market values is the increased assessment which can lead to higher property taxes.
We need to ensure that people who have lived in the community all their lives don’t suddenly find themselves unable to afford their homes. We need also to be careful not to penalize owners for making improvements to the energy efficiency and comfort of their homes.
For example, in order to reduce the environmental impact of our grocery store we have recently spent a half million renovating and retrofitting to reduce the carbon footprint of our business by 26%. This was a long-term investment in local jobs and our ability to service the community. A tax increase because of the improvements would hurt.
We shouldn’t penalize businesses and homeowners through property taxes for making good decisions.
Mr. Harper and Mr. McGuinty have jointly created the 13% Harmonized Sales Tax. Its implementation weighs heavily on voters’ minds. What’s your take on this tax reform?
Quebec and the Maritimes have the HST now. Under its rules businesses can claim exemptions on investments on equipment and supplies that we can’t in Ontario. Ontario Farmers are exempt from the 8% PST but other businesses are not. This puts Ontario businesses at an 8% disadvantage right off the top, so the business community in general is very excited about the HST because it will reduce in some cases their cost of operation.
However, as a small business owner I don’t think the HST will create day-to-day savings that we will be able to pass along to the consumer.
For most people in Ontario the greater concern is the extra 8% on their heating oil bills and services from electricians and contractors. The Green Party position on the HST is that it cedes the province’s power of taxation and puts it into the control of the federal government. We feel as a party that is too important a role to leave up to another level of government.
What are the implications down the road? If we are so tightly integrated with the federal government that we have no leeway, we won’t be able to make changes in how we collect sales taxes without the approval of Ottawa.
Mr. McGuinty’s 50 Million Trees Program sponsors the planting of trees on privately owned land in Ontario. From your perspective as a candidate to represent Leeds-Grenville in the Legislature, what do you think of the plan?
We need to make reforestation of marginal land a priority in this province, but we need to avoid monoculture, the planting of a single species in a field, because we need the mix.
You’ll soon hear more about ALUS, or the Alternative Land Use Services Program in Norfolk County. This new program compensates farmers for taking marginal land out of production so that it can be replanted to extend the Carolinian forest in the area to widen woodlots and improve setbacks along river banks to create natural filtration systems.
It’s important that we make landowners partners in the process, and that we get the mix right.
Should there be a bounty on coyotes?
I like to eat wild game and I help my friends cut up their deer, but I wouldn’t personally go out and participate in a cull of a species I couldn’t eat. The coyote population is currently high, but nature has an interesting way of keeping itself in balance. We’ve all been concerned about fishers over the last few years. The coyote population will correct itself. There’d have to be a lot of science behind a large-scale cull of the coyote population. We shouldn’t leave this one to anecdotal evidence. That said, we must recognize and keep in mind the need for farmers to protect their livestock from predators.
What issues do you see emerging in Leeds-Grenville over the next ten years?
A continuing issue is energy costs and other costs of operating businesses in small towns. We need to make sure that we as a community — that includes municipalities, businesses, and home owners — are making the investments that are going to ensure that we can compete with larger centers in years to come.
All too often a small business ends up subject to regulations that were originally intended for big corporations. We need smart regulations that will differentiate between the two and not unnecessarily penalize small operators who were never the intended target of a regulation like the Nutrient Management Act. Take the example of Forfar Dairy. It had to stop cheese production because it could not comply with the Nutrient Act. And yet the true target of that regulation was not the small producer, but the large industrial scale producer like Parmalat or Kraft. The loss of Forfar cheese production has resulted in one less source of production for local dairy farmers.
The problem with the McGuinty Government’s approach to regulation is that it is focused solely on standardization. It fails to take into account the needs of individual producers.
Serious People Protest Closing of Parliament
January 25, 2010
I remember a few years ago reading an essay about the Internet which claimed that it couldn’t really be used to effect social change because it is just several million people aimlessly tapping away about their individual interests and concerns. The atomization of discourse on the Internet, the way the individual is blinkered by extreme selectivity, makes the kind of group activity which brings about social change impossible. The author concluded that through unfettered freedom of expression, when everyone becomes a spokesman, no one listens to anything and we become helpless.
The essayist speculated that Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech would have had very little effect if it had been posted to the Internet. It gained its impact on American history from the presence of the 300,000 sets of feet on the streets of Washington to march for civil rights on that day in 1963.
Saturday, organized by an Internet Facebook campaign, Canadians walked out in the icy wind to show that they would tolerate no more abuses of their Parliamentary tradition, that vast, dusty, bureaucratic mess of contradictions by which we are governed. Simply put, Canadians decided that they had had enough of Stephen Harper’s chain-saw approach to the hedges of the Canadian legislature.
My son explained it: “With prorogation Stephen Harper sent our representatives home because he couldn’t be bothered with them. By extension he told us that he couldn’t be bothered with us. That’s an insult to Canadians, particularly to conservative voters who expected better.”
The CPC used a Facebook protest against last year’s threatened opposition coalition to back up the argument that, however legal the formation of a coalition was, Canadians were wholeheartedly against it. Harper went so far as to call the opposition leaders “traitors” on no basis other than 150,000 Facebook memberships on an anti-coalition site.
So Facebook numbers were good enough for the CPC War Room to use last year, but this year 220,000 Facebook members, almost half of whom are over 45 and 96% who claim to have voted in the last election, are just mouse-clickers who are not to be taken seriously.
That’s why the feet on the snow-covered streets of our cities Saturday were so important. In Ottawa people tore themselves away from an afternoon Senators game and turned up on Parliament Hill in droves to make it clear that the decision to prorogue the House tipped the apple cart. Canadians of all political stripes are angry at Stephen Harper and they have served notice. Attempts to minimize this grass roots demonstration as “a euchre party in Ottawa” as one Tory commentator called it — even in the face of photographic evidence and RCMP crowd counts of over 3500 people — simply won’t work this time. They just show the basic dishonesty of the Conservative spin machine.
Canadians want competent, conservative leadership, but they don’t want a dictator, and they showed that on Saturday afternoon. A protest organized on the Internet succeeded in putting feet on the ground on Parliament Hill, in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, and many smaller centres across the land. The message was clear: “Stephen Harper, we are your employer. Ignore us at your peril.”
Last one out, turn off the light.
January 8, 2010
Tim Powers, Conservative gadfly and Harper apologist, today challenged the Opposition to contribute t0 a set of rules for prorogation. Here’s one which I posted as a comment on the Globe and Mail blog:
Earlier prorogations were often for as little as one day at the end of a legislative session. How about not leaving Canada without a government for over two months at a critical time? That would be one rule.
Let’s say Canadians would like some say in the imposition of the security measures in airports?
What if there is a major disaster between now and March? Parliament can’t come back in a flash. There is no speaker, even. The whole structure came apart with the act of prorogation.
One man rule, then? Are Canadians prepared to face a crisis with PMO press secretary Dimitri Soudas in charge?
“Last one out, turn off the light!” is not a valid governing principle for my country.
——–
January 8, 2010
The war of words heats up. This morning John Ivison in an article in the National Post (http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2414457)
coined the term herbivores for those individuals expressing dismay on the Internet over the latest prorogation escapade. Call us herbivores if you wish (meaning “cattle”), but our numbers are growing.
John Ivison’s comment may be a story in itself. His fawning profile of Stephen Harper in the National Post was not unexpected. When he called me and others like me “herbivores” because we express our objections online to prorogation, that’s when he crossed the line. No doubt the Harper camp and its adherents view those who oppose their plans as subhuman, but I object to the reference. When those who have seized power view others as objects, can the cattle cars be far behind?
Prorogation: the view from Leeds-Grenville
January 4, 2010
For a column in the Review Mirror Rod Croskery asked candidates in the forthcoming federal election for their views on the recent prorogation of Parliament. At press time responses had arrived from MP Gord Brown and Liberal candidate Marjory Loveys.
MP Gord Brown’s office responded:
Thank you for your email.
On December 30, the Prime Minister announced that the next phase of our Economic Action Plan will be launched, following the Olympic Games, with a Throne Speech on March 3 and a Budget on March 4.
The call for a new Throne Speech to launch the 3rd Session of the current Parliament is routine. The average Parliament comprises three or four sessions (and three or four Throne Speeches) and some Parliaments have had as many as six or seven Throne Speeches.
This is the 105th time in Canada’s history that a new Throne Speech will launch a new session of an existing Parliament.
The economy remains Canadians’ top priority and our top priority and a new Throne Speech allows the government to respond to the country’s economic priorities.
The three economic themes of the new session will be: (1) completing implementation of the Economic Action Plan introduced in the last Session, (2) returning the federal budget to balance once the economy has recovered – which is a priority for Canadians – and (3) building the economy of the future.
As well, the new Parliament allows us to re-introduce important legislation. Since a Bill can not be introduced twice in any Session, a new Session is required to further a government’s mandate.
I trust this answers your questions.
And I hope you and yours had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Mark King
Legislative Assistant
Gord Brown
Member of Parliament
—
Liberal Candidate Majory Loveys:
Rod:
Thanks for the opportunity to comment on the issue of Mr. Harper’s premature prorogation of Parliament.
There are several aspects of Mr. Harper’s decision to prorogue Parliament and close it for over two months that have been much discussed already.
First, it will enable the Conservatives to use their new-found majority in the Senate to gain more control of the Senate, including the Senate Committees. However, if this were the only objective there would be no need for a two-month Parliamentary shut-down.
Second, prorogation will delay many bills forcefully promoted by Mr. Harper as urgent and crucial, for example bills to reduce crime. His past bluster can now be seen as just that.
Third, Parliamentary scrutiny of the Afghanistan Detainee issue will cease. There has been much speculation that this was the real motive behind Mr. Harper’s decision, and I agree with this assessment.
However, in my view the impact of the duration of the closure of Parliament deserves more attention.
This two-months-plus closure will render Parliament mute until March. During this time Parliament will be unable to quickly respond to any emergency that arises, and the budget will be written with no input from the general public or our Members of Parliament.
If events create the need for Parliamentary action – for example to deal with a work stoppage that is causing hardship for Canadians – the process of recalling Parliament, electing a Speaker, etc. will slow any response. For this reason past governments have learned to prorogue Parliament just a few days before it is scheduled to be recalled. Mr. Harper did not take this precaution. He clearly does not care if Parliament is Missing In Action for months on end.
More importantly, before each budget Parliamentary Committees normally hear from a broad cross-section of Canadians and debate the ideas they hear. Their advice is given to the Minister of Finance well before the budget is written.
Mr. Harper’s stated intent is to recall Parliament on March 3 and have a budget the very next day.
Given this timetable, our elected MPs will have no opportunity to advise the Minister of Finance on actions to help us deal with the effects of the recession, deal with the deficit or improve our pensions. And the Canadian public will have no opportunity for their voices to be heard and participate in an open and transparent discussion on their proposals.
This means that Mr. Flaherty will hear the opinions of big companies who can hire lobbyists and the select few he invites to his meetings; those without an “in” with the government or big bucks to hire well-connected lobbyists will be shut out.
It is the unnecessary length of time that Parliament will be closed that will impact Canadians the most. It suggests that Mr. Harper is placing his partisan interests in shutting down uncomfortable questions about his decisions on our Afghan mission ahead of the interests of Canadians. Perhaps he even sees not having to listen to the likes of us about budget proposals as an added bonus.
In leaving Parliament unable to quickly respond to emergencies or to listen to the public and debate their concerns about the recession, the deficit and pensions, he is preventing our elected Members of Parliament from doing their work.
I can only conclude that Mr. Harper sees Parliament as an inconvenience rather than an essential voice of the Canadian people.
Note: These articles made their way to the Brockville Recorder and Times in its Friday, Janary 8, 2010 edition.
An interview with Mary Slade, Leeds-Grenville Green Party candidate
October 26, 2009
Why is the Green Party important?
Neither the Liberals nor the CPC have a real vision for where they want to go. The NDP do, but it’s a very narrow vision. I’ve been a Green Party supporter for a long time. Many of our ideas have been tried in Europe and around the world. The North American model of big business is unsustainable. Everybody has the jargon, but they’re just using it to win debates. It doesn’t translate into meaningful action.
Kim Sytsma is a director of the Ontario Cattleman’s Association. Kim claims that the car industry is 2.1% of the GDP of Ontario while the cattle industry means 1.4% of the GDP for Ontario economy, and yet no one is helping the beef or pork farmers. It’s fascinating that whenever the price of crude oil changes it is reflected immediately at the pumps, but when wholesale beef prices crashed during the mad cow scare, there was no change to beef prices in the stores.
Last election’s Green Shift Plan looked like a good policy, badly sold. Now your party has relabeled it and made it part of your platform.
While there were some communications issues associated with the campaign, the Green Shift Plan was basically sound. It should be. Dion and the Liberals stole it from us.
Why are you running as a candidate?
Over thirty years my husband and I have noticed a decline in the vibrancy of the area. Our young people aren’t staying. Those trying to create small businesses are strangled by government.
The cheese operation at Upper Canada Village was forced to close because it didn’t meet modern requirements. You don’t know that there’s anything wrong there, but the big business model doesn’t allow for traditional methods of production.
I know of local people involved in a small business promotion program, a federally funded, provincial government effort to help small business startups. October 9th of this year a letter came from Toronto which abruptly cut the program. It said they are putting money into the colleges for retraining adults and that was it.
So what’s wrong with the big business model?
Why bail out GM and Chrysler? They have already proven that they are not running companies worth investing in. We’re throwing bad money after bad. It’s a short-term solution to a problem we have known for years and years. We’re maintaining jobs in failing industries and not looking to jobs that provide a viable and sustainable future for Canadians.
Factory farms? I’m against them because they’re dependent upon herbicides, pesticides and antibiotics and are not good for the environment. They are ripe for contamination and economic blips and transportation complications. Small and local is tasty and beautiful.
So what do you think of food in Canada today?
We should produce as much food for our own population as we can. For one, we have a fairly good regulatory system within the country but we’ve had some catastrophes from things coming across the border. For another, we have a problem with obesity right now, and fresh fruit, vegetables and meat all taste good, even if you don’t like brussels spouts. I’m not about to legislate the Doritos-and-Pepsi lunch out of existence, but good food’s not as available as it used to be because of the distances people have to travel to get it and of course the distance the food has to travel, as well.
The papers are full of the locavore movement.
We’re just going back to our roots. It’s a fad which isn’t going to pass. Food is a necessity. You are what you eat. If you want to stay healthy, eat well.
What are your goals for the next six months, and how do you plan to achieve them?
To promote the Green Party from Gananoque to Kemptville, from Cardinal to Westport, and give voters an alternative to the other, more traditional parties.
So the Green Party is a fad?
Oh come on! It’s been a long time coming and it’s not going away. Food sustainability and water quality are ongoing issues. Carbon emissions are a world-wide problem. Social issues like child care, early childhood education and pensions are not going away.
A Green Party proposal is for the elimination of income tax for individuals who earn less than $20,000 per year.
Where is the Green Party on the political spectrum?
It is neither right nor left wing. It is for people and sustainability. It is pro-business where business is good for the country. It is pro-people because people are our future.
So is a vote for you a vote for a Stephen Harper majority?
No. A vote for me is a vote to have a representative in Ottawa to espouse policies which are not simply short-term solutions to problems created by falling polling numbers.
What we really need is proportional representation. It’s a fantastic idea because the first-past-the-post-system we have now does not allow a voice for new ideas in parliament.
Instead we have bad ideas like the current wave of stimulus spending which has simply given Stephen Harper a bottomless war chest with which to play politics. That’s not good government. It’s the Conservatives becoming the Liberals, throwing away money.
Harper broke promises to veterans and their families. His flip-flops on clear and open government, income trusts, and four-year terms show that this man is not a conservative.
An Intervew with federal NDP candidate Steve Armstrong
September 13, 2009
Steve Armstrong, federal NDP candidate for Leeds and Grenville, took time this week to answer a series of interview questions for this column:
How have things changed since the last federal election?
Things have become significantly worse. Just in August of this year 22,000 jobs disappeared in Canada. In the last year we have lost hundreds of jobs in Leeds-Grenville. Manufacturing is the backbone of the Ontario economy, and it is dying.
Gord Brown boasts of $20 million of stimulus money coming to Leeds-Grenville, but ridings in Canada have received an average of $147 million dollars each! And Leeds-Grenville is one of the most hard-hit areas in the country.
Waiting times at Brockville General Hospital (BGH) are horribly long. I recently had to take a friend to Kingston because there was a seven-hour wait at BGH. At BGH the staff are doing their best, but they need more resources.
Why is it vitally important that the NDP form the next government of Canada?
The three most important programs we have in Canada were all because of the NDP – Medicare, Canada Pension Plan and EI. We look after people, especially in bad times.
The NDP is the only party that has as its central goal the helping of Canadian citizens. Our policies are for Canadians, not rich corporations and banks. We have job creation ideas that will add employment in every city and town. Check out our energy retro-fit programs, for example.
The Conservatives and Liberals have destroyed our manufacturing in Canada. They have let our health care standards drop substantially. Free trade with Mexico only benefits corporations. It allows companies to move out of Canada (ie. Hershey’s and Black and Decker). Since the last election Stephen Harper without parliamentary authority has signed free-trade deals with eight countries including Columbia, Chile, and Panama. How can this help Canadians trying to find jobs?
In the 1990’s the Liberal government cut $29 billion out of Medicare. That is the main reason why our health care system in Canada is hurting today. The NDP will restore proper funding for our public health care. This will mean shorter lineups and more doctors and nurses.
People ask where we can we get the money? Somehow Harper found billions of dollars for his stimulus plan to help bail out foreign corporations, so I think we can “find” the money. But there is an easier way: get out of Afghanistan! We spend $200 million dollars a month there! How about spending that money on Canadians?
Does Canada need another general election at this time?
People did not want an election last year. When Harper started to think about it in late August of 2008, 68% of the people said they did not want an election but he called one anyway, breaking his own law.
Everybody seems to have a policy on EI at the moment. Care to comment?
We need to increase the pay! In today’s dollars the maximum EI weekly benefit in 1996 was $607. Today the same benefit is $447! That is crazy! All of the politicians have received substantial increases in pay to cover their costs, so why have they reduced benefits to people who have lost their jobs? Even the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and the big banks say the EI benefit should be increased. The current NDP bill C-280 calls for an increase in weekly pay of about $50. That is still too low but they are trying to get the bill supported and passed by all parties. The final reading is on Sept. 28, 2009.
What is one local issue in this campaign?
We are one of only three ridings in Canada without a MRI machine! That is crazy. Every hospital needs one of these. Stop the shipment of money to Afghanistan for one day and we could have an MRI in Brockville.
Why should the voters of Leeds and Grenville choose you as their Member of Parliament?
I have been fighting for worker’s rights and the protection of our Medicare system since 1995. I am not a parachute candidate. I was born and raised in Brockville. The only time I left Brockville was to go to university. I have an honours B.A. in History. I know what mistakes the Canadian government has made in the past and understand what we must do to avoid repeating them.
I am a factory worker. I know what it is like to have a feeling you may lose your job. I work at Invista and they have announced layoffs of up to 240 people. I may be one of them.
The policies of the Liberals and Conservatives have decimated our great country. What future do we have? I know what needs to be fixed – just look at the past to see what has worked before. Get rid of the free trade policies with Third World countries, renegotiate with the US, get out of Afghanistan, create jobs when needed (like the New Deal in the 1930’s), and bring Medicare and EI coverage back to where it used to be.
Life imitates art
September 1, 2009
Ex-M.P.P. Michael Bryant seems to have found himself in a situation which belongs only in a Tom Wolfe novel. It reads much better in a book than on the front page of the Globe. In the book we could sit back and enjoy Wolfe’s wit as the plot of Bonfire of the Vanities unfolded. As news, the same plot is no longer fun. Toronto doesn’t need to be New York, and Canada doesn’t need U.S.-style sensationalism. We’re at our best when our streets are safe and dull, and our “masters of the universe” are best quietly envied and loathed from afar.
the Walnut Diary 