Skip to content

November MP Report

The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.

The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.

Working For You I was in The Pas on November 10 to speak to a grade 9 class at Margaret Barbour Collegiate Institute. I enjoy speaking to groups of students as I feel it is important that they learn how we govern ourselves and what really goes on at the House of Commons. This year, I attended the Remembrance Day service in Flin Flon. I feel very strongly that we honour our veterans and acknowledge the sacrifices they each made on our behalf. I also met with MLA Gerard Jennissen and a constituent to discuss local issues of concern and took the opportunity to visit with other members of the community. As the NDP critic for Canadian Wheat Board, I travelled to Winnipeg to meet with representatives of that organization to get an overview of the organization. During this meeting I was given the opportunity to tour the Canadian Grain Institute, which is world famous and a great asset to our farmers. While in Winnipeg, I was happy to attend Bill Blaikie's 25th Anniversary celebration. Bill is the most senior MP currently sitting in the House of Commons and he has worked tirelessly to represent his constituents and to make Canada a better place to live for a quarter century. I was happy to join a large and diverse group of people to celebrate his dedication and commitment. On November 20 I was at home in Thompson and I, once again, participated in the Annual National Child Day activities. In Ottawa The month of November was a busy one in Ottawa, even with the break for Remembrance Day. I have spent some of my time in Ottawa meeting with groups who are concerned about government policy. One group that I met with was the Railway Association of Canada to discuss sustainable transportation. We came to an agreement that the Liberal government must make funding rail transport a priority. I also met with the NGO Halifax Initiate in my capacity as International Development Critic. We discussed the role of CIDA and Canadian Development initiatives and how these might be made more effective. From this discussion, among others, I decided to submit new legislation to the House of Commons that would provide CIDA with a clear mandate to work towards ending global poverty. Committees are fully up and running now. In Transport Committee we spent much of November looking at the spending estimates for the Department of Transport and setting up the committee agenda concerning what the committee will study and debate in the coming session. I have also had the opportunity to sit on the Agriculture Committee while it deals with the issue of the Farmer Rail Car Coalition. This is an initiative by a group of farmers to purchase rail grain cars and use them to transport grain, cutting down on transportation costs by ending the monopoly that CN currently has on grain transportation. In also joined my NDP colleagues from our Aboriginal Issues Caucus in condemning the recent federal government tax regulation that will claw back a fair amount of funding that is being given to Aboriginal students. The Auditor General has recently pointed out that the gap between Native and non-Native students is growing, and at this point it will take 28 years to reach equality in the number of graduates. It is totally inappropriate that the government is compounding this problem by decreasing funding to those Aboriginal students who choose to continue their education. Finally, on November 23 our NDP Opposition Day Motion to ban trans fats passed in the House of Commons. This means that the government must now work to speed up the development of replacements to process trans fats by enacting regulating, and effectively eliminate trans fats by limiting their content in any food product sold in Canada. The passing of this motion was not only a victory for the NDP and all Canadians who value their health, but also illustrated how Minority Parliament can be effective in creating discussion that helps foster new legislation that is good for all Canadians. The staff at my three constituency offices are always available to assist in federal government matters. Thompson 204-677-1333, Sagkeeng 204-367-5160, The Pas 204-627-1449, or toll free 1-888-260-2231.

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks