Report from Parliament's Hill - May 24
By Prince George - Peace River M.P. Jay Hill
Sunday, May 24, 2009 03:56 AM
“The Economy and Justice Reform Hot Topics Around the Riding”
This week is another cherished “break week” in the House of Commons that allows me the welcome opportunity to travel throughout the riding meeting with constituents.
The subject matter of these discussions has been dynamic and wide-ranging. Certainly, the economy is a very important topic and last week’s announcement by our Conservative Government that the $1-billion Community Adjustment Fund (CAF) has been launched has generated a great deal of interest here at home.
CAF will support projects that create jobs and maintain employment in those rural communities hardest hit by the current economic slowdown, such as our forest-dependent towns.
There have also been a number of questions about Employment Insurance given that the opposition parties have been calling for massive changes to EI. When asked about this, I’m fairly blunt…the opposition parties are more than a little late and a whole lot unrealistic on this file.
Our Conservative Government acted to make important, tangible reforms to EI in January as part of our Economic Action Plan. We extended EI benefits by five weeks – more than double the two weeks advocated for by the opposition at that time. We extended EI work-sharing agreements, including retroactive provisions, which specifically benefited forest workers in our region, keeping them on the job and more mills open.
We also froze EI premium rates, invested $60-million to speed-up and enhance EI processing, as well as invested another $1-billion into the Canadian Skills and Transition Strategy to get Canadians re-trained and back to work.
Proposals by the opposition parties, in particular the one by Michael Ignatieff and the Liberals, demands that someone should be eligible to collect EI for a year in every region of Canada (no matter how prosperous its economy) after just 45 days of work. He doesn’t even propose an “end date” so that the measure would end once the economic crisis has passed.
Just do the math. The Liberals may think their so-called generosity will capture them great headlines among recession-weary Canadians, but their EI proposal is impossible and irresponsible. In order to afford it, job-killing EI ‘payroll taxes’ would have to be significantly increased for both workers and small businesses.
The constituents that I have spoken with, even those living in communities hardest hit by mill layoffs, recognize that this is an unaffordable, ‘half-baked’ proposal.
Another issue that continues to arise during conversations with constituents is the need for further justice reform, particularly our proposed changes designed to, among other things, close legal loopholes and glitches increasingly exploited by gangs and organized crime.
Last week, on behalf of Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, I introduced Bill C-31. This legislation would create a new offence to help prevent individuals from fleeing a province or territory in order to avoid prosecution. It also would give peace and public officers greater access to warrants related to search and seizure. Furthermore, it proposes to streamline the identification process in police stations, allowing the fingerprinting and photographing of persons in “lawful” custody who have not yet been charged or convicted of specific offences.
For more information, go to www.parl.gc.ca.
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Posted by: BCRacer on May 24 2009 3:23 PM
thank you for listening Mr Hill,Mr Meisner..