Ottawa Update
May 31, 2007
In the Riding

John Brockley: I was sad to hear of the passing of John Brockley on May 18. Last month, John won one of only five National Recreational Fisheries Awards for his hard work and dedication to fish. I also knew John through the Morice Land and Resource Management Plan.

Disability Tax Clinics: we're launching our disability tax credits next Monday in Kitimat, and we're in Smithers, Terrace and Rupert the following week. We'll be helping disabled people to see if they qualify for a little-known tax credit that can be as high as $1,400 per year and claimed retroactively for up to ten years.

Canada Summer Jobs: The fallout continues for not-for-profit groups who were not funded through the Conservatives' revamped Canada Summer Jobs program. The badly rolled out changes to the program this year have literally cut off the oxygen supply to thousands of solid groups across the country, many in our riding, who provide necessary recreation, tourism and economic development programs. It's a tough break for students, too, who need the summer work.

Millennium Scholarship winners: congratulations to four young people from the riding who won awards of excellence for the 2007-2008 academic year. This is one of Canada's most prestigious national scholarships and recognizes academics, community service, leadership and innovation.

Our winners are April Dutheil (Queen Charlottes), Ashley Reagan (Hazelton), Emily Stam (Smithers) and Adrianna Waller Jackson (Hagensborg).

Upcoming travel: I'll be at Seafest next weekend, attending several high school graduation ceremonies in June, and in New Aiyansh for the First Nations Summit. I'm travelling between Vancouver and the riding as much as possible on Hawkair because it's important to support local businesses.

Highway 16 closure: I've got my fingers crossed that Highway 16 east of Terrace will re-open soon. There's still an amazing amount of debris on the road from the massive rockslide that closed the highway Monday. Extended road closures take a real bite out of our northern economy and they impact people's ability to access medical care and a whole bunch of other services.

In Ottawa

Foreign takeovers: The NDP is calling on the Conservative government to hold emergency hearings into the recent rash of foreign takeovers of Canadians firms. In the last 22 years, over 11,500 Canadian firms have been taken over by foreign interests, 600 in the last 16 months alone. Between 1985 and 2005, 87% of all foreign takeover acquisitions were approved without review, while each of the remaining 13% were reviewed and approved.

G8+5 Climate Change Dialogue: I'll be in Berlin, Germany next week as one of five parliamentarians representing Canada. We're talking about energy efficiency, carbon capture, the carbon market, adaptation, illegal logging, and actions post-2012. The G8+5 group was launched in February 2006 and draws legislators from the 13 countries together to talk about climate change policy.