Halton Federal Liberal Association

Annual General Meeting and Elections - Dec. 8th - Fogolars Golf Club, Lower Base Line, Milton.

I am excited to report that I was the successful candidate for V.P. Membership.  I am really looking forward to this next phase.

The caliber of the candidate list was excellent - it's a shame that there have to be 'winners' and 'losers'.  It's my fervent hope that we will all come together for the good of the party and its members.

Halton Federal Liberal Association

The HFLA elections to the board are coming up this week - Dec 8.  I'm running for the position of V.P. Membership.

There are a lot of Liberals out there but they're not engaged.  Not surprising given the lack of direction within the party.  We must engage people at the grass roots level - really listen, give them a reason to believe that what they have to say is important.  And that feeling must be funneled up throughout the entire organization.

If you are a Liberal member as of 5pm, December 1, please come out to the Annual General Meeting.
DATE OF MEETING: Thursday, December 8, 2011
STARTING TIME: 7:00 PM
ADDRESS: Fogolars Country Club
2026 Lower Base Line Milton, ON L6M 4E8

THE IMPORTANCE OF UPLOADING ON COMMUNITY WELL-BEING

At a recent Halton Health and Social Services Committee meeting (September 27, 2011), Mayor Rob Burton of Oakville brought attention to the issue of uploading of provincial costs for social services and other services that may be affected by the upcoming Ontario provincial election. Community Development Halton shares these concerns, as we feel that provincial programs should be paid for by a progressive income tax system instead being borne by the regressive property tax base. We share with you an open letter prepared by Mayor Burton that clarifies this issue. We urge all Halton residents to reflect on these concerns.

Joey Edwardh,

Executive Director 

Ontario voters are faced with a very important issue in the Provincial election being held on October 6th. Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak has refused to commit to the 2008 agreement between the provincial government and Ontario municipalities to upload (transfer back to the Province of Ontario) social services and other costs, resulting in significant relief to property taxes. Mr. Hudak told Mayors who complained that he would make changes to wage arbitration rules for essential service providers that would be worth more. 

When Halton Region financial staff did the math, they concluded that there will be an almost $12 million hole in the Region of Halton’s 2012 Budget after the provincial election, if the Progressive Conservatives win and continue to refuse to commit to the 2008 agreement. Every program and service stands to suffer.

Halton taxpayers benefit from uploading ten times as much as they could from any altering of arbitration rules. If uploading stops, we will have higher property taxes or serious program cuts. It’s that simple.

By far the biggest component of the amounts that the current provincial government will upload from Halton taxpayers, $11.7 million a year, is the so-called “pooling” contribution from local taxpayers to the City of Toronto for its social housing and welfare costs. Another $6.1 million a year is for the costs of provincial welfare and court security costs, for a total of $17.8 million a year to be lifted from the burden on Halton property taxpayers. The Oakville share is $7.5 million a year.

In Halton, payrolls that are subject to arbitration are: police, fire, emergency and long term care. Oakville’s share of these payrolls totals $72 million. Bargaining has been coming in lately in a range under 3%. If arbitration changes led to a 1% lower wage increase in all essential services payrolls, Oakville’s share of that change would be worth only $720,000 to our property taxpayers. The uploading of $7.5 million a year from Oakville taxpayers is worth more than ten times this PC arbitration promise.

The Progressive Conservative Leader, Tim Hudak, should match the commitment given by the Liberal, NDP and Green parties to continue the shift of Toronto welfare and social housing costs and provincial welfare and court costs from local property taxpayers to the Province. 

Duncan Foot, president of the Halton Region Police Association, said his members would hate to see local taxpayers caught between a decision to cut essential service workers or raise taxes unacceptably high. “Attacking the pay of essential employees such as police, fire, emergency and long term care workers who have no right to strike is unfair and short-sighted.”

Carmen Santoro, president of the Oakville Professional Fire Fighters Association, said that the arbitration rules already require arbitrators to consider the ability of the municipality to pay salary increases: “The current system, ironically brought in under the Harris government, contains criteria for the arbitrators whereby they must consider the local municipalities ability to pay,” Santoro pointed out.

The PCs, who say they need to find ways of paying for their platform promises, have already proposed a new downloading of costs to municipal property taxes, this time for the cost of hazardous waste disposal, which means a property tax increase of almost $300 million for Ontarians.

Provincial uploading puts those costs more on provincial income taxes, which are shared among many people and businesses and not paid by many seniors and others on low or fixed incomes.

These PC proposals will hurt people who can least afford it. The timetable that the Province of Ontario and Association of Municipalities of Ontario agreed to for uploading has given us a stable, long-term basis out to 2018 for municipal finances as we deal with controlling the costs of growth. The uploading agreement put us on a sound, business-like foundation.

It’s amazing that PC leader Tim Hudak thinks that it’s okay to rip up an agreement with municipalities. Governing is about reliable partnership agreements and fairness for property taxpayers.

Sincerely,

Mayor Rob Burton, BA, MS

Head of Council & CEO

Controversy over tax credit for employers of immigrants

Mr Hudak has decried this as an unfair affirmative action program for “foreign workers”. If McGuinty is pandering to the immigrant vote, who is Hudak pandering to in using the term "foreign workers'?   Mr Hudak’s unbecoming and divisive statements are xenophobic to say the least, and unworthy of a real leader.  

We’re talking about well-educated people, these immigrants who came to Canada; full of professional ambitions and who, in a great many cases, have had to settle for menial work, if any, and a mundane existence.  

In pursuing their careers, they found the doors to full employment in their fields slammed shut once they arrived in Canada: their English isn’t good enough, they don’t have Canadian work experience, etc.  As a member of the board of the Halton Multicultural Council, I’ve heard a great many of their stories.  

Immigrants who have been in Canada five years or less are more than twice as likely to be unemployed than their Canadian-born counterparts. But recent immigrants with master’s degrees or higher are more than five times as likely not to have jobs.  And, recent immigrants are more likely to be harder hit by a recession.  

A board of trade report last year estimated the province loses billions in potential GDP thanks to underutilized skills. 

The Conference Board of Canada is on record as saying that immigration is necessary for Canada’s future economic growth, and that recognizing foreign learning and credentials would add $3.4 to $5.0 billion to the Canadian economy every year . 

John Tory, former leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario and former honorary chair of Career Bridge has said that small and medium sized businesses would benefit from the human assets that immigrants bring and the immense contribution they would make to their growth and success (Jermy, Diane. “The business case for hiring skilled immigrants”. Globe and Mail. September 25, 2009).

The Conservatives propose a modest training program for new Canadians, providing a small tax credit for language training worth up to $400 per employee.   There are already many hundreds of these courses available throughout the province.  But the resistance to hiring goes beyond language.

Until we start “turning off the tap” (reducing immigration), or finding a way to ensure immigrants have Canadian validation before they arrive in Canada, Mr McGuinty’s employment tax incentive program will help.  

It is clear that there is some discrimination among employers in hiring. At least McGuinty is addressing problem.

Doors Open Milton

May 28 - 10am to 4pm. Free event.

Take a step back into Milton's history... Doors Open Milton is your passport into our past.

• Free train rides at the Halton Railway Museum; 
• check out the Old Harrop House; 
• 4 rare old barns at Country Heritage Park; 
• beekeeping at Stonehaven Farms, 
• or the Old Alexander Farmhouse at the Halton Region Museum at Kelso
• take a walk through historic Milton; and lots more.

A brochure is needed at some sites - Download a brochure at www.doorsopenmilton.ca 
Volunteers needed as site Ambassadors.  Qualifies for volunteers hours for students.

Is this government the best we can aspire to?

As a Halton Federal Liberal Candidate, I oppose a PMO's office that has almost total control of Parliament; that keeps the public in the dark - reference the secret border agreement, and untendered contracts,  as with the F-35’s.

I do not approve of lowering corporate taxes ever further even when Canada is already amongst the lowest in the world.  And I especially don't support lowering taxes when we're in a deficit situation.  The lost revenue means having to get the money elsewhere to cover the gap - what programs will suffer as a result? There is no proof anywhere that cutting Corporate taxes creates jobs.  Take a look at Ireland - the situation the people find themselves in there. 

The safety nets of our parents and grandparents are so thin as to be almost transparent.  My immediate action would be to push for the GIS to be a one-time application.  A great may seniors don't realize they must apply annually.

I do not support building super jails - let's do something about the root causes of what puts people in jail. 1 in 10 people live in poverty (3.4million Canadians, 800,000 of whom are children).  The majority of people in prison come from below the poverty line.  Don't interpret the following to suggest in any way that all Canadians living below the poverty line resort to crime but statistics show that 10% of Canadians live below the poverty line but nearly 100% of prison inmates come from that 10%.  All costs considered, Canada spends $147,000 per federal prisoner each year.  It would take $12,000 to $20,000 annually to bring a person above the poverty line.  This would represent a saving to taxpayers of $127,000 per federal prisoner each year!

Many existing programs, instead of helping, hold people down.  A Liberal government will provide the leadership in the federal government that is absent now.

Immigrants.  As a Halton Multicultural Council board member, I've heard stories that would make you weep. The Conservative government has made some needed reforms but they have deprived newcomers of the family support they need to integrate successfully, they've off-loaded responsibility for immigration, and given Canada a harsher, more forbidding face (Toronto Star, Editorial, Sat, Feb 19 – The Conservative Record - Immigrants see a harsher Canada).


Getting the Canadian work experience and accreditation for overseas’ credentials is something I will work toward.

A Conservative MP wrote to his Minister asking that his  government write a letter to the Egyptian government to express outrage at the religious persecution of Egyptian Coptics. 40 Liberals MPs signed his letter in support but he's heard nothing from the minister yet.
Geoffrey Stevens asked in his Opinion column (Guelph Mercury, Mon, Feb 7, 2011):

• Is a Harper government the best that Canadians can aspire to?  
• Are we satisfied with a government that preaches accountability, then (prorogues) Parliament rather than face opposition questions? 
• A government that has no foreign policy beyond what it borrows from Washington?  
• A government that can’t win a United Nations Security Council seat that would have been a slam dunk in years gone by?

I say No, No, No, and No.  We can do better, we must.
I am contesting the Halton Federal Liberal nomination because I care too much to just to sit by. I want better for Canada, Ontario and Halton.  I want Canadians to have hope for the future.

Renewing Democracy in Canada

A Liberal government will renew democracy in Canada by:

    * Making open government our default position for releasing information to the public;
    * Holding a weekly People’s Question Period to allow Canadians to directly engage the prime minister and cabinet ministers with unfiltered questions;
    * Limiting the prime minister’s power to prorogue Parliament;
    * Reducing the size of the Prime Minister’s Office and returning to cabinet government; and
    * Respecting the independence of watchdogs, boards and commissions.

It’s time to fight for our democracy.

Canada and F-35 strike fighters

What the Canadian Government is NOT telling us about the TRUE cost of the F-35 Strike Fighters

http://communities.canada.com/ottawacitizen/blogs/defencewatch/archive/2011/02/21/no-reason-for-canada-to-rush-into-f-35-joint-strike-fighter-purchase-says-u-s-defence-analyst.aspx

--What they will cost, what Canada will get for that money, and whether we should be wating.  There are a lot of unknowns.

Canadian census being dismantled?

Here is an interesting article about the Canadian Census... 


During the course of the Post-1901 Census campaign, then opposition Conservative MPs, including now Prime Minister Stephen Harper voiced support for public access to historic Census records. That support in fact, was part of an official Conservative party program. In the past year however, the Conservative government has taken steps that leaves one wondering whether or not there will be any Census records left to view in 92 years. 

Read the rest of the article: http://globalgenealogy.com/globalgazette/gazgw/gazgw-0128.htm.

Policy prioritizing session

I attended the Liberal Party Policy Prioritization session this weekend.  All Ontario ridings sent representatives - I was one of the Halton delegates.  The event took place at Richmond Hills Sheraton Convention Centre at Hwy 7 & Leslie.

There were 70 resolutions up for debate, discussion, (friendly)amendments, and voting - to keep the policy on the list, or remove it.  At the end of the second day, the delegates had to vote their top 10.

I don't know the results yet as I had to leave before voting was complete.

I mentioned above that friendly amendments were entertained: these policies had all been worked on and for several months beforehand and voted on by the individual ridings.  Policy authors were invited to blend or amend their policies before the session but no amendment could change the intent of the written policy.

Join the riding association. Contributing to the policy-making process is one way that ordinary citizens can get involved in the democratic process.  Consultation and inclusiveness is part of what Liberalism is all about.  I found the whole process very interesting.

I will contest Halton Federal Liberal Nomination

After a great deal of consultation, I have decided to contest the nomination for the Halton Federal Liberal riding.  

Going for the nomination was so far off my radar, I had to take a step back when people began asking me to run after Deborah Gillis stepped aside.  After consultation with many people I trust and respect, I said yes.  It is a huge step but I feel it is the right one. 

What I bring to the job:

• Communications has always been my strong point and will always be a priority.  I’ve had many notes of thanks for the communications I employed over my seven years as a Milton councillor 
• I have been very involved in the community for many years, so I understand the needs of the community.
• I am a hard worker
• I research all sides of an issue because I don’t feel anybody has a lock on all the good ideas.

It's a fact that many people don’t care for the party leader, however, the credibility of the party would be irreparably damaged if the party was to endure yet another leadership change this soon. It’s time for grass roots Liberals to stand up and be counted, to pull the party together, to draw strength from one another.  

I hope to have community support for my nomination, a process which has three steps:

1. Getting the green light as a viable candidate - filling in a 35-page nomination package, which includes getting the signatures of 30 members in good standing, and obtaining police and credit checks. 
2. In concert with the first step: selling Liberal memberships ($10).  The more memberships sold, the more viable the candidate. It’s a matter of getting 20 people to sell 10 memberships, and those people selling 10 memberships, and so on.  Rather like a pyramid, really.
3. The 3^rd step is getting as many of those same people to attend the riding nomination meeting when it’s called – expected to be sooner, rather than later.  

It's purely a numbers game.  I hope to have the support of the community.

Save Our Local Economy

An excellent website is Rurban Fringe, which this week contains a must-read article.

Save Our Local Economy

What are three local businesses you would hate to lose from our community?   Got them in your mind?  Great.  Okay, now commit to spending $50 in those three places each month.  Ta-da!!  You’re saving our local economy!

Sounds simple, doesn’t it?  It is … and all it takes is you.
A growing movement called the 3/50 project is making it even easier for residents to help their communities and invest in local economies.  Not only does this movement provide a reminder that local stores offer local benefits (e.g. unique products, services and donations to local charities, schools, and sports clubs), research shows that dollars spent at home, tend to stay at home.

The tension for residents today is the reality of the economy vs. the need to support local businesses.
On the one hand, people are concerned about continuing to have a job and being able to pay the mortgage … yet on the the other hand, virtually everyone spends $150 on some combination of goods and services.

The question is … where can you spend those dollars so that they will have the most impact?
I’d answer that you should choose to spend your money in those places that you would hate to see disappear … or they may.

The 3/50 project 

3 What three independently owned businesses would you miss if they disappeared?  Stop in.  Say hello.  Pick up something that brings a smile.  Your purchases are what keeps those businesses around.
50 If half the employed population spent $50 each month in locally owned independent businesses, it would generate more than $42.6 billion* in revenue. Imagine the positive impact if 3/4 the population did that!
68 For every $100 spent in locally owned independent stores, $68* returns to the community through taxes, payroll, and other expenditures. If you spend that in a national chain, only $43* stays here.  Spend it online and nothing come home.
*U.S. figures but the results would have a comparative impact on the Canadian economy.

1 The number of people it takes to start the trend...you!
Pick 3.  Spend 50.  Save our local economy.

I support the 3/50 project … and challenge you to do the same.