Archive for November, 2007

People often ask me: “So, what is going on in Ottawa? I hear about the big news stories, but what other issues is your government working on?” Well, today, I had some visitors in from the Canadian Cancer Society. We discussed a targeted, anti-cancer strategy that the federal government has had over the last few years.

Specifically, we have:

• Implemented the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, a $260 million program to co-ordinate cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
• Established a wait times guarantee for cancer.
• Launched a new tobacco control program which banned smoking in federally regulated work places.
• Published new regulations to ban misleading advertising.
• Set new targets to reduce smoking.
• Created a Chemicals Management Plan and;
• Added $10 million for cancer research.

Taken together, the Conservative government’s Cancer Strategy has been fairly comprehensive. We believe it will pay off for all Canadians both in the short and long term.

This past week, my friend Ken Epp, the Member of Parliament for Edmonton-Sherwood Park, introduced the Unborn Victims of Crime Bill in the House of Commons. This bill would recognize an unborn child as the second victim of any attack against a pregnant woman. It would mean that if someone assaulted a pregnant woman and killed her unborn child, the criminal is liable to imprisonment for life “and to a minimum punishment of imprisonment for a term of 10 years.”

This bill is important for a number of reasons. First and most importantly, it provides protection for an unborn child because a criminal is much more likely to be deterred by a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison than by simple assault charges. Someone who attacks a pregnant woman in order to cause a miscarriage might think twice if he will end up in prison for at least a decade.

Secondly, this bill should protect pregnant women. Research by the Canadian Perinatal Surveillance System showed that women were four times as likely to be abused or face serious violence, including being beaten, choked, threatened with a knife or sexually assaulted. It is disturbing that when women are at their most vulnerable they are most at risk. Hopefully, this bill will provide more protection for women.

I’m Brad Trost, your MP for Saskatoon-Humboldt, I welcome your feedback, contact my offices anytime. You can contact my Saskatoon office at (306) 975-6133.

Even if you don’t follow financial news too closely, I’m sure that most of you have kept up on the rise (and recently slight fall) of our Canadian dollar. Some premiers and business leaders have called on the government to take steps to lower the dollar. While their remarks may have been good for the news cycle, they portray a faulty image of how the value of our dollar is set.

The Canadian dollar is traded on what is known as a floating exchange rate. The easiest way to think of the exchange is a big auction where everyone is bidding to buy Canadian dollars. Some people are bidding on Canadian dollars to buy Canadian goods, some are bidding on Canadian investments, and some are bidding just because they think the bidding will go higher later.

When politicians call for policies that will bring down the dollar they are essentially calling for people to buy less Canadian goods because ultimately people use Canadian dollars to buy Canadian goods. They are encouraging interference in the bidding at the auction, where ultimately we want Canadian goods to sell for as much as possible. (The speculation is somewhat different and is usually short term.)

The dollar will rise and the dollar will fall. Some industries will unfortunately be hurt and some will be helped by the change in the rate. But the Bank of Canada’s monetary policy must be directed to keep inflation low and our money sound. If we, as politicians, interfere with the Bank of Canada, we could make the Canadian dollar look like the currency of a Third World banana republic.

This last Sunday was Remembrance Day, the day when we pay tribute to our veterans.

As the representative of the Federal Government I am often asked to say a few words to honour the sacrifice of those who gave their all for their country. I admit I often struggle to find the right words to pay the proper tribute. How can mere words sufficiently convey the depth of the gift that was given? How can one consecrate the memory of those that went before?

But as Prime Minister Harper said in his speech, ”Not everyone can attend a Remembrance Day Ceremony…, But no matter where we are, at the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, we can pause and reflect on the price paid for the peace and prosperity we enjoy today.”

No greater gift has been given to you and me than the gift given us by those who gave their lives for us. The Scriptures say it best. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 13:15

Thank you to all you veterans from the government and people of Canada. We will never forget, we owe so much.

With the provincial election going on, I hope you didn’t miss the tax cuts that were passed in the House of Commons last Wednesday. Here is just a brief summary of the tax cuts:

• On January 1st the GST will drop to 5% down from 7% just two years earlier.
• The lowest income tax bracket will drop to 15%, and will be retroactive to January 1st 2007. This means that everyone who pays income tax will get a larger rebate in April than they otherwise would.
• The small business tax rate will drop to 11%, allowing small business to reinvest more money in their businesses. This will provide economic growth in our local communities.
• The personal deduction was raised to $9,600. This tax cut is retroactive to January 1st 2007; again increasing your rebate this spring.

These changes are all new, and do not include the various tax credits for workers, parents, and pensioners introduced in the previous Conservative budget. These initiatives will continue to be implemented– and some, such as the Canada Employment Credit (a tax credit for employees) doubled to $1,000 as of January 1st, 2007.

I’m Brad Trost, your MP for Saskatoon-Humboldt. I welcome your feedback, contact my offices anytime. You can contact my office at (306) 975-6133.