Archive for February, 2009

Here are some odds and ends you may have missed in the news during the past week.

Federal government infrastructure grants to communities in Saskatchewan with populations of less than 100,000 were announced last Friday in Regina. Mayors of communities which received the grants were notified; public announcements will take place shortly. This is only the first round of announcements for funding of municipal improvement projects.

February 15th was Flag Day, and I had the privilege of speaking at the Diefenbaker Canada Centre about what the Canada flag symbolizes to me. Democracy, freedom, the rule of law and simply the best country in the world to live in all come to mind when I see our Maple Leaf. Go out and wave our flag.

Humboldt made it to the final round of the Hockeyville competition. It is very important that you get out and vote for Humboldt to be Canada’s Hockeyville for 2009. So, to all my readers in places like Wakaw, Saskatoon, Aberdeen, etc–Cast your vote for Humboldt, Canada’s next Hockeyville. Vote online: www.cbcsports.ca/hockeyville or call toll free: 1-866-533-8066.

You can also SMS text message your vote by texting the words “Vote” and “Humboldt” to 222111. The voting period to determine the winning community is from Feb. 28th at 11 p.m. ET to March 4th at 11:59:59 p.m. ET. Voting is unlimited.

I’m Brad Trost your Member of Parliament in Saskatoon-Humboldt. You can call my office in Saskatoon at 975-6133 or drop by our two offices to visit: Saskatoon Monday-Friday or Humboldt Tuesday and Wednesday. I always appreciate your feedback.

The battle to repeal the Long Gun Registry has begun again.  This past week, a Bill to repeal the registry was introduced by Yorkton-Melville MP Garry Breitkreuz.  (I am one of the seconders of this bill.)

Getting Breitkreuz`s Private Members’ Bill passed into law will not be an easy fight. Repealing the gun registry will require 154 votes and the Conservatives have only 143 members. We need the votes of at least 11 Opposition MPs. Preliminary vote counts indicate that we have more than the 11 votes necessary.  However, even if we get 154 votes in favour of Breitkreuz’s bill, there will be a fierce fight in committee and later in the Senate to have the legislation made into law.

So what can you do to help repeal the long gun registry?  There are a number of things that will help:

Write our Saskatchewan senators (3 Liberals and 3 Conservatives). Liberal senators may be prepared to vote against their leadership on this issue because senators are usually freer from the party line in their voting habits. The vote in the Senate over the repeal of the long gun registry will be very tight because neither the Liberals nor the Conservatives will have a majority in the Senate by this autumn.

Write to the three English Canadian party leaders.  Write to the Prime Minister so he keeps the repeal of the gun registry a priority. Write to Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff and demand that he give his caucus a free vote on MP Breitkreuz’s Private Members’ Bill to repeal the long gun registry.  Write to NDP leader Jack Layton and demand that he give his MPs a free vote too.  Both Layton and Ignatieff support the long-gun registry. Both leaders would probably bring it back if they were in government. So, we need a handful of their MPs to vote their consciences and support the Conservative legislation.

The battle against the long-gun registry has been going on for over 10 years now. Billions of your tax dollars have been wasted. Law abiding hunters and firearms owners are being treated as potential criminals in the process.   Victory is in sight, however. We can win on this legislation and we can win in this Parliament.

Please contact the Party leaders and Senators mentioned above. Help get the long gun registry repealed. My staff will have all the contact information if you need assistance.

I’m Brad Trost your Member of Parliament in Saskatoon-Humboldt.  You can call my office in Saskatoon at 975-6133 or drop by our two offices to visit: Saskatoon Monday-Friday or Humboldt Tuesday and Wednesday.  I always appreciate your feedback.

Sometimes things seem so silly it is almost impossible to believe they are true.

For many years in Cornwall, letter carriers would greet each other with the expression: “Merci Seigneur pour la belle journee” (Thank you Lord for the beautiful day) –a friendly greeting reflecting the francophone culture of the region.

Now both Canada Post management and apparently, the postal workers union, have forbidden the greeting.  Why was this greeting forbidden? Someone complained to the Human Rights Commission because others were Thanking the Lord before starting their rounds to deliver mail. Canada Post has cracked down on an innocent greeting.

This leads me to wonder what other greetings could be stopped because of fear of the Human Rights Commission and their thought police mentality.

Merry Christmas would probably have to be banned (people who don’t celebrate Christmas would be hurt), bless you (after a sneeze) could be considered an intrusion into someone’s personal beliefs. Perhaps even Happy Birthday could be banned because it promotes ageism by reminding people of their age.

As ridiculous as my suggestions are, the arbitrary exercise of power by our Human Rights Commissions is a serious matter. People are being harassed over trivial issues.  If Canadians cannot exchange simple greetings without incurring the wrath of power hungry bureaucrats, we need to change the human rights legislation.  Canada’s Human Rights Commissions do not protect the rights of most Canadians. I for one think if major reforms cannot be accomplished, we need to consider abolishing these parodies of justice.

I’m Brad Trost your Member of Parliament in Saskatoon-Humboldt.  You can call my office in Saskatoon at 975-6133 or drop by our two offices to visit: Saskatoon Monday-Friday or Humboldt, Tuesday and Wednesday. I always appreciate your feedback.

Well, the budget came down this week and people all across the country are doing the math and seeing how it affects them, so I thought I would run through some of the exciting highlights that might impact you.

Income taxes are going down.   The basic income tax deduction is going up to $10,320 from $9,600; the 15% bracket is going up from $37,885 to $40,726 and the 22% bracket from $75,769 to $81,452.

-Child tax benefits have been increased for low income families.

-For Seniors, the Age Credit has been increased by$1,000.

-A new Home Renovation Tax Credit (up to $1,350) on eligible expenditures up to $10,000.

-$500 million for agriculture, plus $50 million to increase slaughterhouse capacity.

-Employment Insurance payroll taxes will be frozen for the next two years.

While there were many good things in the budget, I had urged the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister to make cuts in some departments if they were going to increase spending in any other areas. This was not done and is one of the reasons that the budget deficit for this year is projected to be as much as $33.7 billion, an amount that will take real disciple to bring back into surplus.

Canadians know from past experience how hard it is to stop deficit spending. All of the opposition parties (Liberal, Bloc and the NDP) are criticizing the government for not spending more in the budget. However, I believe it is important for Conservative MPs, such as myself, to keep pressing for fiscal prudence even if it is not popular. Taxpayers (both now and in the future) should have their money treated with great respect and value should be found in every dollar.

I’m Brad Trost your Member of Parliament in Saskatoon-Humboldt.  You can call my office in Saskatoon at 975-6133 or drop by our two offices to visit: Saskatoon Monday-Friday or Humboldt, Tuesday and Wednesday.  I always appreciate your feedback.