Wayne’s World – Ottawa
As we approach the 6th month anniversary of the
October 19 federal election I want to provide you with a brief summary of life
in Ottawa as your Member of Parliament. Let’s start with legislation.
Three of the more significant bills have been the
legislation to cut income taxes for the middle class, which for the Liberals
means anyone who earns between $45,000 and $190,000 (we believe it should have
started at $20,000 and have a much lower top end), bringing home our jets from
bombing Daesh/ISIS/ISIL in Syria and instead increasing our armed force’s boots
on the ground for training and intelligence gathering (all 338 MPs believe Daesh
must be defeated but the parties disagree on the best way to do it), and the
2016/2017 federal budget where the Liberals went from a campaign promise of
three years of annual deficits of $10 billion and a balanced budget the 4th
year, to a whopping $29.4 billion deficit for next year followed by significant
deficits for the following 3 years with no balanced budgets in-sight. Adding it
all up the Liberals will add $69.5 billion to our deficit over their 4 year
term IF they meet their revenue targets. This will bring our National debt to
$718.2 billion by 2019/2020! How will future generations pay it down? Will your
day-to-day circumstances improve as our debt grows?
There are 3 pieces of legislation coming up that will change
our way of life in Canada.
By June of this year, as mandated by the Supreme Court of
Canada, parliament needs to pass a bill that guarantees Canadians the right to
Physician Assisted Suicide for adults who are suffering with intolerable pain
from an incurable disease. I believe it needs to be accompanied by enhanced
palliative care.
The second piece of legislation will fundamentally change
how we vote in federal elections, moving from the current first-past-the-post
system to a form of proportional representation (PR). I recently attended a
breakfast meeting on this topic for MPs and Senators and asked the presenter,
who has studied PR around the world, which system he thought worked best. He
suggested we check out Finland. You will be asked for your input as part of
this significant change.
The third bill will be looking to fulfill the Liberal’s
campaign promise to legalize marijuana (our position was to decriminalize it
which could have already been put in place). There are many questions that need
to be answered. What should the legal age be? Will it be sold only through
government stores or will mom and pop businesses be licensed? Who will be
allowed to grow it and under what circumstances? Governments really don’t like
to miss out on taxes so will enforcement against non-licensed growers be
increased as a result of its legalization? The Minister has reaffirmed in
Parliament that all existing laws should be enforced until the new legislation
comes in, as police agencies were wondering what to do in the interim.
Another role for MPs in Ottawa is to meet with individuals
and groups important to our ridings. In the first six months I met with over 50
organizations including CP Rail, BC Fruit Growers, a State Representative from
Montana, BC Building Trades, BC Dairy Association, Canadian Cattleman
Association, Canadian Health Coalition, Canadian Police Association, Canadian
Association of Firefighters, the National Allied Golf Association, Teachers
Institute, Canadian Federation of University Students, Teck Resources, the
Green Budget Coalition and several unions and Ambassadors, to name just a few.
I have also held meetings with, and written letters to, senior government Ministers
and staff to talk about infrastructure and other needs for the riding, and to
discuss concerns related to my critic portfolio – National Parks. I generally leave
my apartment around 7:00am and return around 9:00pm daily. While it is
extremely busy I like the fact that every day is different and every day brings
new challenges and learning!
Every MP works long hours both in their riding and in Ottawa
and are dedicated to their job and to their constituents. When I’m in my office
in the evenings I will often see lights on in other offices long after the
staff have gone home. We recently lost one of our Conservative party MPs, Jim
Hillyer, who exemplified that commitment.
The morning of March 23 I arrived at the Valour Building for
an 8am BC Caucus meeting. There is always tight security at every location
frequented by MPs and Senators but that morning there was more security than
usual with questions being asked about what floor people were heading to. We
found out later that Jim had died in his office overnight. Even though he
wasn’t feeling very well he wanted to be in Ottawa for the presentation of the
budget on March 22. After parliament finished for the day he went to his office
to catch up on work. When he didn’t call home later that night, his wife called
security and asked them to look for him. They found him in his office.
I felt a deep sense of sadness for his wife Livi and his 4
children back home in Medicine Hat, along with an intense feeling of loneliness
– Ottawa can feel a long way from home sometimes. But I was pleased and proud
of what happened later on that Wednesday.
Parliament convened for Question Period at 2pm but instead
of the usual, and unfortunate (my words) acrimony, the Prime Minister and the
leaders of the other 4 parties took the time to praise and thank Jim Hillyer
for who he was and for his dedication to the people of his riding of Medicine
Hat-Cardston-Warner and to Canada. After the last tribute was paid, the House
of Commons shut down for the rest of the day to honour MP Jim Hillyer.
While we as Members of Parliament come from differing
perspectives, in the end we are a family of 338 people who can and do pull
together in time of tragedy. It doesn’t get much more Canadian than that…
Wayne Stetski
Member of Parliament
Kootenay Columbia
