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| The Federal Budget and an MP's Life |
Editor: Cleland, Paul
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Cam McAlpine introduced someone who needs no introduction, our MP Ron Cannan. Ron has been in parliament for 6 1/2 years and is a former city Councillor. He just got back from Taiwan last night at 11:30 and is suffering a bit of jet lag - but, he doesn't show it! Also celebrated his wife's birthday. Ron is a member of the Sunrise Rotary Club.
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Ron expressed his thanks for our club selecting his daughter to go to Australia on an Adventures in Tourism exchange a couple of years ago. She is now in Australia attending university.
Commenting on the Federal Budget and Canada's economy, he explained how challenging it is given the global economic picture, particularly with what is happening in Greece, Spain, Italy, Ireland, etc. There is extreme uncertainty with the Euro and the eventual outcome of it status will have a significant effect on the world's economies including Canada's. Canada is in the best position of the major powers with the lowest national debt and in the past year 650,000 jobs were created. The debt was paid down by $40 million and the goal is to balance the budget by 2015. We are half way there and the plan is to pay $5.2 billion over three years to reduce the deficit.
What's a typical MP's life like? He heads off to Ottawa on Sundays and he and his wife have a condo there. Some MPs move their whole families to the Capital during their tenure. He heads back to Kelowna Thursday nights or Friday mornings. Mondays on The Hill involve briefings from the committees he's on. These include Government Operations where a current project is to improve the budget process and make it more "user friendly", and International Trade involves working on mid-east agreements and the trad agreements with 27 other countries. A major goal is to remove many of the tariffs that are restrictive to Canadian businesses - we need to level the playing field in this respect.
While in Taiwan he met with the President whose government is a democratic beacon for Asia. They just completed their 13th free election since 1949. There is growing travel from China for middle income Chinese to Taiwan and the President sees real movement towards democracy in China - it's a slow process but it is happening.
Ron is dedicated to working with local mayors in the Central Okanagan and with Victoria to improve the working relationships with the Federal government. One particular area that has improved relates to highway improvements throughout the region. There have also been record Federal transfers to the province and local administrations in the past few years.
Ron said it was a privilege and honor for him to serve the people of the Central Okanagan and he encouraged everyone to dialogue with him on any local/federal issue. He added, "We have so much to be thankful for living in Canada and especially in this Province and this valley." |
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Rotary Club of Kelowna Ogopogo
