BC must ensure HST will benefit both consumers and small businesses
by Dr. Keith Martin, MP
The announcement that on July 1, 2010 British Columbia’s provincial sales tax (PST) will be merged with the federal goods and services tax (GST) was a bolt out of the blue. This new Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) will be twelve percent and applied to everything we pay GST on, including those things that were previously exempt from PST.
As published in The Nanaimo Daily News
VICTORIA – Why on earth would Prime Minister Stephen Harper choose to take Canada out of the business of producing nuclear isotopes for medical use?
This decision is a veritable repeat of the Avro Arrow fiasco when Canada terminated this project thereby giving up our lead in aeronautical engineering. The loss of jobs, knowledge, and capabilities in this area eliminated Canada from being a world leader in a burgeoning industry.
The same situation is recurring right now due to the abysmal decision Harper made last week.
Canada has been the leading producer of medical isotopes for decades. This is an area of excellence for us that provides life-saving products used in nuclear medicine.
The National Academy of Sciences in the U.S. said last week that the only real solution to deal with the worldwide crisis in access to isotopes is to get Canada’s Maple 1 and 2 nuclear reactors working. Rather than doing this, Harper has chosen to throw up his hands and evict the field, leaving us without a domestic supply of isotopes and abandoning a field that provides high paying jobs.
This is not leadership, this is a national tragedy.
Rather than walking away we should expand our capabilities so that Canada remains the lead producer of these life-saving products. If we don’t, the extraordinary Canadian scientists who work in nuclear medicine will leave the country for other nations that will surely fill the void and become the new leaders in this industry. Why would we allow this to happen?
Dr. Keith Martin,
MP Esquimalt – Juan de Fuca
Health Promotion Critic for the Liberal Party of Canada
Keith Martin introduces C-414 in the House of Commons
OTTAWA – Today at 3 p.m. EDT Dr. Keith Martin introduced Bill C-414, which calls for the introduction of a Canadian Low Income Supplement. This legislation is the legal architecture that will give up to $2000 to those who are the poorest in Canada.
“One of the greatest responsibilities any government has is to help those who are least fortunate in our country. Yet, the great need of the poor has not been matched by any serious actions or consideration on the part of this government. The urgency is even greater during this economic downturn when the number of those in need has risen dramatically,” said Dr. Martin.
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Today Keith, once again, pressured the government to release the Olympic Security costs so that British Columbians know how much they will be on the hook for when the provincial government releases their budget next week. (more…)
With mounting job losses, one of the best ways to stimulate the economy and get money into the hands of people most in need, is through Employment Insurance (EI). (more…)
Thank you to everyone who submitted their recommendations for Budget 2009, I am always impressed by the wealth of ideas that come from our riding.
With respect to a budget vote, the Liberal Party will support the Government’s budget in the House of Commons. This is the right thing to do.
The Conservative government’s management of our economy has been appalling. They have recklessly overspent in previous budgets; engaged in utterly irresponsible tax policies in order to curry favour with the electorate; misled the public on the true economic situation before us (claiming that Canada would see a surplus while knowing that they had already overspent and we were heading into deficit spending); and introduced an economic update last fall that was a purely political document that would do nothing for our economic challenges. Budget 2009 has many important solutions that we asked the government to adopt. We are therefore able to support it. The alternative is to defeat the budget and have an election. This would be irresponsible in our nation’s time of need.
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At the end of January, Parliament will re-open with a new budget from the government. I would like to hear your thoughts on what should be in the budget and how the government can best use your tax dollars to weather the global economic storm.
Please add your comments below.
I’m looking forward to taking your good ideas back to Parliament to fight for the solutions that matter to our community and our country.
- Keith
Our RCMP officers received quite a Christmas present from the Federal government in December.
While everyone was preoccupied with the holidays, just before Christmas, the Treasury Board suddenly decided to roll back a wage agreement that had been negotiated in good faith with the RCMP. (more…)
By: Dr. Keith Martin
Canada is not immune from the economic tsunami that is wrecking havoc around the globe. We are enduring the worst job losses in many years, increasing unemployment, insecurity in the private sector, and the vaporization of people’s savings as the stock market has lost half its value.
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