Report From Parliament

November 05, 2009

In these changing economic times, standing up for families is more important than ever.   I am proud to state that our Conservative Government is delivering on its commitments to families.

We understand that everyone is stretching to make ends meet.  Our Government introduced measures that give families a break, long before the global recession hit, and now Canada’s Economic Action Plan is making sure families get the support they need. We have delivered a new child tax credit, the Universal Child Care Benefit and a break for families that enrol their kids in amateur sports. The marriage penalty in the tax system has been removed. Registered Education Savings Plans have been strengthened, so families can plan better for the future.

All of these measures have helped put Canada and Canadian families in a strong position to weather the storm, and set the stage for a promising future. All these measures reflect our belief that by making life a little easier for families, we can build a stronger Canada.

The Home Renovation Tax Credit (HRTC) is an important foundation of Canada’s Economic Action Plan.  We are lending a hand to families who want to improve their homes as their most significant investment, and at the same time, giving a boost to tradespeople and businesses that produce and sell building materials.  I remind all families and individuals, that in order to be able to take advantage of the HRTC and claim a credit for eligible renovations worth up to $10,000 and receive up to $1350 in tax relief, the deadline is January 27th, 2010.

For the last eight months, our Government has been successfully working on a plan to rollout a vaccine against the H1N1 Flu.  Six million doses were produced ahead of schedule and, as soon as they were available and authorized, they were transferred to the provinces and territories, which are responsible for the delivery of health care, for distribution.

I am pleased to recognize the Healthcare professionals at our local Board of Health for the manner in which they have handled this pandemic. Many of the difficulties associated with this large public undertaking have not been a local problem.
Timing was important. On the advice of the Chief Public Health Officer of the country and the chief medical officers, they advised it was critical for us to complete the normal production of the regular flu vaccine. It was important to complete the regular flu vaccine because every year, on average, 4,000 Canadians die of the regular flu.

    As soon as that production was completed, we started the production for the H1N1 vaccine. We were two weeks early and distributed six million vaccines in the last three weeks to the provinces. We will continue to provide thousands more this week and millions more the following week.
Currently, we have more H1N1 vaccines in Canada on a per capita basis than any other country. There will be sufficient H1N1 vaccines for every Canadian who wants it or needs it by or before Christmas.

I am pleased to report that law-abiding owners of firearms are one step closer to the scrapping of the wasteful liberal long-gun registry, with the 2nd reading vote in favour of abolishing the long-gun registry. Unfortunately, this legislation still must pass another vote in Parliament and navigate the liberal controlled senate to finally become law.  Conservatives were successful in convincing enough members of the opposition to vote with us by contacting their constituents directly, particularly if they came from a rural Riding. We encouraged taxpayers to tell those MPs how they felt about the billion dollars wasted on this program. Thank-you for your patience and your continued support to see this through.

As your Federal Member of Parliament, I am pleased to represent you on a variety of issues. Whether that issue is eliminating the long gun registry, promoting agriculture, international trade, Chalk River Laboratories, the military or jobs in the working forest, I am here to serve you!

As always, if you have any concerns of a federal nature, or just want to share your views with me, please do not hesitate to contact my office.

Office contact Information: Constituency Office of Cheryl Gallant, MP, 84 Isabella St., Pembroke On. K8A 5S5 or call 732-4404. If you are long distance you may call the office toll-free at 1-866-295-7165. There is no postage required when you write your Federal Member of Parliament.