October 5, 2020

You might be eligible for new benefits

New benefits are now available for Canadians. 

The Canada Recovery Benefit is available for Canadians who aren’t eligible for EI and have lost work due to COVID-19.

The Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit provides support for Canadians who need to take time off work because of they’re ill or needing to self-isolate.

And the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit supports Canadians unable to work because they’re caring for their child or dependents. 

We Conservatives voted in favour of these new temporary measures and will continue to support programs that help Canadians get back on their feet.

 

 

 

Vandals deface Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry monument

This was a senseless and reprehensible crime.

Too often some individuals have taken it upon themselves to vandalize and deface monuments and memorials of our history. 

The men and women of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) have for more than a 100 years served us faithfully and proudly. For someone to deface a monument to them is despicable. 

Anyone with information or dashcam video from that night is asked to contact police using the non-emergency line at (780) 423-4567 or by dialing #377 from a cell phone.

This is Mental Illness Awareness Week

Mental illness is a serious health concern affecting one in five Canadians. 

Together, lets end the stigma around this serious and common medical condition. 

If you or someone you know is having mental health problems, help is available. 

You can contact our local distress line at (780) 482-4357 (HELP).

They offer 24/7 service. 

 

 

 

I’m working for you in Parliament

 

I couldn’t mask my excitement to be one of a handful of Members of Parliament back in the House of Commons at the opening of a new session of Parliament that kicked off on September 23 with the Speech from the Throne. For those who know House of Commons rules about photography I’ll note this photo was taken prior to official proceedings beginning.

Liberals doubling down on their failed Infrastructure Bank

By PAUL WELLS
Maclean’s

The Canada Infrastructure Bank exists in the exquisite realm, prized by all public administrators, where they can make the most extravagant claims about it — Trudeau called it “an incredibly powerful tool to create opportunities, to create jobs, to create growth for the medium and long term in the country by investing in some major projects and taking on and drawing in significant international capital as well” — and it is apparently distasteful to ask for any evidence of the claims.

The Bank’s website is farcical. (Imagine applying for a $10,000 loan with as little information as the Bank gives you about the use it is making of $35 billion. You wouldn’t get far.) Sabia was appointed to replace the former board chair six months ago, with no explanation; the BIC’s CEO was sent packing on the same day, with no replacement. Sabia said a new CEO will be named “in the coming weeks.” Probably that’s even true, although the bank also thought it was about to name a new CEO in August.

The previous CEO, Pierre Lavallée, is believed to have been turfed for failing to land enough projects. He told me last summer that $4 billion in the first year of operation was a pretty good burn rate for an organization that was given a decade to spend $35 billion. Apparently the government disagreed. Now Sabia and the others were meeting reporters to announce that they will spend $10 billion in the next two or three years, which by my math isn’t a great acceleration. Sabia was able to announce more projects than the bank had ever announced before by (a) planning three years at a time and (b) not having a single actual project to announce. One’s heart goes out to the previous guy, who insisted on waiting until he had something to announce before announcing it, and can now be found on LinkedIn. These times call for bolder souls.

“It’s sometimes said that hope isn’t a plan,” Sabia said, a few times, in the manner of a man who has a plan. “This plan is the result of a serious analysis of current and potential projects. In short, this plan is real.” Great! Can we see it? Of course not.

But since hope isn’t a plan, perhaps repetition is. “Those foundations are solid because the analyses have been done,” he said, and “we have done extremely rigorous, disciplined analyses,” and “it’s built on analyses, specific projects, real projects.”

(Read the full article by Paul Wells, Maclean’s here)

Last week’s straw poll results 

Last week I asked folks if they thought the city’s bike lane proposals have gone too far. 

The clear majority of those who responded said the city’s plan had gone too far.  See the results below.    

A big thanks to everyone who took part in the survey.  

 

Have your say

In the wake of the recent vandalism of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry monument and Constable Ezio Faraone memorial in September some members of our community have been calling for more action to prevent these types of crimes.  

Do you think we should have stiffer penalties for those found guilty of vandalizing public monuments?      

Have your say in my new unofficial poll. I’ll publish the results in next week’s e-newsletter. 

 

 

 

 

Latest news on COVID-19 

 

You can find up-to-date information from Alberta Public Health or the Public Health Agency of Canada. 

Alberta Public Health can also be reached by phone at 811.

 

In the news

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I want to hear from you 

I’m always eager to hear from you. Do you have beefs? Bouquets? Suggestions?

Drop me a note at my e-mail address.

Please note our local Edmonton constituency office is currently still open to serve you but it’s by appointment only. We simply ask that you call ahead to book an appointment.

Call or e-mail us and we’ll be happy to serve you.

Thanks so much. Stay healthy!

E-mail:
[email protected]

Phone:
(780) 495-3261

Mail (postage free): 
Kerry Diotte, MP 
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6


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