$1-Billion to Help Laid-off Workers
and Vulnerable Communities
January 16th, 2008
McBride. Prince George. Mackenzie. Chetwynd. Fort Nelson.
It’s hard to find a community in Prince George-Peace
River that hasn’t been hit hard by the bleak situation
in the forest industry.
As if the economic conditions aren’t bad enough,
flood and fire further threatened forest workers in Prince
George this week thanks to the ice-jammed Nechako River
and a fire at the PG Pulp Mill.
Just as government can’t stop flood and fire, we
can’t control the current volatility in the global
marketplace that’s placing economic hardship on
forest workers and their families. No, the Government
of Canada does NOT control or set the value of the Canadian
dollar. We can’t do anything about the dramatic
downturn in the United States housing market and we absolutely
CANNOT subsidize private industry with tax dollars. Even
the opposition parties, for all their partisan rhetoric,
acknowledge this.
I fully recognize that this blunt yet honest statement
is not at all helpful when you face losing your home,
uprooting your family or seeing your town’s very
existence in peril. However, I want to assure our local
forest communities that our Conservative Government has
been working for months, well before we promised to take
action in the Speech from the Throne last fall, to find
a way to save these communities with jobs and hope for
the future. And now these efforts have a value: $1-BILLION!
Last week, the Prime Minister personally unveiled the
new National Community Development Trust which is designed
to help provinces assist communities and workers suffering
economic hardship arising from current global market turmoil.
For forest workers and communities in our riding, it’s
good news. The Trust is primarily aimed at one-industry
towns facing major downturns, or communities plagued by
chronic high unemployment, or regions hit by layoffs across
a range of sectors.
Most of us recognize the irony in the fact that while
our regional oil and gas sector still faces some labour
shortages, the forest sector suffers through layoffs and
shut-downs. This trust will support job training to create
opportunities in sectors facing labour shortages, along
with community transition plans that foster economic development
and create new jobs, and infrastructure development that
stimulates economic diversification.
The details surrounding the agreement between the federal
government and the Province of British Columbia have yet
to be finalized, but this NEW money is financed through
a one-time allocation from this year’s surplus and,
therefore, yes… it’s dependent upon passage
of the budget this Spring. That’s the way our democratic
government works – you need Parliamentary budget
authority to spend tax dollars. It is money from this
year that must be approved by Parliament, before March
31st to ensure the fund is in place for the coming years.
Western Premiers were optimistic about the assistance
this Trust will provide. In Ontario and Quebec the words
“not significant” and “insufficient”
were actually used to describe the $1-billion initiative!
In fact it is clear to anyone who can count that this
is the most ‘significant’ of responses that
the federal government could possibly provide and it will
benefit families and entire communities in our riding,
and across our country.
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