OTTAWA REPORT

November 20, 2013 · 0 Comments

By Lois Brown, MP
Newmarket-Aurora

Help for the Philippines
Our Government is deeply concerned by the impact of Typhoon Haiyan and has joined international efforts to provide support and assistance to humanitarian relief and stabilization efforts in the Philippines.
Typhoon Haiyan – one of the strongest storms ever recorded – has completely devastated parts of eastern Visayas in the central Philippines. An estimated 11.3 million people have been affected, including 2 million displaced and thousands of lives feared to have been lost.
Canada has established a mechanism to match the donations made by individuals to registered Canadian charities in support of the Filipino people. For every eligible dollar donated, from now until December 9, 2013, the government will set aside one dollar for the Typhoon Haiyan Relief Fund.
In addition to the establishment of the matching funds mechanism, Canada has provided an initial $5 million in support to humanitarian organizations to provide clean water, hygiene, sanitation supplies, food, medicines and shelter. As well, we have deployed our world-renowned Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) to provide critical initial care to those in need. I urge you to donate to a Canadian registered charity, like World Vision or Red Cross, to help the people of the Philippines.

Canada-European Trade Agreement
Last week I met with business, community and municipal leaders to discuss the potential benefits to Newmarket-Aurora of the new Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). This agreement creates greater certainty, transparency and protection for investments; and new opportunities in EU procurement markets. The 28-country EU is the world’s largest economy with more than 500 million consumers and economic activity worth $17 trillion a year.
It has been estimated that the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement could boost the Canadian economy by $12 billion annually, equivalent to creating 80,000 jobs or boosting the average Canadian family’s income by $1,000 a year.
With our region’s strength on manufacturing, business services and innovation-driven industries, Newmarket-Aurora stands to benefit greatly from this outstanding opportunity. The greatest advantage comes from the removal of tariffs from more than 9,000 product lines, giving Canadian products and services a tremendous price advantage over competitors. For example, tariffs will be eliminated on all machinery and equipment, from rates of up to eight percent; medical devices, from rates of up to eight percent; electrical parts and equipment, from rates up to 14 percent and scientific and precision instruments, from rates up to 6.7 percent.
With over 85% of Canada’s auto production exported each year, our automotive manufacturing and auto part industry will see substantial potential under CETA. The EU’s 10% tariff on passenger cars and the 4.5% on average tariff on auto parts will be eliminated. As well, an additional 100,000 passenger vehicles, a twelve-and-a half fold increase from our current average exports, will be accepted by the EU.
CETA also establishes greater transparency in the EU services market, resulting in better, more secure and predictable market access in areas such as professional services (e.g. auditing, architectural and integrated engineering services), environmental services, related scientific and technical consulting services, and services incidental to energy distribution. Canada is one of the largest services exporters in the world and has significant expertise in a wide range of fields. The EU services economy, worth approximately $12.1 trillion in GDP terms in 2012, is among the largest in the world. Temporary entry provisions will facilitate movement between Canada and the EU of intra-company transferees, investors, contract service suppliers, independent professionals and business visitors.
Our knowledge-based economy is growing and CETA will help our innovation-driven industries such as information and communications technology, aerospace, genomics, nanotechnology and photonics, health, energy and sustainable technologies. It will immediately eliminate existing EU tariffs on ICT products such as telecom equipment, software development and services, digital media, web and microelectronics, making these world-class products more competitive and creating the conditions for increased sales.
In addition to tariff removal, the new access secured by CETA in the EU government procurement market will ensure that Canadian ICT companies can bid on and compete for contracts to supply ICT products or software services that include consulting services, design, programming and maintenance services. I look forward to working with the community in the months ahead as we get ready to take advantage of these new opportunities for Newmarket-Aurora.

Bullying Awareness Week
November 17 to 23 is Bullying Awareness Week. The Government of Canada committed in last month’s Speech from the Throne to introduce legislation giving police and prosecutors new tools to effectively address cyberbullying that involves criminal invasion of privacy, intimidation and personal abuse. This legislation will create a new criminal offence prohibiting the non-consensual distribution of intimate images.
Cyberbullying is a complex and emerging problem requiring a modern and coordinated approach, and I look forward to the introduction of this legislation to better protect our children from this heinous crime.

If you would like to contact me on any issue, please call 905-953-7515 or visit my website at www.loisbrown.ca. I look forward to hearing from you.