OTTAWA REPORT

May 7, 2013 · 0 Comments

By Lois Brown, MP
Newmarket-Aurora

Economic Action Plan 2013
Last week the Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, introduced the Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1. The Act proposes to legislate key elements of Economic Action Plan 2013 including tax relief for manufacturers and indexing the Gas Tax Fund to offer stable, predictable funding for municipal infrastructure.
Proposed changes to modernize Canada’s General Preferential Tariff Regime, the first in 40 years, will remove import subsidies from certain countries thereby helping to level the playing field for Canadian manufactures.
Other key items in this legislation include a new, temporary First-Time Donor’s Super Credit for first-time claimants of the Charitable Donations Tax Credit, $79 million in annual tariff relief for baby clothing and certain sports equipment, $20 million to the Nature Conservancy of Canada, expanded tax relief for home care services and improvements to veteran’s benefits.

Help for Students
Minister Finley announced welcome news for many Newmarket-Aurora post-secondary students and their families. Beginning with the 2013-2014 school year, low- and middle-income thresholds for Canada Student Grants and part-time Canada Student Loans and Grants will be adjusted to allow more students to qualify for financial assistance. This change will come into effect August 1, 2013. In the 2011–2012 school year approximately 450,000 post-secondary students received $2.4 billion in Canada Student Loans and more than 335,000 students received $647 million in Canada Student Grants. More information on Canada Student Loans and Grants is available at CanLearn.ca.

Polymer Notes Unveiled
New $5 and $10 polymer notes commemorating Canada’s spirit of innovation and achievement have been unveiled. The new $5 polymer note celebrates Canada’s achievements in space by featuring the Canadarm2 and Dextre – Canadian innovations which symbolize Canada’s on-going contribution to the International Space Program.
The new $10 polymer note recognizes the tremendous feat of engineering that linked Canada’s east and west by featuring “The Canadian” train, an iconic symbol of rail travel in Canada. You can view the new polymer notes at Flickr.com/photos/BankofCanada.

Celebrating Rotarians
Last week in Ottawa, as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Cooperation, I was honoured to join Minister Fantino and many of my MP colleagues in celebrating Canadian Rotarians for their recent fundraising success.
$2.27 million was raised by Rotarians across the country for the Pennies and More for Polio initiative which will be matched by our government and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. All three partners will provide their contributions directly to the World Health Organization’s Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
I extend my sincerest thanks to the Aurora Rotary Club and Newmarket Rotary Club for their tremendous efforts locally toward this important cause. Canada will invest $250 million over the next six years to support global polio eradication as part of our commitment in Economic Action Plan 2013 to improve the lives of people in need around the world.

Support for Brain Research
One in three Canadians will face a neurological disorder, injury or psychiatric disease at some point in their lives. Common brain disorders include depression, Alzheimer’s disease, brain tumours, traumatic brain injury and schizophrenia. In 2011, our government committed to match up to $100 million of private contributions to Brain Canada through the Canada Brain Research Fund. Last week the Minister of Health joined Brain Canada and the W. Garfield Weston Foundation to announce grant recipients for a new initiative to improve our understanding of brain disorders. Five research teams, including those from Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and Hospital and Hospital for Sick Children, will research the treatment of brain injury in children, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and age-related macular degeneration.

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