{"id":5271,"date":"2014-01-22T14:58:13","date_gmt":"2014-01-22T19:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=5271"},"modified":"2014-01-29T15:44:51","modified_gmt":"2014-01-29T20:44:51","slug":"mp-holds-local-consultation-ahead-of-federal-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/mp-holds-local-consultation-ahead-of-federal-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"MP holds local consultation ahead of Federal Budget"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Chris McGowan<\/strong><\/p>\n

MP Lois Brown hosted her annual pre-budget consultation again this year at the Aurora Cultural Centre last week.<\/p>\n

Hosted every year since 2009, the focus, as always, is to encourage feedback from Aurora and Newmarket residents that she can take back to the Federal Government. <\/p>\n

Brown stated that \u201cThe Canadian economy as a whole is in a very good position globally; we have an AAA credit rating. <\/p>\n

She informed the audience that \u201cCanada has created over one million net new jobs since 2009, most of which are full-time jobs, and are in the IT sector.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also added, \u201cthe average Canadian family of four is paying $3,200 less in taxes than they did in 2006. \u201cWe want to see what we can do to reduce taxes even more than they have been,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are on track to balance our budget.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keeping this in mind, she asked the speakers that evening not to ask for \u201cany big dollars\u201d as the Government is trying to \u201crestrain spending\u201d to get to a balanced budget. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are moving in the right direction, but we still have more to do,\u201d said Ms. Brown. \u201cWe need to do things smarter. We are asking for people to make reasonable suggestions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Questions she asked residents to consider were measures to strengthen the national economy in light of \u201cglobal economic threats\u201d, low-cost of cost-neutral items that would aid economic recovery, more efficient and effective spending, and the encouragement of leadership and private sector growth in the Canadian economy. <\/p>\n

This is what speakers at last week\u2019s meeting called for:<\/p>\n

Judy Marshall, CEO, Aurora Chamber of Commerce<\/em><\/p>\n

Changes to personal taxation: \u201cThe government needs to evaluate all credits, debits, and rebates with the purpose of eliminating those processes that are not achieving their intended purpose,\u201d Marshall said. \u201cThrough research, over one billion dollars could be saved over one year. This would include efficiencies to tax collection.\u201d<\/p>\n

She suggested \u201cthe Government should encourage employment within York Region, particularly in the area of new immigrants to Canada<\/p>\n

Energy: \u201cPlans should be made to modernize Canada\u2019s electricity structure. Given the most recent ice storm, the damage and cost to homeowners and businesses as a result was staggering. This must be made a priority.\u201d
\n
\nJohn Taylor \u2013 Regional Councillor (Newmarket)<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMy ask is very specific\u201d said Taylor. \u201cThe need for Rental Housing in York Region and across Canada needs to be addressed. The cost of living in York Region is rising, and York Region has the lowest rental supply in the GTA. Housing is a key driver for the economy and if people cannot find places to live in York Region, they will choose to live elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrus Lawrence<\/em><\/p>\n

Lawrence suggested \u201cthe government needs to put more programs and money into encouraging entrepreneurship and mentorship as well as start up companies involving high tech in York Region. This would generate jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chris Holbrook<\/em><\/p>\n

Holbrook was concerned about the unemployment figures amongst well- educated young Canadians. \u201cWe need to make sure our young people get jobs, and not just low paying jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Kempten<\/em><\/p>\n

Kempten expressed his concerns about the government\u2019s lack of involvement in environmental issues, such as, fracking for oil, using high-pressured water and chemicals, and suggested that \u201cwe as Canadians have become oil junkies\u201d. He also suggested \u201cthat we need to make conscious decisions about using energy wisely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peggy Stevens<\/em><\/p>\n

The issue she brought forward was the concern for the way the budget is reported. \u201cThere needs to be more clarity and understanding around the use of omnibus accounts.\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MP Lois Brown hosted her annual pre-budget consultation again this year at the Aurora Cultural Centre last week.<\/p>\n

Hosted every year since 2009, the focus, as always, is to encourage feedback from Aurora and Newmarket residents that she can take back to the Federal Government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/2014-01-22-11.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-1n1","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-05 12:53:25","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}