Huron Expositor, 2014-01-08, Page 22 Huron Expositor • Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Canada continuing to move in the right direction: Lobb
Paul Cluff
Goderich Signal -Star
While Mike Duffy and the Senate
dominated the headlines, the fed-
eral government was busy moving
Canada forward, says Huron -Bruce
MP Ben Lobb.
National media spent an" inordi-
nate amount of time" on the embat-
tled senator and who knew what
about a $90,000 cheque from Nigel
Wright, Lobb said.
Wright, former chief of staff for
prime minster Stephen Harper,
"resigned" and Duffy was sus-
pended for two years without pay,
following an RCMP investigation.
"In totality, we are looking at
$90,000 that was repaid with indi-
vidual money, not taxpayer money,"
Lobb said while discussing the year
in federal politics.
That media focus took away from
the job that government and all
other departments were tasked
with in 2013, Lobb said.
The MP highlighted the federal
government's continued commit-
ment to returning cash to munici-
palities through the gas tax - "a sig-
nificant sum that helps improve
communities" Another $500,000
for infrastructure improvements
was pledged towards the riding, in
addition to funding for festivals and
events.
"All of this has contributed
directly to our communities (in
Huron -Bruce)"
Though healthcare is a provincial
government concern, the Conserv-
atives have continued to increase
transfer payments to provinces
each year since 2006, he noted.
One of the biggest news items for
the Conservatives was finalizing the
Comprehensive Economic and
Trade Agreement (CERT) with the
European Union, negotiated since
2009. More than 90 per cent of
goods entering Europe from Can-
ada that receive tariffs wffi have that
lifted. "If you are a Canadian com-
pany exporting to Europe, you have
become more competitive because
you don't have to pay tariffs"
Lobb said "most agriculture" sec-
tors are excited about the opportu-
nities and most will learn to tweak
their operations to meet demands
of the European market
Opponents, including the CAW,
have called the deal 'damaging' and
that it could result in lost jobs and
impact local economies. Lobb said
it is an initiative thatwill have a pos-
itive impact on Canadians for years
to come.
Pension plan changes a hot
topic
Provincial ministers met with
federal finance minister Jim Fla-
herty recently to try and iron out a
new direction for the Canada Pen-
sion Plan (CPP). There was discus-
sion but no consensus on a new
direction, which left a number of
provincial representatives disap-
pointed, most notably Ontario
Finance minister Charles Sousa,
who suggested Ontario could go it
alone.
Hikes in CPP premiums are a
payroll tax thatwill negatively affect
the job market, Conservatives have
cautioned. But with an increase in
retirements and the average pay-
ment to current retirees below
$7,500, according to media reports,
the provinces wam that something
has to give and soon.
Lobb said the CPP and changes
to it have been discussed before
and after he entered federal politics
in 2008. "The issue for the govern-
ment is it is such a huge program
and to make a change that is fair to
someone who is 20, and someone
who is 65 today...it is a difficult task"
Any changes would have to fair and
equitable for people who have
already paid into it and for those
who will pay into CPP in the future,
he said.
As well, every Canadian is at a
different part in their life when it
comes to education about retire-
ment and financial literacy, he
said.
"Itis not the end of the world that
the federal government and the
provinces didn't agree. It will take
years for changes and years for
them to be implemented"
Lobb suggested it is the wrong
time for the provincial Liberal gov-
emment to be taking on retirement -
planning changes. Though every
Ontarian would like to see some
enhancement, "there is a list 20
long" of priorities that Premier
Kathleen Wynne should address
before pension plans, Lobb said.
"From what I have seen the pro-
posals (on CPP changes) would add
more cost to business that they
can't afford. We have frozen EI rates
for three more years because busi-
nesses can't afford increases"
Lobb said the federal govern-
ment is on track to return a bal-
anced budget by 2015 while contin-
uing to invest in healthcare and
social programs and other initia-
tives to stimulate the economy. 'We
are also shrinking the size of gov-
ernment to make it more nimble
and quick and efficient"
Lobb said when he was first
elected, Canada was at the height of
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the economic downturn. Five years later,
the Canadian economy "is a shining star':
"We have people looking at our banks,
how we trade. We had a delegation from
Vietnam (recently) looking at our educa-
tion system. We are a world leader and
countries are looking at us, they are coming
to us:"
"It will be exciting to get to a balanced
budget and complete the first part of our
mandate in our economic action plan. I
think the next five years will be a whole lot
rosier than the last five"
"It has been a great year for Canada.
There is every indication we are still moving
in the right direction:'
Rogers' outage interrupts New Year's wishes
Whitney South
Huron Expositor
For Rogers and Fido customers across
Canada, the arrival of 2014 brought with it
some unwelcome issues involving text
messaging.
Folks experienced problems during the
early moming hours of Jan. 1, most while
attempting to send out New Year's greet-
ings to friends and family.
Throughout the suspected interruption,
no information was posted on Roger's
website, or their customer service relations
Twitter account, as to whether or not an
outage occurred, let alone a cause.
This did not deter mobile users, how-
ever, who took social media by storm in
order to express their frustration regarding
the interruption through Twitter and Face -
book Some reported the outage as early as
12:30 a.m.
Several Fido customers also reported a
text outage through social media.
When contacted by the QMI Agency via
email on Jan. 2, Rogers' director of public
affairs, Patricia Trott, explained the com-
pany had experienced an SMS outage that
began around midnight on Jan. 1. "We
worked to fix the problem as quickly as
possible and service was back up by 2:30
a.m.," she wrote. "We apologize to our cus-
tomers for any inconvenience. We've been
responding to customers who reached out
to us using social media"
Customers using Apple's iMessage serv-
ice or BBM did not appear to be affected,
since both messaging platforms use a dif-
ferent delivery system. Also, voice calls did
not appear to experience any interruption.
This isn't the first widespread outage
experienced by Rogers' customers. The last
occurred Oct. 9, 2013 when mobile users
Canada -wide experienced a software prob-
lem, which disrupted voice and text mes-
saging services for approximately three
hours.
Two-year term for next warden
QM! Agency
A tie vote went to the status quo -
Huron County council will keep the term
of office of warden at two years.
Council met Dec. 30 to again discuss
the issue. They voted 9-7 at committee of
the whole earlier in the month to essen-
tially nullify their November, 2012 vote
to extend the term to two years, from
one.
That vote didn't carry through and the
8-8 tie means the warden term will
indeed move to two years, CAO Brenda
Orchard said after the meeting.
A majority vote was needed to move it
back to one year.
"Both sides spoke passionately on the
issue," she said.
The two-year post will take effect
when current Warden Joe Steffler's term
ends next December.
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