Did You Know...? - Edition 14

October 23, 2009

That… Meagan Big Snake, a talented Siksika hockey player from our constituency, will use her athletic prowess and community spirit in the job of a lifetime this winter — running with the Olympic Flame as its guide and protector to ensure it keeps burning bright on its cross-Canada journey, starting in Victoria, BC on October 30, 2009. As one of 11 youth flame attendants, Meagan Big Snake will help tend to the flame 24 hours a day on her leg of the 45,000-kilometre journey starting December 27. She will also help guide hundreds of the 12,000 torchbearers as they carry the Olympic Flame and pass it along using modes of transportation the relay will use, such as seaplane, dogsled, Haida canoe, zipline, and tall ship. Big Snake will finish her time with the relay team on February 12, 2010 when the Olympic Flame will enter BC Place and light the Olympic Cauldron, signalling the official start of the Games.

That… The five Alberta women who won the right for women to be legally recognized as "persons" have been named honorary senators. The Senate voted this week to bestow the honour posthumously on Emily Murphy, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney (of Claresholm) and Irene Parlby. The women, known as the Famous Five, won a landmark court ruling in 1929 that recognized women as persons and allowed them to sit in the appointed Senate. The idea to name the women honorary senators came from Calgary journalist Catherine Ford. It's the first time the Senate has named anyone an honorary senator.

That…  Health Canada authorized the H1N1 flu vaccine this week. The approval of the H1N1 vaccine will make the vaccine available for every Canadian who needs and wants one. The authorization is the result of an exhaustive review process. Our scientists have reviewed the best available science, clinical trial data, information and evidence about the H1N1 virus and vaccines from Canada and from around the world. We are urging Canadians to get vaccinated because this is the best way to protect our health and the health of our loved ones. We are one of the few countries in the world that has the capacity to vaccinate everyone who needs and wants the H1N1 vaccine. Thanks to years of planning and forward thinking, Canada is well positioned to respond to this pandemic.

That… Prime Minister Stephen Harper welcomed the start of Small Business Week in Canada, which runs from October 18 to 24 and includes events across the country to recognize all that small businesses do for the Canadian economic and social fabric. The measures included in Canada’s Economic Action Plan are tax reductions for small businesses, targeted investments to improve access to financing, increased availability of venture capital, tax credits that encourage the purchase of new equipment and improved access to the Government of Canada’s business services. The Government is working closely with entrepreneurs and business owners to strengthen this foundation and make Canada an innovative and competitive leader on the global stage.

That… Candice Hoeppner, Member of Parliament for Portage—Lisgar, said today that her Private Member’s Bill to end the long-gun registry has the support of various police associations, front-line officers and Chiefs of Police. Bill C-391 is in second reading in the House of Commons and is scheduled for second hour of debate next week.  A vote on the bill is scheduled to take place in the House of Commons on November 4, 2009. Recently, Hoeppner met with Chiefs of Police from major centres to discuss crime and public safety issues.  Many of the officers with whom Hoeppner spoke stated that the resources wasted on the registry would be better applied in measures to fight crime and stop criminals. Delaney Chisholm, New Glasgow Chief of Police, and Chief Rick Hiebert of Winkler Police Service both offered support for Hoeppner’s position, showing that support to end the long-gun registry is far greater than the Presidents of the Canadian Police Association and Canadian Chiefs of Police Association would have the public believe. An RCMP Corporal (who requested to remain anonymous for fear that his statements would affect his job) offered this assessment:  “I certainly do not understand how the CAPC can claim that the registry is a useful tool.  I think their doing so is more a statement of how long it has been since any of them has been in touch with front-line policing.  I have never once in my career found the registry to be a useful in solving a single crime, and can say without a doubt that I have never witnessed the long-gun registry prevent a crime.”

That… the Supreme Court of Canada struck down a Quebec law (Law 104) limiting immigrants' access to English-language schools, a part of Quebec’s language law regarding education. At issue was a 2002 law that prevented a child from attending a non-subsidized English-language elementary school for a year or less, receiving a certificate of eligibility, and then transferring to the English-language public-school system. The Supreme Court of Canada threw out two appeals by the Quebec Government, calling Bill 104 “excessive.” The Quebec Court of Appeal also sided with the parents in August 2007, declaring Bill 104 unconstitutional. Since education is a matter of provincial jurisdiction, it is the provincial government's responsibility.  We respect provincial jurisdiction. The federal government will continue to support, in its jurisdiction, French and English as Canada's official languages.