Did you know...? - Edition 89

June 24, 2011

Did you know that…Recently, Ministers Aglukkaq and Blaney announced that the Consumer Product Safety Act is now officially law in Canada. The new Act will replace 40-year old legislation with modern laws to protect Canadians from unsafe products. Canadians gave our Government a strong mandate to continue our economic recovery and part of this mandate is to look out for the Canadian consumer. Our Government believes that parents deserve to have confidence in the toys and products they give their children and we now have the power to remove dangerous products from store shelves. For more information: http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/harper-governments-canada-consumer-product-safety-act-comes-into-force-1528989.htm

Did you know that…Recently, the Honourable Lisa Raitt, Canada’s Labour Minister, tabled a Bill entitled Restoring Mail Delivery for Canadians Act. Our Government is concerned about the effect the Canada Post work stoppage is having on Canada’s economic recovery and on Canadians. There is evidence that it is causing serious harm to small businesses across the country. We have received a strong mandate from Canadians to complete and protect our economic recovery which is why we are tabling the Restoring Mail Delivery for Canadians Act to ensure resumption and continuation of postal services.  Our Government is acting to protect the public interest and the country’s economy as a whole. The legislation will also include guiding principles to provide direction to the arbitrator that the desire of the Government is to see no increase in the unfunded portion of Canada Post’s pension plan. Our Government’s desire is to ensure that Canadian taxpayers are not left with the bill for Canada Post’s pension plan. We expect that the arbitrator will carefully consider the affect on taxpayers of any changes to Canada Post’s pension plan.

Did you know that…Recently, Tim Uppal, Minister of State (Democratic Reform) introduced the Senate Reform Act in the House of Commons. Our Government received a strong mandate to reform the Senate, which is why we are taking action to make the Senate more democratic, accountable and representative of Canadians. The legislation will encourage provinces to establish a democratic process that will give Canadians a say in who represents them in the Senate. The legislation will also limit all Senate appointments made after 2008 to one, nine-year, non-renewable term ensuring a steady renewal in the Senate. Our Government is committed to reforming the Senate by limiting the terms of Senators and by giving Canadians a say in who represents them in the Senate. For more information: http://www.democraticreform.gc.ca/index.asp?lang=eng&page=news-comm&doc=news-comm/20110621

Did you know that…Over the past year, an ad hoc committee of Parliamentarians studied thousands of the most sensitive documents pertaining to Canadian-transferred Taliban Prisoners. The Members of Parliament chose what they felt were the most crucial of these redacted documents to be reviewed by an independent Panel of Arbiters—some of Canada's top legal minds. Minister Baird tabled the results in the House of Commons this afternoon. The vast majority of the original redactions were upheld and no credible allegations against the men and women of Canada's military were found. This concludes the committee's process.  Retired Supreme Court justices (including one from the Supreme Court of British Columbia) have confirmed that lawyers within Canada’s public service appropriately applied redactions to these documents without compromising national security, national defence and international relations. The men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces, who are serving our country in Afghanistan, put their lives on the line every day on our behalf.  They demonstrate tremendous professionalism as they conduct their work and we are extremely proud of them. The documents tabled demonstrate one thing: after 12 months and over 12 million of taxpayers’ dollars, no credible allegations against our men and women in uniform were found. The entire process was a waste of taxpayer dollars and there is nothing to be gained by spending millions more on this issue. Our Government will continue to stand up for our men and women in uniform. For more information: http://www.international.gc.ca/media/aff/news-communiques/2011/174.aspx?lang=eng