Hello Eglinton-Lawrence!
I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving long weekend that was spent celebrating friends, and family. The world can move pretty quickly, and it is times like this when it is important to step back and reflect on everything we have to be thankful for in our lives, and as Canadians.
Something that I continue to be thankful for is Minister Chrystia Freeland, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and the rest of Team Canada’s hard work, which secured the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) last week. As we have said we made sure not only that we got a deal, but that we got a good deal for Canadians. This agreement reaffirms what our Government, and Canadians have known for years—international trade is not a zero sum game. This deal is good for Americans, Mexicans, and Canadians.
Critically, Chapter 19 stays. This means Canada keeps an independent dispute resolution mechanism. We also gained an exemption for cultural industries which aims at protecting Canadian digital and media content. Furthermore, there will be no auto tariffs on Canada. Thank you to my friend Minister Freeland, and the rest of Team Canada for the tireless determination to get a good deal for Canadians throughout an incredibly tough, complex, and intense set of negotiations. Canadians are better off today because of what they have accomplished.
I will be back in the riding this week for this Parliament’s first constituency week. I always appreciate the opportunity to engage with the community, and I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible.
Applications for the National Housing Co-Investment Fund (NHCF) are on-going! Applicants can apply through two streams of funding, the New Construction Stream or the Repair and Renewal Stream. The NHCF will create 60,000 new affordable homes, repair 240,000 affordable and community homes, create or repair 4,000 shelter spaces for victims, create at least 7,000 new affordable homes, and create at least 2,400 new affordable homes for people with developmental disabilities.
On August 21st, the Canadian Government launched the first ever National Poverty Reduction Strategy. This plan aims to achieve the ambitious but realistic goal of a 20% reduction of poverty in Canada by 2020, and a 50% reduction by 2030. Furthermore, we’re legislating the first ever national poverty line so that we can measure our success. We’ve already taken steps to achieve this goal by improving the CPP for the first time in 20 years, increasing the GIS, CCB, and OAS which will result in about 650,000 Canadians being lifted out of poverty by 2019.
Finally, the first Youth Council meeting will be taking place this Thursday at the Barbra Frum library. We cannot wait to meet all of our new members and welcome back our returning members. If you would still like to apply for the Youth Council you can do so here. We look forward to getting down to business and know that this year will be the most successful council yet.
As always, my constituency office is open and here to help! Feel free to drop by, Monday-Friday from 10am-4pm OR call 416-781-5583
