CALEB NICKERSON
PONTIAC Sept. 25, 2019
In the runup to the federal election on Oct. 21, The Equity will be putting questions to the candidates vying for a seat in Pontiac. Readers can send in their questions to editor@theequity.ca to be printed in upcoming editions. Questions should apply to all candidates and be suitable in scope to be responded to in 200-300 words. Subscribers should keep their eyes out for a series of video interviews with all the candidates that we will be posting on our website.
The first question: What is the single most pressing issue currently facing the Pontiac riding, and if elected, how do you plan to address it?
Mario Belec – People’ s Party
We must ensure that the Pontiac becomes an economic force in the Outaouais region, and this undeniably involves a well-managed immigration, less in quantity, but definitely superior in quality, with the involvement of municipalities and the private sector, everything is possible.
As a first step, I will have to meet with each municipal official and the various entrepreneurs who live the daily labour shortage, we must establish what is the number of immigrants required on the territory.
The various incentives put forward by the People’s Party of Canada, such as increasing the base amount from $12,000 to $15,000 and the 15 per cent fixed tax rate between $ 15,000 and $100,000, will invite the current worker to work overtime and will also encourage the young retirees to return to work part time, which will alleviate staff shortages until the immigrant workforce is adequately trained.
We also want to reduce the small and medium-sized business tax rate from the current 15 per cent to 10 per cent, This will allow entrepreneurs to invest in modernizing their businesses or simply acquire new staff.
Jonathan Carreiro-Benoit – Bloc Quebecois
I will say the lack of investment in our small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Basically, the Bloc wants to launch a deposit for the new producers just to make sure they’re going to have flexibility. We want a retirement fund without taxes and a recurrent monetary envelope to valorize the new producers.
The most important issue in my riding is the Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) that has greatly weakened farmers’ incomes (eggs, milk and the other agricultural industries). The government had announced compensations in the last budget, but turned them into election promises. The other types of SMEs have suffered a lot following the signature of the CUSMA.
I’m pretty sure that the Bloc, when we become the balance of power, will be able to promote our regions, like the Outaouais. But, we know that bureaucracy is a total mess on the federal level. So we want a decentralization of the decisions in our MRCs. For example, the different agricultural industries lost a lot of income following the repatriation and the signature of the CUSMA. I will make sure that they receive compensations to which they have the right.
The Bloc is defending all this in its platform, so there was no doubt that it was the way to go!
Denise Giroux – New Democratic Party
In Pontiac we need high-speed internet service across the riding. But it has been ignored by successive Liberal and Conservative governments for far too long. In Pontiac high-speed internet service is unreliable or non-existent in rural corners of the riding, and cell service is just as bad. We need to support new major investments in fibre broadband infrastructure in our community.
As the MP for Pontiac, I will make sure that broadband and high-speed Internet access is available and affordable. William Amos, the Liberal incumbent, has had four years to improve the situation and yet, he has done nothing.
For teachers, parents and students, these services impact the quality of kid’s education. For health care providers and social services, reliable connections help save people’s lives. For low-income people seeking jobs, access to the internet is crucial as most applications need to be filled online.
It is not only the economically disadvantaged who have little or no access to the internet. It is citizens and businesses in remote and rural areas. Without access to the internet, businesses miss important opportunities to reach new customers and grow their sales.
The NDP is committed to expanding cell coverage and delivering reliable, affordable broadband internet to every community in Canada. It is vital to the economic future of rural Canada and remote communities.
We need to act urgently to close the digital divide now, not ten years from now as the Liberals propose. The NDP is committed to ensuring that our community has access to high-speed internet, now.
In addition, we’ll make sure that providers offer a basic plan for wireless and broadband that is comparable with the affordable plans that are available in other countries.
Dave Blackburn – Conservative Party
My number one local priority is the economy. There are six essential pillars to achieve this:
1- Collaborative work with local actors;
2- Development of a 5-10 year strategic plan with regional areas of specialization;
3- Infrastructure adapted to the needs of the population in 2019;
4- Academic training adapted to the needs of the region;
5- Opening of interprovincial free trade;
6- Increase federal job opportunities in the Public Service of Canada in Pontiac.
By developing a strategic plan, we will be able to target promising and innovative sectors. I believe that we must move beyond the traditional areas that have, in the past, made the region prosper. We should be actively inviting existing companies to establish themselves in our region and do everything possible to encourage the creation of new businesses or industries.
We must also leverage our location, quality of life and reasonably-priced housing to attract advanced Asian and European companies that want to come to Canada.
In addition, the lack of infrastructure that is necessary to attract entrepreneurs and families and to develop commercial markets must be addressed simultaneously. We are in 2019, the Internet and cell phones are necessities in the same way as electricity and the telephone. Moreover, we are a few kilometres from the nation’s national capital but many municipalities in our riding do not have access to high-speed Internet and normal cellular coverage. This is unacceptable.
Our Conservative leader, Andrew Scheer, was unequivocal when he mentioned that high-speed Internet access in rural areas will be a priority for our future government.
Claude Bertrand – Green Party
I see a difference between immediate priorities (which can only be dealt with in a very short time) and those that are not immediate but which can be just as important.
My first immediate priority will be to push for an immediate stop to Canadian Nuclear Laboratories’ project to build an Above Ground Low Intensity Nuclear Waste Storage Dump (to which they assigned the sanitized “Near Surface Disposal Facility” designation)
My second immediate priority is to push for a moratorium on construction and an end to any further parcelling of Gatineau Park.
Once that is done, I will deal with what is the most important priority in the Pontiac: its depressed economy. I will do so by forming a Pontiac Economic Task Force composed of federal, provincial and municipal elected officials, Indigenous leaders as well as industry and business leaders to examine how we must proceed to kick start the Pontiac’s depressed economy. The matter is complex and federal and provincial funds will have to be injected in order to encourage a business and industrial revival in the Pontiac. Restoring local confidence in business and industry is not going to be an easy task, but it will be done; it must be done.
Will Amos – Liberal Party
The MRC Pontiac’s biggest challenges are its low population density and overcoming the 10-year legacy of underinvestment by the Harper government. This has meant that we have fallen behind on high-speed internet infrastructure and health care services. Our region needs a government that is willing to invest in its future. Since 2015, we have been doing just that.
We all know that reliable internet and cell phone coverage are essential to rural economic vitality and, as we saw during the recent floods and tornadoes, to public safety. Over the past two years, I announced over $20 million in high-speed Internet projects across Pontiac, benefitting over 4,200 households in 30 communities. All these projects will be completed by 2021. I recognize that many Pontiac residents still face significant gaps in the reliability and speed of their connection. That is not acceptable. And that is why I introduced a private member’s motion, M-208 calling for expanded digital infrastructure in rural areas. This motion helped secure further federal investments in Internet infrastructure in Budget 2019. There is much more work to be done on this issue. High-speed internet and cell phone connectivity will continue to be a top priority for me. I’m prepared to do that hard work alongside Pontiac constituents as they demand improved digital infrastructure at affordable prices.
One of the first things our Liberal government did was negotiate a new health accord with the provinces and invest $11 billion over ten years to provinces and territories specifically targeted to improve home and community care and mental health and addiction services. A re-elected Liberal government will ensure that every Canadian has access to a family doctor. We will also set clear national standards for access to mental health services so Canadians can get the support they need quickly, when they need it most and continue our investments to make home care and palliative care more available to those who need it. If re-elected, we will continue to invest in our rural regions to ensure that everyone has access to essential services.
