News

Dear Constituents

Thank you for taking the time to contact me regarding the second annual prorogation of Parliament by the Conservative government. I share your outrage at what is essentially a suspension of Canadian democracy for two months: the people’s elected representatives have been barred from meeting and holding the appointed (minority) government to account.

Dear Constituents,

As I reflect on my fourth year as Victoria’s MP, I remain very proud of our community – full of resilience and constructive energy in response to the challenges we face.

2009 has been unusually difficult for many among us. The recession hit hard at our jobs and our savings. The province responded with cutbacks to community groups and the HST. The federal stimulus plan was used more for partisan photo ops and bailing out obsolescent industries, and not enough on building a more sustainable or equitable new economy.

Many of my constituents took the time to write me about the embarrassing treatment of Amy Goodman at the Canadian border last week. I share your vehement opposition to this kind of abuse of power in the name of public safety, and I expressed your dismay and my own to the Minister in a letter that I have copied below – one of several letters he will have received by New Democrat MPs in the coming days.

Thanks again for making sure I was aware of this incident and could add my voice to the protest.

Denise
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December 3, 2009

Hon. Peter Van Loan

Honourable James Moore
Minister of Canadian Heritage
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6

RE: Core funding for Aboriginal friendship centres

Dear Minister,

I write to join the many voices asking that you meet the request of the National Association of Friendship Centres (NAFC) for an increase in core funding to $115.57 million over the next five years.

Honourable James Flaherty
Minister of Finance
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6

Re: Consultation on federal budget 2010 – Victoria, BC

Dear Minister,

I am writing to convey to you the results of extensive pre-budget consultations that I conducted in my riding during the month of November 2009.

November 27, 2009

Konrad von Finckenstein, Chair
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0N2

Dear Sir,

I write to ask that the CRTC exercise its mandate by protecting local television and the viability of made-in-Canada dramatic and other programming in its deliberations on the future of broadcasting.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Complacency, economic myopia feed pollution and climate change that threaten irreparable damage to Canada’s not-so-abundant freshwater

VICTORIA – MP Denise Savoie called on the federal government to act on impending freshwater problems in Canada after hosting a presentation this morning by leading Canadian water scientist Dr. David Schindler.

“We all agree on the need to protect the quality and sustainability of our planet’s most valuable resource,” said Savoie. “But too many policy makers remain complacent about how urgent it is.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NOVEMBER 24, 2009

OTTAWA – Twenty years ago, on November 24, the Leader of Canada’s New Democrats Ed Broadbent sounded the alarm bell on the tragedy of child poverty in Canada. Since then, every day in the House of Commons and out in the communities across Canada, New Democrats have been working tirelessly to push for an end to poverty.

It is now 2009, and there is still much to be done to eradicate the scourge of child poverty in Canada. This is a collective failure and shows a lack of political will on the part of successive governments.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Canada Health Act, the foundation of our universal public health care system.
The CHA was passed unanimously by Parliament, a remarkable collaborative achievement with the NDPs Bill Blaikie working closely with the Trudeau Liberal government and health minister Monique Bégin to ensure that quality care would be available to everyone irrespective of their financial status.

Now, 25 years later, the CHA is under attack and the Conservative government is just standing by and doing nothing.

Dear constituents,