Ron Cannan, MP (right), Norm Lecavalier, President Kelowna Chamber of Commerce (centre right), Weldon LeBlanc, CEO Kelowna Chamber of Commerce (centre left) are pictured with the Prime Minister, Stephen Harper (left) while in Ottawa for high level meetings.
Last week two members of our Kelowna Chamber of Commerce President Norm LeCavalier and Weldon Leblanc took time out of their busy schedules to travel to Ottawa to meet with International Trade Minister Stockwell Day, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities Brian Jean, and Minister of Immigration and Citizenship Jason Kenney and senior staff.
You might think that it would be hard to be able to get to the people at the top but it has been my experience since coming to Ottawa that within the Conservative Caucus at least, our Ministers welcome the opportunity to talk to members of our local business community who know only too well what isn’t working and what it will take to keep our local economy moving and growing. Our Ministers know the chances are pretty good that whatever they hear from our neck of the woods will also apply to many communities across the country.
Thanks to their good preparation and the hard work of our Chamber members, Norm and Weldon effectively articulated our most important needs from timely access to skilled labour to the best ways to get the federal government on side for transportation infrastructure projects.
They also received some pretty good feedback on where the Government wants to concentrate its efforts to support our community.
Where infrastructure is concerned it is transit particularly green vehicles, roads, bridges, improving the safety aspects of airport expansion, shovel ready projects meaning those that have cleared all the necessary levels of municipal, provincial and environmental approval and business proposals for future funding that will support the long-term viability of our local economy.
Immigration staff was interested in hearing about the hurdles local business is facing in accessing skilled labour in a timely fashion. They were particularly interested in the Chamber’s suggestion of provincial and federal governments sharing immigration services to cut down on the red tape and reviewing the LMO process to make it more flexible and adaptable particularly in the tourism industry where one worker could work both winter and summer jobs without having to apply twice.
With Minister Day our discussion on international trade focussed on opening “every door and window” to give our industries every advantage they need to access international markets. Talk turned to our local wine industry particularly the legislative restrictions that prevent the importation of Kelowna wines to other provinces. The Government is currently reviewing the Importation of Intoxicating Liquors Act which dates back to 1928 is working on removing the roadblocks which prevent our award-winning wines from reaching the Canadian market.
And of course there was grave concern expressed about looming protectionist provisions by the US which could harm our own industrial sectors and have negative trade implications world-wide. Minister Day has been working overtime to head this off at the pass and encouraged our Chamber of Commerce to get involved by writing and lobbying their counterparts in the US. What a coincidence that just as we were having that particular conversation with the Minister, Weldon received an e-mail from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce urging its members to do what the Minister was asking.
The good news is that the efforts of Minister Day and other Canadian trade representatives are working. President Obama said publicly on Tuesday that he agrees the US can’t send a protectionist message saying “I think it would be a mistake....at a time when worldwide trade is declining for us to start sending a message that somehow we're just looking after ourselves and not concerned with world trade."
Those meetings were followed by a luncheon meeting with Dan Paszkowski from the Canadian Vintners’ Association and of course Question Period.
After Question Period we had a brief meeting and photo with the Prime Minister in his office. The Prime Minister asked about the local economy and listened intently while Weldon and Norm stressed the need for justice reform and how the Chamber is working with the City and Province to increase the number of RCMP and to establish a dedicated task force to crack down on drugs and organized crime.
The Prime Minister also talked about how he often used to vacation in Kelowna and really misses our beautiful Okanagan Valley.
Finally, we ended our day over dinner with my colleague Colin Mayes, MP Okanagan Shuswap and Al Thorlakson, owner of Tolko Industries Ltd. who had just flown into Ottawa for a few days of meetings.
Al shared with us the news that starting February 9th, temporary, two-week closures will begin at seven of its lumber operations due to continued poor product markets. However, he pointed out, despite the pine beetle and problems in the US, the Kelowna operation will not be affected due to the plant’s incredibly hard- working and dedicated staff combined with the tens of millions of dollars that have been re-invested into their operations.
I wish to thank the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce for making the trip to Ottawa and working with me to bring our local issues to the attention of our Cabinet and the Prime Minister. It was an extremely productive day and they did a great job articulating our needs. I have no doubt that their hard work will produce results and we will have a stronger local economy because of their efforts.
Ron Cannan is the Member of Parliament for Kelowna-Lake Country. His office is located in the Capri Mall and he can be reached @ 250-470-5075 or ron@cannan.ca
