Van Loan working for Lake Simcoe
By Michelle Minnoch

About 12 people showed up recently in Bradford for York - Simcoe MP Peter Van Loan's Town Hall meeting.

He said the aim of the session was to update the public about the progress the government has made since taking office in January.

"What I've heard is that people are happy with what the government has been doing over the past few months," Van Loan said.

Regarding Lake Simcoe, Van Loan said he is working to get ballast water rules in place. He has been concerned invasive species being released into the Great Lakes by ships that have taken on ballast water from elsewhere in the world.

"Ballast water regulation is important in protection against invasive species," he said. He has recently joined together with Conservative MPs from the Lake Simcoe watershed and met with the Minister of Transportation to address the issue.

Van Loan is also addressing designating Lake Simcoe as an area of concern.

"I am working with people at the Federal office to try and get it done."

As July 1 was approaching, Van Loan addressed the fact that the GST was to be cut to 6 per cent and the child care cheques would be rolling out.

Van Loan said the government is committed in bringing into effect the Accountability Act, which would include corporate political donations to be capped at no more than $1,000. The Act would also include granting stronger powers to the Auditor General.

He said out of the five Conservative priorities, the most challenging is the hospital wait time guarantee. "The principle responsibility of health care resides with the provinces," he commented.

A member of the audience asked Van Loan about farmers' subsidies in Canada and competing with those in the United States.

"Right now, there are talks to level out the playing field," he said. "The problem is that we are not doing enough and they (the States) are doing too much."

Van Loan said although farmers make up a small percentage of votes, the issue of agriculture in the Ontario caucus is the most talked about issue.

"We do have very good farmers, particularly in Simcoe County," he remarked. "They're top notch."

Regarding Afghanistan, Van Loan said the previous government did virtually nothing for the Canadian armed forces. "As a result, our armed forces are run down."

Van Loan said there would be a whole series of announcements in the coming days regarding the armed forces.

"To be honest, I think Canada doesn't have a full understanding of what we're doing in Afghanistan," he said, adding the troops are building hospitals, schools, helping with the redevelopment of the country and providing humanitarian aid.

He observed it was former prime minister Paul Martin who made the decision to send the troops to Afghanistan and he did not even show up for the recent debate or vote.

"It's a shameful abdication of responsibility," he declared.

Van Loan was asked about immigration and where Canada gets its quota numbers from.

"It is not a quota," he explained, "we set targets."

He explained the three streams of immigration, which are refugees (for humanitarian reasons), economic stream (people chosen on the basis that they are needed to do specific jobs) and family reunification (controversial, as often parents in their 60s are brought in and it is a strain on social services).

Van Loan said there is currently a backlog on 800,000 applications for people wanting to live in Canada.

He said the issue of citizens needing a passport to cross the border into the U.S. is a matter of great concern. He said at the end of this year, you would need a passport to cross the border by air, and at the end of next year by land.

"I encourage those to get passports now."