John Weston, West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country member of Parliament, announced Sechelt Aquatic Centre funding, spoke at a lunch hosted by the Sechelt Chamber of Commerce and hosted Minister of Environment Jim Prentice's visit to the Coast.
Kicking off a sequence of Coast-based events last week, Weston spoke to the Sechelt Chamber of Commerce about federally-funded projects on the Coast, such as $45 million for green technologies at Howe Sound Pulp and Paper; the "power of partnership" between the Coast and the MP's office; and Canada's role on the world stage.
Weston stressed the need for the community to use the MP's office as a federal advocate and lauded Canada's strong reputation abroad - both in terms of its financial institutions and in terms of the environment, with the signing of the Copenhagen agreement.
"We are trying to do things that are practical and foreseeable and measurable that will punish people who pollute. For the first time in Canadian history, there will be mandated measures that will move us towards controlling greenhouse gas emissions," he said. "And guess what? China is watching. And the United States is watching. And India's watching. And if we can have some influence - disproportionate influence, our 33 million strong nation - to bring those countries along, then we will be doing way more than anybody ever could believe."
Following his speech, Weston fielded questions. Regarding federal repercussions for British Columbia if it declines the harmonized sales tax (HST), he honed in on the $1.6 billion in federal funding geared at easing the transition to the new tax.
"The federal government has said, 'You will receive a certain amount of money to help you with the transition, whichever province [you are]'," he said. "So the money's there and if a province stepped back from that, the money wouldn't be there. It's as simple as that."
District of Sechelt Coun. Alice Lutes asked about the country's lack of universal, affordable daycare.
"Daycare is huge [in the community]," she said. "We have shift workers. There's no daycare. And they're on a wing and a prayer, hoping to find a neighbour who will help out."
In response, Weston pointed to the government's universal childcare payment of $100 per month per child, which he said provides "some choice" for parents. He stated he doesn't think a Liberal Party-endorsed plan to create a $1-billion new government agency to promote "so-called universal childcare" would be a good option for Canadians.
"In the world of daycare, we would all love it to be perfect, we would love for people to have an amplitude of options that would allow each parent to work, daycare to be safe and healthy and that would enable our kids to learn different languages while they're in daycare while they're learning other academic subjects," he said. "It can't happen. Government is not there to guarantee immortality or perfection."
Weston then visited the Sunshine Coast Regional District to announce $100,000 in funding for improvements to the Sechelt Aquatic Centre, which the community has obtained through the Recreational Infrastructure Canada (RInC) program under Canada's Economic Action Plan.
Wrapping up Weston's visit to the Coast, he hosted Prentice for a Sechelt event Saturday, May 22, entitled Canada's Leadership on Environ-mental Sustainability.
