News

By: Robert Barron, Daily News

The federal parties representing Nanaimo are of two minds on initiatives to lessen the tax burden on Canadian corporations, including B.C.'s pulp and sawmills.

Nanaimo-Cowichan NDP MP Jean Crowder said Ottawa's ongoing measures to reduce Canada's corporate tax rates to be the lowest in the G8 group of countries by 2015 will likely mean average Canadians will have to pay more taxes as governments bow to corporate demands. But Nanaimo-Alberni Conservative MP James Lunney said if we don't make tax concessions to Canada's companies, they could become less competitive internationally, which would result in the loss of the taxes they pay and the jobs they provide.

By: Darrell Bellaart, Daily News

Nanaimo-Cowichan MP Jean Crowder is throwing her support behind keeping the Green's Landing wharf on Gabriola Island under federal control.

The Regional District of Nanaimo is looking to takeover the wharf to maintain access to tiny Mudge Island, if Public Works Canada chooses to proceed with divestment of the facility.

It is the main access point to Mudge from Gabriola and has been operated federally since 1959.

By: John Ward, The Canadian Press

OTTAWA - The federal government has introduced legislation to extend formal Indian status to the grandchildren of aboriginal women who married non-natives - a change that could add as many as 45,000 people to the Indian registry.

The bill, introduced in the Commons on Thursday by Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl, is in response to a 2009 B.C. court judgment which ruled that a law denying Indian status to the grandchildren was discriminatory.

By: Darrell Bellaart, Daily News

International relief agency's funding pulled after 35 years amid 'anti-Semitism' charges

Nanaimo-Alberni MP James Lunney is facing criticism after refusing to meet with local members of an international aide group that lost government funding.

The federal minister responsible for the Canadian International Development Agency pulled $7 million from Kairos, a church-based group half funded by CIDA for 35 years.

University's lack of action led to decision, Strahl says

By: Angela Hall, Joe Couture and Jason Warick, Saskatchewan News Network

First Nations University of Canada (FNUC) suffered a major blow Monday as the federal government pulled $7.3 million in funding, despite an effort by First Nations leaders to make long-promised governance changes at the post-secondary institution.

With the withdrawal last week of provincial cash, the university has now lost $12.5 million -- more than half of its annual funding.

Federal Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl said in a statement his department has worked with the university to help it address "long-standing, systemic problems related to governance and financial management of the institution," but the institution delayed taking action.

By: Darrell Bellaart, Daily News

Powerful emotions overcame David Munro as he carried the Olympic flame through Hope on Sunday.

Munro is a Canadian Armed Forces veteran who lived in Nanaimo for several years. He wept as he ran through the Fraser Valley town.

The 73-year-old man was overcome by thoughts of soldiers lost while he served as a United Nations peacekeeper in international hotspots such as the Suez Canal, the Sinai Desert and the Gaza Strip.

Are you the proprietor of a community-based not-for-profit organization? Are you involved in promoting tourism to our beautiful community? Is your organization involved in protecting Nanaimo-Cowichan’s environment? Most importantly, do you need extra help this summer and don’t have the resources to hire someone?

If you answered yes to one of these questions, you may be interested in learning more about the Canada Summer Jobs 2010 program.

By: Darrell Bellaart, The Daily News

Seniors will not be reimbursed for federal government pension shortfalls caused by an error in how Statistics Canada calculated the rate of inflation.

The federal government has no plan to correct the error, which resulted in a slight underestimation of the consumer price index between 2001 and 2006.

A.J. Murch, a 75-year-old Nanaimo pensioner, got that news in a letter from the office of Nanaimo-Alberni MP James Lunney.

January 12, 2009

STATEMENT BY MP JEAN CROWDER ON TRIBAL WI-CHI-WAY-WIN COURT CASE

I fully support the decision by Tribal Wi-Chi-Way-Win Capital Corp. (TWCC) to sue the federal government after being shut out of a new program designed to increase capital available to small and medium businesses in Aboriginal communities.

VANCOUVER – New Democrat Leader Jack Layton today urged Prime Minister Harper to bring back Parliament on January 25 and, in return, offered to support the reinstatement of the government bills that had been killed by prorogation.

“Mr Harper has padlocked Parliament rather than be held to account by Canada’s elected representatives,” said Layton. “He is more worried about his poll numbers than letting Parliament do the work needed to help Canadians. Canadians can’t prorogue their credit card bills, their pension shortfalls, their search for a new job, their worries about the future.”