News

By: Jean Crowder

British Columbia has lost 65 sawmills, four pulp mills and 20,000 jobs in the forestry industry since 2001. With a spinoff effect of about one to three, this means a loss of 60,000 jobs.

That is tens of millions of dollars of revenue that is no longer being sent to government coffers to help pay for health care and education.
Jim Sinclair, head of the BC Federation of Labour recently said that forestry contributes close to 40 percent of B.C.'s exports and 25 percent of our GDP.

By Jean Crowder

This was a constituency week for MPs, a chance to come back to the ridings and connect with our neighbours. Many of the comments I heard this week were around employment insurance and the big holes in this social security net.

Almost two-thirds of people paying into EI are not eligible for benefits when they need them.

The NDP used its Opposition Day to ask all MPs to support the following changes so EI could support all Canadians who need it during this economic downturn:
1. Eliminate the two-week wait to receive benefits.

By Jean Crowder

Credit card rates unfair to consumers.

According to a recent poll by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, eighty percent of people with credit cards in British Columbia want tighter controls on credit card companies.

The NDP agrees. During this Parliament, we’ve been pointing out the many ways the average consumer is overcharged by financial institutions.

The Conservative government continues to allow credit card companies to enforce unfair rates, even at a time when families are worried about just making ends meet.

BY: Robert Barron

Jean Crowder wants people to write Prime Minister Stephen Harper to pressure his government to improve Canada's Employment Insurance program.

The MP for Nanaimo-Cowichan said the EI program must be revamped to help many across the country, including forestry workers in her own riding who lost their jobs during the ongoing global economic crisis.

By Jean Crowder

For many years, mental health and wellness has been the forgotten part of our health care system.

Each year, up to one in five Canadians experiences a diagnosable mental health problem. In Lake Cowichan, that means more than 600 people a year need access to mental health services.

While some people will experience a short-term illness that is easily dealt with by their family doctor, other mental illnesses need the services of a specialist.

By Christina Spencer

The troubled Truth and Reconciliation Commission, created less than a year ago to give aboriginal victims of residential-school abuse a forum to tell their stories, will cost taxpayers about $3.4 million before it even begins its hearings.

Between $321,000 and $377,800 of that will be salaries for two commissioners who recently agreed to step down, but who will stay on the payroll until June 1 to write a report on their brief tenure. "I think that's a lot of money to pay for a report, given the short duration of the appointment," said NDP aboriginal affairs critic Jean Crowder. "There hasn't been a significant amount of work done."

By Doug Marner

The Honeymoon Bay Volunteer Fire Department held an open house Saturday to introduce the community to its new automated external defibrillator and demonstrate how it works.

A few people dropped by during the three-hour open house, including MP Jean Crowder, with many of them getting a demonstration from firefighters and trying the contraption themselves. That included doing CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation).

By Kevin Rothbauer

The federal New Democratic Party has been beating the drum of proportional representation for many years, but Nanaimo-Cowichan Member of Parliament Jean Crowder believes now is a better time than ever to promote a new electoral system.

"This is a good opportunity, after three minority governments, when it is less and less likely that we will have a majority government," she said.

Crowder has organized a forum at the Nanaimo campus of Vancouver Island University this Thursday, where the advantages and disadvantages of proportional representation will be discussed, along with Canada's current first-past-the-post system. VIU political science professor Allan Warnke and his University of Victoria colleague Dennis Pilon will lead the discussion.

By Jean Crowder

Nanaimo-Cowichan MP Jean Crowder is the NDP's aboriginal affairs critic

The main reason for the housing crisis is a chronic underfunding of home construction on reserves. Since treaties were signed, the federal government has been responsible for providing homes for status Indians on reserves.

As building technologies have changed, the lifespan of those houses has been reduced, with some houses lasting less than 10 years.

By Stephen Thomson

Jean Crowder is ready to vote against the federal budget, although she said she expects it to pass.

The government's annual spending plan, expected to come before Parliament today (Feb. 3), is aimed at stimulating a sagging Canadian economy.

Speaking from Ottawa yesterday morning, the Nanaimo-Cowichan MP said the agenda falls short on a number of fronts.

The budget promises $12 billion in new infrastructure funding to help with roads, bridges and other municipal projects. But Crowder said nothing is in place to make sure those dollars flow quickly.