Brison Report - Friday, January 18, 2008

Friday, January 18, 2008

Week of January 13-20

 

Scott was in his constituency office for meetings with constituents on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week.

 

Some of the highlights include:

-         meeting with the Annapolis Valley Real Estate Association

-         meeting with Andy Northup and John Andrew of Open Arms Resource Centre Society, regarding their efforts to raise funds for homeless shelters.

-         meeting with the local chapter of the Council of Canadians

-         meeting with representatives of PSAC

-         meeting with a group of citizens concerned about changes to rural mail delivery in the Shubenacadie area

 

As well, Scott spoke to a combined class of Political Science and Sociology students at Avon View High School on Wednesday in Windsor.

 

And the week ahead...

 

Scott travels to Davos, Switzerland on Sunday to attend the 2008 Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum.  The theme of the meeting is ‘The Power of Collaborative Innovation’. Full details are available here.

 

The meeting involves more than 2,500 participants from 88 countries including 27 heads of state or government, 113 cabinet ministers, along with religious leaders, media leaders and heads of non-governmental organizations.

 

In the news this week...

 

Liberals release plan to strengthen manufacturing

 

Stephane Dion released a plan in Hamilton today to strengthen and green the Canadian manufacturing sector. The plan calls for the creation of a $1 billion Advanced Manufacturing Prosperity (AMP) Fund to support major investments in manufacturing and R&D facilities to help Canada’s manufacturing sector thrive in the global economy.

Mr. Dion said the AMP Fund is designed to help Canada's manufacturing sector become a world leader in green technologies and that investments would be made in facilities that satisfy the following three criteria:

• leverage significant private investment, and in so doing create jobs;
• attract significant secondary industries: suppliers, services, and other support businesses; and
• help position Canada as a leader in the manufacture of greener technologies and products.

 

See the press release and details here.

 

Canadian Medical Association (CMA) calls for more doctors

 

The CMA launched a campaign this week to put the growing physician shortage on the federal political agenda. The CMA said almost 5-million Canadians do not have a family physician and 5-million more could be in the same situation by 2018.

 

See the press release here.

 

Stéphane Dion and Michael Ignatieff travel to Afghanistan

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion and Deputy Leader Michael Ignatieff met with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai this week to discuss Canada’s role in the war-torn region.

Mr. Dion and Mr. Ignatieff told President Karzai that while the Liberal Party believes that Canada’s combat mission in Kandahar should end in February 2009, the party supports the continuation of diplomatic and development efforts, as well as a possible continued military presence.

They also agreed with President Karzai on the question of the utility and effectiveness of air and artillery strikes as a counter-insurgency technique and expressed their commitment to Canada calling for an immediate NATO-wide solution that ensures that detainees are not transferred into a situation where they could face torture.