Sunday March 17, 2024 | LANGFORD, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Today local MP Alistair MacGregor (Cowichan-Malahat-Langford) posted in social media his standard ‘heading back to Ottawa’ photo from the Nanaimo airport, after spending two weeks in his constituency on Vancouver Island.
“After a fantastic two weeks with constituents and communities in the riding, it’s time to head back to Ottawa for a scheduled sitting week in the House,” said MacGregor in a social media post today March 17.
He met with the Cowichan Tribes on March 13: “I was honoured to be invited to witness the inauguration of Cowichan Tribes’ new Chief and Council last evening. I appreciate the strong relationships with Cowichan members, and I look forward to working with Chief Cindy Daniels and all councillors in service to the community.”
He visited Port Renfrew on March 15: “I was in beautiful Port Renfrew to talk with local sport fishers and their very real concerns over fishing area closures this year. This is an economic lifeline for small coastal communities in my riding, and I’m going to fight for them when I’m back in Ottawa.”
Parliamentary session 2024:
MPs in the House of Commons will sit for just one week (March 18 to 22) before breaking again for Easter. The House next sits April 8 to 19 and April 29 to May 10, with a week off, then sitting again May 21 to June 21 before breaking for the summer. [See House of Commons 2024 Parliamentary Calendar]
On Monday the NDP will be using its Opposition Day “to call for peace, there will be a vote”, says MacGregor, regarding the NDP’s stance that a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war should be called.
MacGregor has been chair of the NDP caucus since January, helping to steer direction of the party. The role also serves a liaison for NDP MPs.
Flyer in the community:
In this past week or two, one of Alistair MacGregor’s constituency flyers was distributed by postal mail around his large riding on south Vancouver Island.
This particular edition focused on listing off the various pieces of legislation that the NDP is hoping to get passed in the House of Commons, including:
- Bill C-315 (Alistair MacGregor, MP): An Act to amend the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Act (ethical investments).
- Bill C-366 (Alistair MacGregor, MP / brought forward by local students Isha Courty-Stephens and Hana Reid through MacGregor’s ‘Create Your Canada’ competition): Labelling of Menstrual Tampons.
- Bill C-305 (Alistair MacGregor, MP): An Act to amend the Canada Shipping Act, 2011 (anchorage prohibition).
- Bill C-310 (Gord Johns, MP – Courtenay-Alberni): An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (volunteer firefighting and search and rescue volunteer tax credit)
- Bill C-344 (Lisa Marie Barron, MP – Nanaimo-Ladysmith): An Act to amend the Wrecked, Abondoned or Hazardous Vessels Act (national strategy respecting abandoned vessels).
Competitive federal landscape:
On the broader political landscape, earlier in the week MacGregor thanked BC Premier David Eby for calling out federal Conservative leader for misleading language in the public sphere: “Thank you Premier @Dave_Eby for giving Canadian political discourse “baloney factory” as a term of reference to Poilievre.”
‘Baloney’ is dictionary-defined as “1. foolish or deceptive talk; nonsense.”typical salesman’s baloney”.
===== RELATED:
- Alistair MacGregor now chairs NDP caucus (February 1, 2024)
- Alistair MacGregor: what the NDP did for Canadians in 2023 (December 31, 2023)
- Alistair MacGregor: “We’re going to make 2024 a better year” (December 19, 2023)
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