Tuesday September 22, 2020 | COWICHAN-MALAHAT-LANGFORD
by Mary Brooke, editor | Island Social Trends
A virtual town hall about building climate resilience and an inclusive economy will be hosted by Alistair MacGregor, MP (Cowichan-Malahat-Langford) this evening, Tuesday September 22.
The Zoom call event is open to anyone who wishes to participate. It starts at 6:30 pm PDT. The Zoom link can be found on Alistair MacGregor’s events page.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has shone a light on the need to build more resilient communities. We have the opportunity to build a healthier society for everyone and invest in the infrastructure we need to fight climate change. We can make sure every public dollar goes to helping workers and communities, not wealthy CEOs,” says MacGregor.
In the Zoom call MacGregor and guests will discuss the NDP party’s priorities in advance of the September 23 Throne Speech.
MacGregor’s riding includes Langford, Juan de Fuca from Jordan River out to Port Renfrew, Cowichan Valley and Duncan areas, where there is a strong interest in agriculture and land protection, and where jobs are obviously important for economic recovery.
Commercial rent struggle for small businesses:
Last week, MacGregor told Island Social Trends that some small businesses in his riding have been “having a terrible time”, especially when it comes to the federal government’s commercial rental assistance program.
The program requires the tenant’s landlord to acquiesce to the program, which hasn’t been all too successful. The current program requires a landlord to sacrifice 25% of rent, and then the federal government will pay 50% and the tenant pays 25% of their usual rent.
A big challenge in all of that is that the return of customers to businesses “has not been close to pre-pandemic levels”, says MacGregor. “Customers have reluctance to going out.”
MacGregor has sent two letters to government and raised the during question period in the House of Commons about minimal uptake on the commercial rent program.
NDP making progress for Canadians:
Alistair MacGregor, MP notes that — to date — the NDP under Jagmeet Singh’s leadership has had a huge role in establishing and stabilizing the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) program (pressuring the Liberals to bump up the monthly amount to $2,000 and also then to extend it into September).
The NDP also had strident input to the Liberals to change the 10% wage subsidy up to 75%, so that there would be some reasonable uptake on the program. Even so, it means that employers who participate are underwriting a 25% loss on wages they pay to employees.
“Our strategy is the same” for the fall session which begins with the Throne Speech, says MacGregor. “We’ll be making sure people get the support they need to get throughout this pandemic. We’re heading into a second wave and we have to be prepared for that,” said MacGregor who heads to Ottawa today September 22.
