This week my New Democrat colleagues and I are gathering in St John’s to discuss our plans and priorities for the upcoming Parliamentary session. Everything we do in Ottawa this year will be guided by one thing: standing up for the hardworking people that Stephen Harper’s Conservatives have ignored.

This means fighting for the things that folks in Toronto care about. Seniors, young families and new immigrants in our great city who can’t find decent places to live because housing prices are out of control. We need a national affordable housing strategy. The NDP is going to fight for this.
Harper’s unnecessary raising of the age of eligibility for Old Age Security from 65 to 67 mean that our seniors, who already struggle to make ends meet, will be able to afford even less. We’re going to work towards real solutions for our seniors, like increasing the GIS and improving CPP.
We plan to stand up for immigrants and refugees who face continued attacks from the Harper Conservatives, through mean-spirited legislation like Bill C-31 – which limits refugee applications from certain countries and threatens to detain new refugees for up to a year – or the cancellation of the Interim Federal Health Program, which denies refugees basic health care services. We will continue to fight against these attacks on immigrants and refugees.

Toronto residents have a dire need for improved public transit, yet Stephen Harper refuses to provide municipalities with the necessary funds to meet their transit demands. Over 60 mayors, city councils and municipal organizations from across the country have endorsed our plan for a National Transit Strategy. We will work to make this plan a reality in the coming months.
We’ll work with the provinces to secure the necessary funding to build a stable, effective health care system. Stephen Harper plans to cut billions of dollars from our national health care system in the coming years. Universal, portable, accessible and public health care is a cornerstone of Canadian society, and we will do everything in our power to preserve it.
These are just a few of the things we will focus on in Parliament over the next year. I promise that we will never stop fighting for the things that you care about. Please feel free to share your concerns with me by calling my office at 416-654-8048 or emailing andrew.cash@parl.gc.ca.