Martha Hall Findlay for Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada

Are you registered to vote for Liberal Leader?

admin — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 19:34:08 +0000

Are you registered to vote for Liberal Leader? Even members have to register!

You – yes you – have the opportunity to vote for Martha to be the next Leader of the Liberal Party. It’s FREE, it’s EASY, and for the first time in the Liberal Party’s history, you don’t have to even be a Member of the Liberal Party to vote!

Here are some details (it’s a new system this year, so we’re happy to help explain – drop us a line at info@marthahallfindlay.ca with questions):

Step 1 – SIGN UP:

Click here to sign up to become a Supporter of Martha’s on her website – and here’s the important part – you MUST do this by MARCH 3rd, 2013. If you haven’t signed up by March 3rd, you will NOT be eligible to vote for the new leader. Don’t worry if you want to wait before you decide on your top candidates – you don’t have to choose now – but you DO have to sign up as a Supporter by March 3rd in order to vote in April.

Becoming a Supporter is free and easy and doesn’t require Liberal Membership. If, however, you are already a member, you are automatically signed up so skip directly to Step 2.

Step 2 – REGISTER:

After you complete Step 1, Supporters like you will begin to receive information and online registration forms from the Party. Registering to vote using these forms will also be free, but you’ll have to complete the online forms by March 14th in order to VOTE. Don’t worry if you don’t receive your registration email right away, it may not arrive for a few weeks.

Step 3 – VOTE:

This is where the fun really begins! Beginning April 7th through to April 14th you will be able to submit your email or phone ballot indicating your preferences for the next Leader of the Liberal Party. We will send you more information on how voting works later. Right now we just need to make sure you complete Step 1 before the March 3rd deadline.

Hope we didn’t confuse you – it’s really as easy as 1-2-3 (Sign Up – Register – Vote)! Click here to get started by signing up to become a Supporter – easy-peasy! If you have more questions, check out our handy Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section here.

Send all your questions or notes of encouragement to info@marthahallfindlay.ca.

Frequently Asked Questions:

How old do I have to be to vote for Liberal Leader?
Supporters must be at least 18 years old to be eligible to vote. However, Supporters between the ages of 14-18 may be eligible to vote if they become registered members of the Party – see Liberal.ca for more details.
Do I have to be a citizen of Canada to vote for Liberal Leader?
No – permanent residents and even non-citizens who ordinarily reside in Canada are eligible to vote. See Liberal.ca for details.
If I sign up as a Supporter on Martha’s site, do I necessarily have to vote for Martha?
No – all the candidates websites have links to allow you to sign up as a Supporter. That’s merely the first step in the process of voting, but where you sign up does not affect who you vote for (of course, we really hope you choose Martha as your #1 pick!!).
I have already signed up to be a Supporter, but I haven’t recieved anything that tells me about how to register to vote – is something wrong?
Don’t worry – it may be another couple of weeks for it to come. If you don’t receive any registration information by the end of February, email us at info@marthahallfindlay.ca and we will track it down for you.
Are there other qualifications needed to become a Supporter?
Yes – here is what is listed on Liberal.ca:
To be eligible to become a supporter of the Party, a person must be either a member of the
Party or a person who:
(a) is at least 18 years of age;
(b) supports the purposes of the Party;
(c) is qualified as an elector who may vote in accordance with part 11 of the Canada Elections Act or ordinarily lives in Canada;12 and
(d) is not a member of any other federal political party in Canada
I’m still confused – where can I go for more help?
You have a few options:
1) check out this handy video made by the good folks at Liberal.ca – it explains the voting process using a hockey metaphor – how very Canadian of them!
2) See even more FAQs at Liberal.ca.
3) Email Team Martha at info@marthahallfindlay.ca – we will do our best to figure this out with you!

GST and Today’s Fear of Speaking Out

admin — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 19:48:37 +0000

The Liberal Party I lead will ….

… NOT be afraid of discussing policy in public. The current hoopla over whether I would, or would not, raise the GST highlights exactly what ails politics in this country: Fear of speaking out.

140 character tweets, sound bites taken out of context, and fear of attack ads all, shamefully, now seem to rule our public discourse. Here is what I really think about the GST.

Yes, I have said that I would consider raising the GST but only if needed. I supported the GST when it was brought in, and was among the most vocal in calling Harper’s politically-motivated reductions from 7% to 5% bad economics. It would be hypocritical of me now to say otherwise.
I do not advocate any tax increases right now—not GST, not corporate taxes, not personal income taxes—not while we’re still struggling with the economy and the sluggish exit from the financial crisis. Indeed, this is exactly what Harper has done with his increases in EI premiums, a tax on jobs which I object to.
I do not advocate a rise in the GST, even when the economy is stronger, to the exclusion of other things: For example, I would prefer a price on carbon, which would do double duty by also improving our environment.
I would consider raising the GST if, using just one example, increased costs of aging demographics, health care and the all-important education for our next generations are not sufficiently off-set by spending cuts elsewhere.

Needless to say, that level of discussion never gets into tweets or sound bites or headlines. Only the ‘sexy’ attack parts do. And that is wrong — because Canada must engage in this debate.

AFRAID TO SPEAK OUT

Are we so afraid of Harper and his attack ads that we can’t even debate significant economic issues in public? Have we no confidence left whatsoever? No wonder Canadians have lost respect for Liberals – and for politicians generally. I refuse to let us conduct ourselves out of fear. We MUST be able to have these discussions.

We keep talking about needing more engagement – how do we do that, when we ourselves refuse to engage in any real debate?

TAXATION AND SPENDING:

We have taxation and we have spending. Determining the right mix is a critical part of Canada’s economic and social prosperity. Canadians should expect politicians to have the courage to engage in this kind of debate and discussion—and not to be afraid of doing so.

No sensible Canadian objects to at least some level of taxation – it’s how we pay for roads, sewers, health care, old age security, passport services, immigration issues—all manner of government services that significantly improve our society. We understand that some taxation is needed in today’s world.
What form it takes, and how much, paid by whom, and how it should be used, should always be part of our public policy debate. We can always do better.
Despite initial concerns, Liberals quickly recognized that a value-added tax was a sensible form of taxation. We have supported it ever since.
Liberals were therefore, and appropriately, among the most vocal in condemning Harper for his “cheap politics” of reducing the GST from 7 to 6 and then to 5%. Because cheap politics is exactly what it was. It certainly was bad economics.
Many believe that Canada now has a structural deficit, thanks in large measure to those GST cuts. If Harper had correspondingly cut spending, then that’s a different story – but he didn’t. His first two years in government, while cutting the GST, he spent the two largest-spending budgets in Canadian history. This BEFORE the financial crisis hit.

Martha Hall Findlay

If you agree with Martha’s message, please consider getting involved in Martha’s campaign today:

Sign up to vote for Martha in the upcoming Liberal leadership vote – it’s free!
Join Team Martha as a volunteer
Make a donation to support Martha’s campaign – any amount you can afford will be greatly appreciated

Aboriginal/Canada Relations – Protests and Solutions

admin — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 15:24:42 +0000

Condensed version originally published in the Globe and Mail on January 1, 2013.

The Liberal Party I lead will …

… once again, work WITH our aboriginal leadership, with provincial and territorial
governments, and with the private sector – together – to address the challenges that
have been plaguing our aboriginal communities for generations.

Liberals have done this before. In 2004 and 2005, the work putting together
the Kelowna Accord by the Liberal government of the day, First Nations, Métis
Nation, and Inuit leadership, as well as provincial and territorial governments
of all partisan stripes — all working together — was impressive. But as soon as
Harper took power in 2006, he tossed it aside and ignored it all.

Colonialism, abuse of treaty rights, residential schools – successive governments
must share that responsibility. Yet Harper’s answer now is to simply criticize and
allege aboriginal mismanagement. What he has completely missed is that the
answer is not money alone – most upsetting is that he has destroyed any sense
of the much-needed cooperation, of working together, of respectful engagement
– it’s gone.

And where are we now? Far too many aboriginal Canadians are still living in
deplorable conditions, are not gaining the education that they need to ensure
equality of opportunity, and are not appropriately benefitting from economic
development, particularly of natural resources, to ensure the prosperity that is
critical to their long-term success.

The Idle No More movement was born of understandable frustration with this
lack of progress. Chief Spence is sacrificing her health, hopefully not her life, to
get people to realize just how dire things are, not only for her own community of
Attawapiskat, but for many others.

Yet Stephen Harper’s hypocrisy and political gamesmanship only rubs salt in the
wounds.

I had a front row seat for the residential school apology in the House of
Commons in June, 2008. It was impressive, emotional, and full of hope. But
I couldn’t avoid the nagging sense that it was still all politics for Harper. The
hypocrisy loomed large. He completely ignored all the heavy-lifting groundwork
for the apology done by Liberals, including Jane Stewart and Herb Gray. But
worse, here was the man who destroyed the ground-breaking Kelowna Accord,
for which Paul Martin and so many others had worked so hard.

As soon as he was elected in 2006, Harper and his government did everything
to avoid implementation of the Kelowna commitments. He calls for more
accountability and transparency – yet hides changes to environmental and land
regulations, buried in his omnibus Bill C-45. Rather than tackle the need to
replace the paternalistic Indian Act with a respectful, mutually agreed-to regime,
Harper’s condescension continues. We have a government which has given
us plenty of pomp, circumstance, and rhetoric, but which has only made things
worse.

Imagine what implementing the Kelowna Accord could have done, particularly
had we started 6 years ago as planned: $1.8 billion for targeted investments
in education, school systems, and to train more aboriginal teachers; $1.6
billion for housing and clean water; $1.3 billion for health services; $200 million
for economic development; and $170 million to assist with accountability to
those the Accord was to help. Investments in education were to raise the high
school graduation rate of aboriginal Canadians to match that of the rest of the
population, and to encourage more post-secondary graduation. The investments
in health targeted infant mortality, youth suicide, childhood obesity, and diabetes,
aimed for 20 per cent reductions over five years, and 50 per cent over10 years,
as well as a doubling of the number of health professionals over 10 years.

Kelowna would not have solved all of the challenges, particularly the need to
address long-standing treaty and title rights. But it would have been a great start.
And hugely important was the breakthrough that Kelowna represented in terms
of approach. For the first time, First Nations, Métis Nation, and Inuit leadership,
and federal, provincial and territorial governments – of all partisan stripes – came
to the table in partnership. Harper, instead, has turned his back on this multi-
partisan approach. He has walked away from any form of cooperation. He has

brought back a paternalistic attitude that others worked hard for years to put
behind us.

Now, here we are in 2013 and still nothing has been done.

Economic prosperity is key for these communities. How can we accomplish
that? And it is indeed “We”, as we are all in this together. Over 400,000 young
First Nations, Métis Nation, and Inuit people will enter the workforce in the next
10 years – an astounding number. But far too many will not have finished high
school, let alone university, college, or trade programs. They will need jobs. On
the other hand, Canadian businesses need skilled workers – so much so that we
are bringing in more and more temporary foreign workers to fill those jobs. The
disconnect is extraordinary. At the same time, however, the opportunities are
great – but government, business and aboriginal leadership need to cooperate
much more, working to match the education and training with the skills needed.

Business is on board. The Canadian Council of CEOs, in its July 2012
submission to Canada’s provincial and territorial leaders entitled Framing an
Energy Strategy for Canada, has called for “a renewed and purposeful commitment
from governments and Aboriginal leaders. One priority is to ensure government
authorities responsible for education work with the business community and
Aboriginal representatives to design a tripartite solution to combating the related
problems of underemployment of Aboriginal youth and current labour shortages.”

The Council’s report acknowledges that aboriginal peoples have “legitimate
concerns” about major resource developments, “including implications for land
claims, the impact on their communities and way of life, as well as on the land,
air and water around them.” It acknowledges that aboriginal peoples must be
true partners in resource and energy projects, together with governments and
businesses. For First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities to better realize
the benefits of economic development, the report calls for “new thinking on the
process, scope and funding of consultation and engagement. There is no one-
size-fits-all approach when it comes to the large array of resource development
projects and the number of distinctive Aboriginal communities. Yet we can learn
from best practices currently being undertaken in some development projects
and seek to employ them more broadly as appropriate. “

Action is needed – on everyone’s part. Protest raises awareness – but progress
requires concrete solutions. And for that, we need to work together – aboriginal
leadership, governments, and business. Aboriginal leadership is trying; business
is trying – but we have a complete lack of any leadership from Stephen Harper
and his government.

The Liberal Party I lead will once again cooperate – and bring other governments
together again, of all parties, to cooperate – in partnership with our Aboriginal
communities and Canadian businesses in finding real solutions.

Martha needs your help

admin — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 18:10:08 +0000

Dear friends,

It is official! Martha Hall Findlay is now registered as an official candidate with the Liberal Party of Canada and Elections Canada.

Martha Hall Findlay puts the Prime Minister on notice

It is the early days of the leadership and already Martha is putting all of the candidates and Prime Minister Stephen Harper on notice – this leadership campaign will be about ideas. The Prime Minister has returned to what he does best – hide his agenda and refuse to comment on issues that matter to Canadians. Issues like energy infrastructure.

Martha isn’t hiding. She is talking about energy infrastructure and much more all across Canada. If you missed Martha’s article in the Globe and Mail about Canada’s Energy Infrastructure, click here.

One of the benefits of being a registered candidate with Elections Canada is the ability to offer tax receipts for donations. If you donate before December 31st and have taxable income in 2012, you are eligible to receive tax credits when you give to the Martha Hall Findlay campaign. The first $400 you donate will cost you only $100 after your tax credit!

Will you help Martha by donating today?

Together, we will show Prime Minister Harper that ideas win elections, not bullying and hiding behind omnibus budgets. Your donation today will help to ensure Martha’s important message reaches more Canadians.

Donations are eligible for generous tax credits

Remember, all donations will entitle you to tax credits (credits are calculated across all of your political donations). The maximum leadership donation is $1,200. Tax credits for donations are: 75% for the first $400, 50% for the the next $350, and 33.5% for the next $500.

The first $400 donated will entitle you to a $300 tax credit;
Donations between $400 and $750: entitle you to $300 plus 50% of any amount over $400;
Donations over $750: entitle you to $475 plus 33 1/3% of any amount over $750 up to a maximum credit of $650 per year.

Please help today

This is too important to put off to another day, Martha needs your help now. Please give what you can.

Make a donation now

Thank you.

Martha Hall Findlay Campaign Team

Martha Hall Findlay on the Gun Registry

admin — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 00:07:30 +0000

Statement from Martha Hall Findlay about the National Gun Registry – December 3, 2012:

“I have been on record, many times, as saying that the idea of a gun registry was a worthy thing. The original, laudable, goal of the gun registry was to obtain and maintain information on firearms, with a view to preventing or reducing gun violence, especially domestic violence. It was never expected to be a panacea – we always knew, for example, that illegal guns would never be registered. But to the extent that the information was valuable for safety and other crime fighting purposes, many of us, including most police forces, supported it. I have also said, as someone who spent half of my growing up in rural Ontario — (I can handle both a .22 and a shotgun just fine, thank you) — that the government of the day made major mistakes in communicating it and implementing it.

We should have, right from the beginning, engaged the stakeholders, including those in the hunting and farming communities. Most importantly, we should have asked for the advice and help of firearms users as to how best to collect the information – instead, it was forced onto those who had legitimate concerns. We should never have told firearm owners who had expressed concerns that if they didn’t comply, they would be the ones treated as criminals. No wonder people objected. And without that advice, the government ended up spending far, far more that it should have. There were clear problems with the implementation. But the idea of a gun registry, including for long guns, had and still has merit. “

National Energy Infrastructure Strategy

admin — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 04:40:56 +0000

Originally published: Globe and Mail – November 30, 2012

Over the course of the Liberal leadership campaign, I will be set out policy ideas on a variety of issues that affect us as Canadians, domestically and in the world. Ideas to encourage discussion.

The most important issue we face right now is the economy – and we will talk about domestic economics as well as international opportunities, including trade and investment. As income inequality grows in Canada, and too many Canadians see a tougher road ahead, the prosperity we seek needs to be prosperity with purpose we will also suggest more effective and fiscally smart use of government resources. Finally, we must recognize the importance of all regions of Canada, work to build on our relative strengths, and emphasize how all parts of Canada will be involved in contributing to the prosperity of the whole.

One example is a national energy infrastructure strategy.

Canada has an abundance of energy and other natural resources – and the world wants them. One of Canada’s biggest challenges, however, is getting our energy to those markets. Because we cannot get our oil to other markets, Canada is a captive supplier to the United States, resulting in a significant discount in the price we receive. Simply put, we get less for our oil (and have correspondingly less tax revenue) than if we could sell it to other world markets. And with the recent International Energy Agency prediction that the US will become the world’s largest oil producer by 2020, our reliance on the US market is even more worrisome. The emerging high growth markets of Asia, China in particular, offer tremendous opportunity – but not if we can’t get there.

The irony is that Canada has Western producers receiving too little for their oil because they are captive of one market, and East Coast refineries that are captive to globally-priced oil from foreign sources. Lower revenues, anywhere in the country, and higher costs, anywhere in the country, hurt us all.

Canada can do better – but only if we work together.

We should find a way to get oil to the West Coast, and from there to the thirsty Asian markets, including China. Whether that be by pipeline, whether it be through Kitimat or Prince Rupert, whether it be additional capacity to Vancouver, or even whether it be by rail through Alaska – the final decisions need to be determined by the various stakeholders.

However it’s done, a viable access route to the West Coast is important to our prosperity.

Unfortunately, neither the private sector participants nor governments did as much as they should have, as early as they should have, to understand the environmental concerns and to involve affected First Nations. That lack of early and constructive engagement has delayed and may even now prevent finding an acceptable solution – but the parties must try.

Nothing is risk-free, or easy.

To move forward with a West Coast option, business and governments must work with First Nations to allow development without having to relinquish positions on unresolved issues. Whatever project is proposed, it must meet legitimate environmental requirements. We need better environmental regulation, not just less of it, which Stephen Harper clearly prefers. We need the best contingency plans technologically available, and clear lines of risk accountability.

Other infrastructure alternatives have been proposed, including an eastward pipeline. It’s not clear that the economics work as well, particularly for access to the large Asian markets, but there could be other real advantages – not the least of which would be greater involvement of, and benefits to, other regions. New Brunswick’s premier, David Alward, seems very interested, given excess refinery capacity in his province – and the deep water port at St. John. Alberta’s Alison Redford, who has advocated a national energy strategy, and Pauline Marois of Quebec have agreed to discuss the idea further, including technical and environmental issues, and to share expertise and information. There is already pipeline capacity stretching to Montreal, and although there are some technical challenges, the idea is gaining strength. Frank McKenna has promoted the idea, saying, “This essential infrastructure project would be good for all regions of Canada. It would be an extraordinary catalyst for economic growth. It would be a powerful symbol of Canadian unity.”

But here’s where the need for a national infrastructure strategy comes in.

These projects – their benefits and their risks – cross provincial boundaries, and involve tanker traffic on either coast. No province or territory, or the federal government for that matter, can operate in isolation. We need to work together. There is tremendous benefit in the various participants developing a common national strategy, rather than one-off regional efforts. Whereas a number of premiers have started talking about cooperating on some of these energy infrastructure ideas, Stephen Harper has avoided all responsibility, creating a vacuum of leadership.

We need a national energy infrastructure strategy. The same logic applies to natural gas and hydro. We have increasing renewable energy capability but have transmission grid challenges.

Although we may not always agree, we have far more to gain working together than not – with the federal government playing a key facilitating and brokering role. We can do more, and we can do it better, together.

We’re all Canadians

admin — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 22:21:11 +0000

Martha Hall Findlay statement – November 22, 2012:

“Every community, every city, every province, every territory, and every Canadian living anywhere in this country, is fundamental to what Canada is, and to our collective future. I have never wavered from that view, or from my pride in, and respect for, all of what makes Canada what it is. Our variety, our different geographic regions, different economies, different experiences, different backgrounds, different languages — all contribute to the whole that is this great country, and we are all the better for it. We are, each one of us, equally Canadian, and we are stronger together.”

New Article in Policy Options: “Not Left, Not Right, but Forward”

mhf — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 15:23:54 +0000

My new piece on the future of the Liberal Party has now been published in Policy Options magazine,”Not Right, Not Left, but Forward”. http://www.irpp.org/po/archive/mar12/findlay.pdf

Please have a look. As always, comments and discussion are welcome.

Here is the abstract:

For Canadians to once again see the Liberal Party of Canada as their political choice for
Canada’s future, the Liberal Party must listen, not just to its own members but also to
what the majority of Canadians are saying. Liberal voices are critical, but the party cannot
move forward if it looks only inward. Many Canadians seek a new set of views on the
issues that are most important to us. They seek a political alternative that proudly
espouses the economic responsibility and business understanding that is missing from the
NDP; one that embraces free trade, competitiveness, energy development and global
opportunities as well as a stronger concern for social justice, individual rights and equality
of opportunity that is missing from the Conservatives. Canadians will only see themselves
reflected in the Liberal Party when it takes strong positions on key issues. And only then
will they consider it to be the party of the future rather than of the past.