Oakville’s Federal Members of Parliament, Minister of Public Services and Procurement and MP for Oakville, the Honourable Anita Anand and MP for Oakville-North Burlington, Pam Damoff, participated in a question-and-answer session with Tim Caddigan, Past Chair of the Oakville Chamber of Commerce, in a Facebook live segment on Thursday, May 13.
Both women took time to emphasize the honour and privilege they feel to be serving Canadians and being part of what they see as a historic government despite the unanticipated crisis.
They alluded to the cooperation at all levels of government, across party lines, and what they saw as a universal focus, at Federal, Provincial and Municipal levels, on the needs of their constituents.
Dr. Anand, whose portfolio encompasses all government procurement, noted the unprecedented financial support that has been delivered and continues for businesses, individuals and charity organizations. Because no one could predict the pandemic's severity or duration, the mistake would have been not to act, rather than to act too aggressively, she said.
In her role, she described the challenges of procuring 2.7 billion items of personal protective equipment (PPE), 40 million rapid tests, and, so far, 40 million vaccine doses in a globally competitive marketplace. Asked about the personal toll, she said that while she anticipated the hard work, doing “what I got into government to do, to help Canadians,” the pandemic was, of course, a surprise. She very much appreciated the rapidity of the all-encompassing government commitment to do just that. “I am excited to work through to the other side now.”
That said, she pointed out that the diversified procurement approach for vaccines has worked well as different manufacturers have encountered delays or concerns have arisen with one vaccine or another. More than 50% of adult Ontarians have received at least one dose of vaccine. Canadian production is being brought on stream, and “in the long term, Canadians will never have to worry about obtaining vaccines across borders again.” Meanwhile, across the world, syringes for vaccinations are an issue. Still, Canada has procured 72.5 million, ensuring this will not be a constraint to coming out on the other side of the Covid-19 crisis.
Asked about the recent budget, MP Damoff spoke of her pride in the $30 billion commitment to childcare and early learning. According to McKinsey, she said, we can anticipate $150 billion to be added to the economy by the increased participation of women this will enable.
“As the Prime Minister has said, 'We have Canadians’ backs'," she said. She described her constituents telling her how the income replacement benefits, wage subsidies, and emergency loans have helped. They have meant that many small businesses have been able to survive the pandemic that otherwise would have failed, and many families could continue to provide for themselves despite lost incomes.
Dr. Anand emphasized that multi-level government cooperation has not been limited to the pandemic. Governments have worked together to facilitate the adoption of electric buses and enable the Ford assembly plant's re-tooling for electric vehicle production. “If you don’t have a plan for the environment, you don’t have a plan for the economy of the future,” she said.
MP Damoff quoted former Minister Scott Bryson, who said, “Government is like Blockbuster in a Netflix world” to illustrate the importance of digitizing government’s services. Damoff noted that even medicine adopted a greater use of digital delivery methods accelerated by the pandemic.
“E-commerce has in many cases been what has allowed the survival of some businesses,” she said, a strong argument for Canada’s digital adoption program, which will support businesses to increase their use of digital tools. This program will also stimulate youth employment in assisting these businesses to make technological transitions. An increase in funding of $2.6 billion to the Business Development Bank to fund new and expanding enterprises will support these priorities. It also aligns with the Digital Main Street project.
For the future, Minister Anand said there are three priorities:
- The environment, with a focus on carbon reduction
- The economy, emerging from the pandemic
- Fiscal prudence, to have the deficit reduced to 1.1% of GDP by 2026
She pointed out that the solid fiscal position allowed critical support in the pandemic and that it is essential to re-establish that base in anticipation of future challenges. While it is risky to take on debt, the greater risk, when faced with the pandemic, would have been not to provide the vital support the government delivered.
MP Damoff was asked about the toxic communication on social media and to what degree it had reached her. Mr. Caddigan lamented this trend, asking what she felt the response could be. She said that her position on gun control had been a catalyst for hateful, misogynistic and xenophobic communication, much of it personal. Passionate about this topic, Ms. Damoff has been undaunted by the vituperative communications directed at her. She pointed out that the most visible issue of guns and gangs has been approached through youth diversion tactics and policing reforms. She noted the ban on military-style assault rifles. Of key concern to her was the increased risk of suicide in the presence of guns, as well as the use of weapons in the home where women are shot in greater numbers or where the gun is used in the coercive control of women. The increase in domestic violence during the pandemic has brought attention to this matter.
“We need more women in politics,” she said, "and I seek to be a role model. The tone on social media has worsened dramatically, affecting real-world behaviour, as evidenced by the Jan. 6 event in the United States. That tone has crept into Canada and even into our own community." The unprecedented collaboration among all levels of government has been an example that could counter that. There have been bumps in the road, just as there are in families, she pointed out, but all levels of government have been responding to what the public wants, which is that their representatives work together and focus on constituents as priority number one.
Minister Anand confirmed that online harassment has increased and needs to be tamped down, pointing to the work the women’s caucus has done in this regard. Elected politicians are indeed role models and our collaboration to get things done sets an example. "I have reached out to my Provincial counterpart, Progressive Conservative MPP Stephen Crawford, and he agrees with me as to the importance of this."
The Oakville Chamber of Commerce has performed a helpful community service in putting our elected officials from all levels of government on the spot for questions about our country, province and community, and what our leaders are doing to position us for a healthy, cohesive and prosperous future. From Town of Oakville Mayor Rob Burton, who also serves on regional Council, to Provincial Parliament representatives Effie Triantafilopolous and Stephen Crawford, and our Federal MPs Pam Damoff and Minister Anita Anand, we are fortunate to have dedicated public servants looking out for our interests as Oakvilleans, Ontarians and Canadians.
We may have differences of opinion as to their philosophies or individual policies. At any time, these are challenging roles involving considerable personal sacrifice. That is all the more true in the time of a pandemic. Nevertheless, the personal fulfillment offered by the opportunity to serve the public was evident from our representatives. We hope their examples serve to attract people of all backgrounds to aspire to public service and attract more high calibre individuals to contribute to building a safe, inclusive, tolerant, healthy and prosperous Canada.