Sydney-Victoria

March 7, 2012

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Ottawa, ON) Following question period today in the House of Commons Mark Eyking, M.P. for Sydney Victoria & Chair of Atlantic Liberal Caucus feels that the Conservative’s commercial fisheries agenda will have a detrimental effect on fisher families and communities throughout Atlantic Canada.

Fleet Separation/owner-operator policies have been in place for 30 years with the aim to ensure enterprises in the Atlantic inshore and midshore fisheries remain independent and free from outside influence of larger corporations.

“When so many livelihoods are at stake, it is unbelievable that proper consultations did not take place by an industry worth over one billion dollars” said Eyking.

Conservatives have completely reversed the idea of adopting a more inclusive approach to policy making from fisher families and communities, hosting invite-only consultations with corporate fisher’s representatives giving little or no notice to organizations within the Independent Core Sector.

Reps from 33 owner-operator fleets from across Atlantic Canada and Quebec are saying DFO has shown nothing but the utmost contempt for fishermen by launching a top-down, manipulative dictatorial policy approach without giving proper notice.

This is Atlantic Canada’s single largest private sector employer, with over 10,000 individual licences holder plus 20,000 crew members.

“If the Conservatives get away with this secretive agenda, hundreds of communities throughout Atlantic Canada will be changed forever.” Eyking added

NEWS RELEASE

(OTTAWA, ON) Member of Parliament for Sydney-Victoria, Mark Eyking, questioned the Service Canada Minister today on the shutdown of the Job Bank website.

“Mr. Speaker, Canada’s unemployment rate is rising, 135,0000 employers and almost one million employees use the Job Bank website, unfortunately, this site has been out of service for weeks now. This site is a crucial tool, with more Canadians than ever before looking for work. Since this Minister took over Service Canada, EI wait times are longer, old age security is out of reach, student job centres are being shutdown, and now the Job Bank is out of service. Mr. Speaker, will the Job Bank re-open and when?” Eyking asked during Question Period today

“We hear the Minister today assuring us that they are working on it and it will be up and running again in the next couple days but every day the site is down, jobs will be lost. With the growing unemployment rate, this website has become a much needed resource, any sort of delay is unacceptable, it is causing frustrations for many” Eyking said after QP

*Backgrounder on the Job Bank service

Job Bank is the Government of Canada’s electronic listing of job opportunities across Canada. You can search Job Bank by occupational title, availability and time of posting. Job Bank is the largest Web-based network of job postings available to Canadians.

• Over 900,000 new jobs are posted on Job Bank every year.
• Up to 50,000 job postings can be accessed at any one time.
• Up to 2,000 new jobs are posted every day.
• More than 135,000 employers are registered with the website

The website is the country’s largest resource for people looking for work. It posts jobs available across the country and provides information about how to apply.

February 28, 2012

MEDIA ADVISORY

Ottawa— Today Mark Eyking M.P. for Sydney Victoria recognized Cape Breton’s Polish Community & St. Mary’s Polish Parish in the House of Commons. 

Mister Speaker,

Cape Breton has an active and vibrant Polish community. The centre of their community is St. Mary’s Polish Church in Whitney Pier. Over 100 years ago Polish immigrants came to Sydney to work in the new steel plant. They not only worked hard in the plant and raising families, they built a wonderful church and community.

This weekend I was honoured to attend a church service at St. Mary’s. It was a wonderful event highlighting traditional Polish dress and language. After the event the congregation blessed their buses and went on a pilgrimage to St. Ninian’s Cathedral in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. A church service was held at the Cathedral to highlight the Polish community and to showcase the importance of St. Mary’s Church to the Antigonish diocese.

Mister Speaker and colleagues, today I rise in this House to recognize the great contribution that St. Mary’s and the Polish community has given to Cape Breton and also the rest of Canada. May they continue to do so for many years to come.

Above picture of M.P. Mark Eyking and Tom Urbaniak celebrating Cape Breton’s Polish community at St. Mary’s Polish Parish in Whitney Pier.  (Feb 25^th, 2012)

February 7, 2012

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Ottawa, ON) Member of Parliament for Sydney-Victoria, Mark Eyking stood in the House of Commons today to recognize both Breton Education Centre and Riverview High School. The schools played host to two successful high school sporting events.

MP Eyking made the following statement prior to Question Period “Mr. Speaker, over the past week, two Cape Breton high schools hosted long standing sporting events. Breton Education Centre in New Waterford hosted the 31^st Annual Coal Bowl Classic basketball tournament that attracts participants from high schools right across this country. I would like to congratulate Three Oaks Axemen from Summerside PEI for their win over the Corner Brook Titans to be the title champions. Riverview High School in Coxheath hosted the 35^th Annual Red Cup Showcase hockey tournament featuring high school teams from all over Nova Scotia. The host team, Riverview Redmen were tournament champions for the second year in a row, with a 2-1 overtime win against the Cobequid Education Centre Cougars.

Both successful events happened with the hard work and dedication from staff, students, parents and volunteers, I rise today to recognize both Breton Education Centre and Riverview High School on jobs well done.”

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Ottawa, ON) Today, during Question Period, Member of Parliament for Sydney-Victoria, Mark Eyking questioned Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Keith Ashfield, on the unfair allocation of halibut quota to Cape Breton fishers.

“Mr. Speaker, off the shores of Cape Breton there is a healthy and vibrant halibut stock but the tragedy Mr. Speaker, Cape Breton fishers do not have a fair share of the catch. My question to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans is this, will he sit down with the Cape Breton fishermen and his officials to come up with a fair allocation of this halibut quota? If he cannot come to Cape Breton this weekend, we are willing to meet him in Fredericton.” Eyking asked

“What we were hoping for today was a firm commitment to this group that he would meet with them personally to come up with a fair solution for the region” Eyking said after Question Period “The Minister referred to the 1996 calculation, the reality is, there has been an increase in the fish stock since then, he’s the Minister and he has the power to change it, unfortunately he’s not interested”

February 1, 2012

Conservatives target Atlantic Canadians and their pensions

OTTAWA—Following their first meeting of the winter sitting of Parliament, the Liberal Atlantic caucus today urged the Conservative government to ease the fears of Atlantic Canada’s seniors and baby boomers, and not cut Canada’s Old Age Security (OAS) which would have a disproportionate effect on Atlantic Canadians.

“Atlantic Canada has a higher proportion of senior citizens than the rest of Canada and, on average, have lower incomes,” said Mark Eyking, Chair of Atlantic Caucus and MP for Sydney—Victoria. “Despite promising during the election they would not do this, Stephen Harper and is Conservatives insist on cutting OAS. Time and time again, Stephen Harper unfairly targets Atlantic Canada. We have seen it before with his public service job cuts, his health transfer cuts, and his employment insurance service cuts. Now, he’s coming after our OAS recipients, some of the most vulnerable members of our community.”

Senior citizens aged 65 and over make up a larger share of the Atlantic Canadian population than the Canadian average. Seniors in Atlantic Canada also rely more heavily on Old Age Security (OAS) and net federal supplements than seniors in other parts of the country. OAS makes up 28% of seniors’ income in Atlantic Canada, compared to 21% in Canada overall. By 2030, seniors are projected to make up roughly 30% of the population of the Atlantic provinces, compared to 23% nationally.

 “Our constituents are calling, emailing and visiting our constituency offices to tell us they want the Conservatives to take their hands off their pensions,” said Bob Rae, Leader of the Liberal Party. “During the last election Stephen Harper said he would not reduce transfer payments to provinces or individuals. But now he’s threatening to take away tens of thousands of dollars of support from the seniors who need it most.”

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Contact:

Press Office

Office of the Liberal Leader

613-947-5100

Dear Friends:

Harper thinks hes going to pay for his jails and jets by pick pocketing Canadian seniors, but we are ready to fight this tooth and nail.

As Canadians, we work hard. We pay our taxes, and save for retirement. But now Stephen Harper wants to take that away from us –

unless we work together to stop him.

Retired Canadians and those approaching retirement have every reason to be worried after Stephen Harper attacked Old Age Security (OAS) benefits during a speech at the World Economic Forum.

On January 26th, he said he’s prepared to raise the age Canadians qualify for Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement from 65 to 67. If you’re approaching 65 that means you could miss out on as much as $30,000 of payments that you were counting on.

Liberals know the best way to make sure income tested benefits likes OAS and the Guaranteed Income Supplement are affordable is by ensuring Canadians have access to strong pension plans so they won’t need the extra benefits. That is the path to sustainable prosperity for all Canadians.

Let’s stop Stephen Harper’s money grab now, before he puts it in the budget. Let’s not let him balance his budget deficit by robbing our retirement savings.

Please sign this petition & encourage your friends to do so here: www.petition.liberal.ca/oas-old-age-security-pension-retirement-benefits-cuts 

Sincerely,

M.P. Mark Eyking

Sydney-Victoria

On behalf of my family and staff, I would like to take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas and best wishes for 2012

For Immediate Release

(Ottawa, ON) Atlantic Liberal Caucus Chair and Member of Parliament for Sydney-Victoria, Mark Eyking, pressured the Conservative government on all the job cuts that are happening in Atlantic Canada. Today during question period Eyking asked the Atlantic Ministers why they are not doing more.

“Mr Speaker, Atlantic Canadians know very well what the Conservatives are doing to them. Let me inform this House of other job cuts besides the 200 in EI.” Eyking said “We have Veteran’s Affairs 500 jobs, ACOA 80 jobs, DFO 275 jobs, Search and Rescue closure in NFLD. That’s over 1000 families put out on the street. Mr. Speaker, when a fisherman, a veteran or an unemployed worker needs help, no one is going to be on the other end of the line. We know the Prime Minister’s attitude towards us. Why are the Atlantic Ministers not standing up for their people?” Eyking asked.

Treasury Board figures show that Atlantic Canada has lost over 400 federal public service jobs in the last two years alone, this number will only increase when the additional job cuts to DFO, ACOA, Service Canada and Veteran’s Affairs are implemented. “Atlantic Canadians have reason to worry, again we see this government ignoring us” Eyking said “We would understand having to endure our fair share of cuts but the numbers are just not adding up” Eyking added

News Release
November 28, 2011

For Immediate Release

(Ottawa, ON) Member of Parliament for Sydney-Victoria, Mark Eyking stood in the House of Commons today to honour and recognize the loss of two outstanding members of our community, Chief Myles Burke and Mr. Fred Jackson.

“Mr. Speaker, in the last few months, Cape Breton has lost two pillars in the community, Police Chief Myles Burke and community leader, Freddy Jackson. Chief Burke was born and raised in Louisburg and he began his policing career over 30 yrs ago and became our chief in 2009. He was well respected not only in policing but also by his volunteering. Chief Myles Burke will be sadly missed and forever remembered by his wife, Jayne and daughters, Nicole and Janine. Freddie Jackson, born in St. John’s NFLD, spent many years as managing editor of the Cape Breton Post. He was also known for his involvement in several community organizations and for his many years of coaching and contributions to sport. Freddie will be sadly missed and forever remembered by his wife, Beatrice and 5 daughters, Stephanie, Melissa, Jillian, Nicola and Carmen. Both of these men became my personal friends, I, along with many others will miss them dearly. They will continue to be great inspirations for their dedication and commitment.” Eyking said