New Democrats: putting you and family first in difficult times

The past 12 months have been tough for most – yet time after time the Harper Conservatives have missed their opportunity to help. They’ve been looking after their political and business friends. They’ve been working with provincial governments to increase your taxes. And they’ve stacked the Senate and other government jobs with their Conservative friends … like they said they wouldn’t.

But while Harper has been playing the politics of division and putting his party’s interests first, Jack Layton has been doing what he does best: bringing people together to get results.

Here are just a few of the accomplishments of your New Democrat MPs that will make life more affordable and protect you in tough economic times:

$1 billion for workers who need it: Instead of pushing for an early election no one wanted, Jack Layton reached across the aisle to moderate Conservatives. As a result, New Democrat MPs secured $1 billion worth of Employment Insurance benefits to help 90,000 unemployed workers whose EI was about to run out -- equaling up to 20 extra weeks of EI.

Forced the Conservatives to respond to the economic crisis: New Democrats led the opposition last winter when the Conservatives played politics while jobs were at risk. As a result, the Government introduced stimulus measures New Democrats were calling for. Your NDP MPs are now fighting for transparency and accountability to ensure dollars went were they were needed most.

Protecting credit card holders: Secured passage of Glenn Thibault’s (Sudbury) motion calling on the government to enact legislation to protect consumers from abusive credit card fees and penalties; “any time, any reason” interest rate increases; and account changes.

Secured car-owners’ right to repair: Public support for Brian Masse’s (Windsor West) “right to repair” bill prompted automakers and the after-market repair industry to come to a landmark agreement to fulfill the purpose of the bill, ensuring choice for car-owners in the repair and maintenance of their vehicles.

Protecting our kids from “candy tobacco”: The Government adopted Judy Wasylycia-Leis’ (Winnipeg North) Private Members Bill to ban flavoured tobacco targeted at children. The legislation is scheduled to come into effect next year.

Putting Canada on track to an cleaner energy-economy: New Democrats succeeded in getting Bruce Hyer’s (Thunder Bay–Superior North) Climate Change Accountability Act out of committee and into the House for 3rd reading. The bill legislates practical targets to cut greenhouse gases in Canada.

Inquiry into salmon fishery: Repeated demands from Peter Julian (New Westminster-Coquitlam) resulted in the Government deciding to convene a judicial inquiry to investigate the disappearance of millions of sockeye salmon from B.C.'s Fraser River fishery.

Public benefits for the self-employed: Years of New Democrat pressure to begin extending public benefits to self-employed resulted in the Government introducing legislation to grant parental, sickness and compassionate-care benefits to Canada’s 2.6 million self-employed.

Turning your priorities into Ottawa’s priorities: Your New Democrat MPs have also made significant progress in getting the attention of other parties on critical issues you care about. Issues like:

• Fighting the HST: New Democrats have been the only party opposing Stephen Harper’s plan to increase sales taxes across Canada, starting with Ontario and BC families.
• Promoting pension security: New Democrats put the crisis facing pension security on the agenda, starting with protecting workers’ severance, pensions and medical and disability benefits when employers go bankrupt.
• Protecting Canada’s international reputation: New Democrat MPs Paul Dewar and Jack Harris first called for an inquiry into allegations of abuse of prisoners in Afghanistan to clear the name of our brave Canadian Forces members.

What they have been saying:

“[Stephen Harper] caved to NDP demands on Employment Insurance to avoid going to the polls.” – Lawrence Martin, Metronews, 22 September 2009

“The NDP has done what we all wanted done.” - Editorial, Montreal Gazette, September 18, 2009

"Merci beaucoup (Jack Layton) de la fraîcheur que vous amenez à notre vie politique et des idées qui font progresser j'espère notre société." Jean-Luc Mongrain, LCN 15 mai 2009

“[New Democrats] were onto the economic file early, issuing dire warnings and calls for action. And it turns out they were on the mark a good deal of the time, occasionally even prophetic.” – Lawrence Martin, Globe and Mail, 2 April 2009