Sep 30, 2008 - 09:33 AM

OSHAWA -- Oshawa's Conservative candidate and incumbent Dr. Colin Carrie sat down with the Oshawa This Week editorial board recently to answer a series of questions compiled by our editors and reporters. Joining him was government house leader Peter Van Loan, who is running as the Conservative incumbent in York-Simcoe riding.

Read on for excerpts from the responses they provided.

Q. What would your party do to reverse or compensate for manufacturing job losses? Do we need to change our trade policies?

CC: We've been bleeding manufacturing jobs since 1999. People forget we just became the government in 2006.

The first study we did was the manufacturing study across Canada. And, in our first full-year budget in 2007, the minister of finance put in all the good things that we recommended.

In February 2008 we finally delivered our Auto Action Plan, a part of which is $250 million for innovative investment. It also includes work for infrastructure needs, especially the Windsor-Detroit border.

The good news, according to Stats Can, is that I think in the last five out of six months there has been an uptick in manufacturing sales, so the policies are starting to work. But understand, from 1999 we've been bleeding these jobs and you can't just turn this around on a dime.

One of the arguments I hear, which is somewhat misleading, some of the leaders in the community are saying we have to stop Korean free trade. Well let me correct the record, there is no Korean free trade. The Korean free trade agreement was started under a previous government, under the Paul Martin government in July 2005 and the Liberals did want to accelerate that. But, we have put the brakes on that agreement because we're not going to sign an agreement that's not a good trade agreement for Canada, especially our manufacturing sector. We're not rushing into a deal just to have a deal done.

Another thing that's been brought up recently is that instead of having a free trade agreement with the United States, we should go back to something called the Auto Pact. Most of our job creation has been due to having access to the biggest consumer market in the world, which is the United States. For automotive, for example, Canadians only buy eight per cent of North American production in cars, we produce 17 per cent. Going back to an Auto Pact style agreement, we would lose the job equivalents to over a million units of assembled vehicles.

Q. Does your party have a contingency plan if Canada should fall into a recession?

PVL: You saw that last fall when we anticipated the potential downturn and we moved quickly to put the stimulus into the economy with the reduction in the GST three years ahead of schedule, the retroactive income tax cuts, a series of other tax relief measures. And it's happened, it's worked. The economy has slowed but we're not in a recession. The budget continues to be balanced. So, the hypothetical you're asking about has already happened and you've seen our action and you've seen that it's working.

Q. What do you believe Canada's policy is in Afghanistan, and is it working?

CC: I think it's important to remember why we're there. When there were the Twin Towers attacks, I believe there were 36 innocent Canadians who were murdered in that terrorist action and Afghanistan was the site where the Taliban was working with al Qaida in their training camps. At that time, two per cent of the Afghan people had access to medical care, there were only 700,000 kids in school and they were all boys. The infrastructure was a mess, there were no modern wells, there were no modern roads, there were no modern hospitals. Canada, along with its NATO allies, went over there to stand up not only against terrorism but to stand up for women's rights, to stand up for children's rights.

We've now seen, since the Canadian Forces have been there, wonderful development as far as access to basic health care. I believe now it's over 80 per cent of the population that has access to health care. There are over 7 million kids in school and over a third of them are young girls. Women can now vote, women can now hold property and can run a business.

The Canadian government is committed to being there, and this government, the Conservative government, allowed debate in the House of Commons and a free vote and we are going to be there until 2011. Our goal is to train the Afghan forces to look after their own country, to help train the police force.

Q. Can you provide three key elements of your party platform that would benefit the environment?

PVL: Obviously, the most significant is our "Turning the Corner" plan, which will result in a reduction of greenhouse gases of 20 per cent by the year 2020 and 50 per cent by the year 2050. It's a policy that's now in line with what will likely be the next emerging global agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. And it's one that has a regulatory approach, so the changes will actually happen. Our approach actually results in reductions because it is regulations emitters have to comply with. And we've worked cooperatively with the auto sector and other industries to ensure the targets we're developing are ones they may not want to meet but they believe they can meet.

The second one is a national water strategy, which is making a difference for the Great Lakes where we've put in significant investment. In my neck of the woods, we're investing $30 million in cleaning up Lake Simcoe. It's the first time ever there's been a federal investment in the environment there and we're doing the same with Lake Winnipeg and others across the country.

Then we get into the question of land. We have developed an approach to working with Conservancy Canada, in terms of setting aside what I would call endangered spaces, parts of land that are environmentally sensitive, that are in private ownership. Through changes in the tax structure, people can now donate that land without having to pay a capital gains tax; they can donate to preservation in perpetuity for environmental purposes. Under previous governments, they had to pay capital gains tax which was a real incentive not to do that and rather to sell it someone who might develop it or otherwise use it.

It's an integrated air, water, land approach to the environment and it's based on actual, real, tangible results.

Q. What issues and concerns are people bringing up as you go door-to-door?

CC: I think the people of Oshawa get it, they understand the most important issue is jobs and the economy. The feedback I'm getting at the door is that they're upset at their tax rates. And it does take a little bit of time to explain that property taxes aren't a federal issue, but that is probably the biggest irritant I'm getting at the door.

Q. What specifically would you do to resolve the Oshawa Harbour issue? Now that we have the Crombie Report, how will you ensure the government moves forward with the funding and support needed?

CC: First of all, I'd like to state that when you look at our waterfront, for over 25 years there really has not been any movement forward, there's been a lot of acrimony down there, a lot of politics being played. So I am thrilled that we were able to get Mr. Crombie to help us take the next steps forward.

We do have to work together with all levels of government. Some people say it's just a federal issue but it's not. The lands down there, some are caveated lands owned by the City.

I'm excited to hear that most stakeholders do like the idea of a mixed-use waterfront where we have the industry over on one side, we're going to work to restore our marina, and then on the west side to work with the City to return those lands and clean them up.

We do have an environmental assessment process that is ongoing right now, where I've been told next spring some time they should be completed. There's been some people criticizing that there's no dollar figure, Well, no federal government is going to write a blank cheque for an environmental cleanup. It's something where we need to know what we need to get done.

Q. Employment insurance is going to have an impact on more and more Durham employees in the auto sector. The maximum allowable income is $40,000 a year, giving a laid-off worker $423 a week. However, the average factory worker in Durham makes $55,000 a year, so $15,000 of their income is not eligible for employment insurance. If re-elected, will your government consider increasing the maximum allowance?

CC: I do believe we are undergoing a review of employment insurance. Oshawa is now on a pilot project; it was typically 940 hours you had to work before you got benefits, now it's down to 810. I believe our employees down at General Motors did receive very generous retirement, so these aren't job losses anymore, so to speak, these are people in early retirement. So for our economy it's going to be very good, I believe they'll be collecting two-thirds of their wages and a $35,000 voucher. It turned out to be 2,600-plus people that took the buyouts, which is more than the potential job losses from the closure of the truck plant. So, overall, given the circumstances, it's turned out to be a fairly good news story.

Q. You've said you don't think the Gifford Hill lands are the most appropriate location for FarmTech's proposed ethanol plant.

If council votes against the re-zoning but the proponent pushes ahead anyway, will you intervene or support the City in some way?

CC: You have to understand, the zoning issue, it isn't a federal issue. There are public processes and legal leases and contracts that are followed. And even in the Crombie report he recommended that you follow the public processes. These locations, of course as I stated, that's not my preferred location either.

But my understanding is regional council recommended five locations. Nothing was brought up at the time of the recommendation to change those locations. My understanding is the City has, in its toolbox, the tools to address these issues, because it isn't a federal issue.

If you want to talk about federal funding for biofuels, I'm fully supportive of that program. Regardless of the debate on Co2, maybe it's the same amount of CO2, we have to start thinking outside the box to diversify our fuel consumption and shift from non-renewable fuels to renewable fuels. This is an opportunity for Canada to be a leader, but it's also an opportunity for jobs. And in a community such as ours that has seen some job losses, when a company comes into our community willing to invest, I believe a couple hundred million dollars, I'm really hopeful and optimistic the City and the Region will work together because jobs are of concern in our community.