Just a reminder about our Cambridge NDP Provincial Riding Association General Meeting this Saturday, February 18th at 2:00 PM at the Hespeler Scout House, 16 Kribs Street, Cambridge. It will be followed at 3:00 PM by a Pub Social at Ernie’s Roadhouse, Queen Street West, Cambridge.  Those of you who have an active membership  would have received a letter in the mail.

If you have a lapsed membership, you can renew online at  http://ontariondp.com/membership/becomeamember.php  OR, if you would like a member of our Riding Association to meet with you personally, please E-Mail me at bobbi.stewart@sympatico.ca or call (519) 653 – 4759.  If you do this on or before Thursday, Feb. 16., you will be eligible to vote in the Federal Leadership Campaign.

Here is the Agenda for Saturday:

1)    Election of delegates to represent our riding association at the upcoming 2012 Provincial Convention occurring April 13-15 in Hamilton.

The Cambridge Provincial Riding Association will be electing up to 7 delegates and must adhere to gender parity in the selection. We hope you will consider being a delegate. Delegates are asked to cover their own costs for attending the convention The cost is considered a donation and you will receive a generous provincial tax credit.

2)    Keynote speaker, Paul Miller, MPP for Hamilton East – Stoney Creek

We are very excited to have the always rousing Paul Miller as our Keynote Speaker. Before joining the NDP caucus in 2007, Paul worked for 32 years at Hamilton Steel as an industrial mechanic, welder and fitter. As a labour leader with the United Steelworkers, Paul worked tirelessly in nine campaigns on behalf of workers in Hamilton and across the country, pushing to change Canadian labour laws to protect pensions and the rights of workers. Later, he served as a Stoney Creek City Councilor for 6 years. He was recently appointed the NDP Critic for Government Services, Tourism and Culture and for Sport by NDP Leader Andrea Horwath (MPP Hamilton Centre).

This event has been postponed until March.

Stay tuned!

When: Tuesday February 14: 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Where: The Rum Runner Pub

• 1 King St. W., Kitchener

NDP leadership candidate Niki will be vising Waterloo Region on February 14th and will host a meet-and-greet in the back room of the Rum Runner Pub. You will have a chance to hear from Niki about her vision for New Politics in Canada

About Niki:
First elected MP for the …riding of Churchill in 2008 and re-elected in 2011, Niki Ashton has been a strong voice for equality in Parliament.

Niki has spoken out on poverty, including calling for action to end the third-world conditions facing Northern and Aboriginal people. She has been fighting to maintain Canadian jobs and control over our economy. She has been a strong voice for gender equality and human rights, including fighting for same-sex marriage rights. She has been a leading voice in fighting against the destruction of the Canadian Wheat Board.

The youngest woman in the 40th Parliament, Niki served as the NDP Post-Secondary and Youth critic and as Rural and Community Development critic. Niki was elected as the Chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women in the current Parliament.

Niki has been active in the NDP all her life. She has served as the Chair of the NDP Status of Women Committee and on the Provincial Executive in Manitoba. She has been on the NDP Federal Council since 2006.

A former instructor with University College of the North, she has an MA in International Affairs (Carleton University) and a BA in Global Political Economy (University of Manitoba). She is completing her PhD in Peace and Conflict Studies at the Art Mauro Centre at the University of Manitoba. She is fluent in four languages: English, French, Spanish and Greek, her mother-tongue, and she has studied four others.

Niki lives with her partner, Ryan Barker, in the city of Thompson, Manitoba, where she was born and raised.

Niki believes that it is vital for the New Democratic Party to put forward a vision of new politics that seeks to bring Canadians together.

The Cambridge Provincial NDP Riding Association has signed on to support the following efforts by the Ontario Health Coalition to preserve good quality, free, public healthcare in Ontario and in Canada:

Save Public Medicare! Information

As you may know, the federal government is attempting to constrain federal funding of health care. They are doing nothing to protect public single-tier health care in Canada. On a national level, those opposed to public health care recognize that the Harper government’s decision to do nothing on health care has been both, deliberate, and strategic. The failure of Harper’s conservatives to perform the federal government’s role in enforcing the Canada Health Act’s prohibitions against user fees and extra-billing of patients serves to allow two-tier health care to emerge without ever having to announce private health care as policy or pass it as legislation. This failure to protect patients from two-tier charges, combined with pressure on funding and the Harper government’s encouragement of the growth of the private for-profit hospitals and clinics will – perhaps fatally -sabotage the public health care system.

We are very concerned that the Harper government may try to sign agreements with the privatization-friendly provincial governments and undermine the renewal of a federal health accord and Canada’s national health care system.

The future of health care in Canada, and the principles of equity and fairness that underlie it, are at risk. Canadians from all walks of life must stand up to insist that our common values be respected and protected. All Canadians have a role to play in helping to protect a national health care system for all Canadians across the country on equal terms and conditions.

The Ontario Health Coalition is working with their national partner – the Canadian Health Coalition – to organize people who support public health care and make our voices heard.

www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca

The countdown to the NDP Leadership Convention is on. On March 24, in Toronto, New Democrats will choose our next leader.

Cambridge & North Dumfries NDP Riding Association was host to 3 of these candidates. For more information visit http://leadership2012.ndp.ca

PRESS RELEASE — IN CAMBRIDGE DEC. 1, MEET NDP LEADERSHIP CANDIDATES TO REPLACE JACK LAYTON — LEADERSHIP EVENT NOTICE ATTACHED

** UPDATED: November 24/2011 **

The race to succeed Jack Layton will heat up in Cambridge on Dec. 1 as some perceived front-runners are confirmed to speak at the NDP Leadership Candidates’ forum sponsored by the Cambridge NDP.

National NDP president Brian Topp and Toronto MP Peggy Nash will be joined by Nova Scotia pharmacist Martin Singh as they address local party members at the Preston Arena Banquet Hall at 7:30 pm. Candidates are looking for support leading up to the leadership vote on March 24, when party members will select the new leader in a One Member One Vote election with the winner being announced at the Leadership Convention in Toronto.

The candidates are among nine registered to contest the leadership of Canada’s NDP, following the untimely death of Jack Layton in August. Other leadership candidates may also appear as all nine have been invited to the Cambridge event. The other candidates are: Deputy Leader Thomas Mulcair, Ottawa MP Paul Dewar, BC MP Nathan Cullen, Nova Scotia MP Robert Chisholm, Quebec MP Romeo Saganash, and Manitoba MP Niki Ashton.

This leadership contest marks the first time in the party’s history when the newly elected leader becomes Leader of the Official Opposition and is one step from becoming Prime Minister of Canada.

More Info Contact: Max Lombardi 519-624-4358 lombardimax@hotmail.com
More info Contact: Frank Curnew 519-623-6635 frank@uwcambridge.on.ca

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OTTAWA – New Democrats are putting practical solutions ahead of bitter wedge politics as they move into this fall’s parliamentary session. Speaking at today’s caucus meeting, Leader Jack Layton said Canadians can expect “a united, democratic, truly Canadian party that’s ready to get down to work and get results.”

“My Dad, a Conservative Cabinet Minister, understood the importance of working with his caucus,” said Layton. “He knew you can’t lead a country as big and as diverse as ours unless you’re able to listen. To work together. Driving divisions may be good short-term politics. But it’s not leadership that will move this country forward.”

Instead, Layton says the party will focus on building a real middle-class recovery, pushing the government to uphold its stimulus commitments, make life more affordable for families and seniors, and build a prosperous green economy to spur job growth.

Layton also called on Stephen Harper to immediately raise the Guaranteed Income Supplement for seniors who are struggling to get by.

“In 3 years, Stephen Harper has raised Old Age Security by – get this – a dollar fifty,” said Layton. “How he expects them to pay ballooning home heating bills on this I don’t know. It’s not enough. If Stephen Harper can afford billions for profitable banks and oil companies, he can afford more than a dollar fifty for seniors. It’s just common sense.”

Layton says the New Democrat caucus is committed to getting things done “the Canadian way,” by listening to each other.

“Every member of your New Democratic caucus is ready to fight to deliver practical results that will improve the lives of middle-class families.”

Long-time Cambridge NDP member Alida Burrett was honoured in May by the YWCA, being named among the 11 Women of Distinction for 2010 at an awards event at Cambridge City Hall.

Alida was named under the category of ADVANCEMENT OF WOMEN after leading women toward equality in the 1970s and 1980s. She was still assisting the International Women’s Day Regional Committee with their activities in the 2000s until she could no longer function after suffering from dementia.

Pornography was another issue that Alida tackled. Her group lobbied to keep unsavoury and lurid magazines out of the reach of teens, as well as offer educational presentations on healthy sexuality.

Environmental awareness also moved Alida and in the 1980s she promoted the beginning of the blue box recycling program. Later in 1998 Alida founded the Citizens Advisory Committee on Air Quality, which pushed for an expansion of the regional public transit system. Her last public action was to convince the Waterloo Region District School Board in 2000 that children too needed protection against overexertion and against breathing smog during bad-air-quality days. Alida spent her final working days teaching children at Shelter Bay public school in Mississauga.

Alida and her husband George are long-time residents of Cambridge.

Staff reductions at Cambridge Memorial are the latest example of how the McGuinty government has grown out-of-touch with Ontario families, says New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath.

“Ontario hospitals are bursting at the seams due to the H1N1 outbreak, is now really the time to have fewer nurses, doctors and health professionals?” she asked during a press conference at Cambridge Memorial Hospital today. “Dalton McGuinty says he can’t afford to invest in Cambridge Memorial but he can find $2 billion a year for a corporate-tax giveaway. He’s completely out-of-touch with Ontario families.”

Cambridge Memorial has been under the control of a provincial supervisor with a mandate to reduce spending since September. Overtime is being reduced, early retirement is being encouraged, and empty positions are being left unfilled.

“Unfortunately, Cambridge is not alone. Four out of every ten Ontario hospitals are in the same dire situation, forced to cut staff and services to balance budgets,” said Horwath. “Emergency rooms have been shut down in Port Colborne and Fort Erie as a result of these cuts,” she added.

She warned that this year’s round of cuts are merely the tip of the iceberg.

“Instead of plowing ahead with cuts at Cambridge Memorial, McGuinty should reconsider the $2-billion-a-year in corporate tax cuts,” declared Horwath. “The Premier blew $1  billion on eHealth and finds $1 million a day for high-flying consultants, but tells Ontario families to expect less in health care.”

“It’s time for this government to put people first.”

As amended at Convention, November 2004

The provincial Party will unite progressive people and organizations into a party  democratically controlled and openly financed by its membership. It will, with all the  resources at its command, extend the policies and program on a provincial level of the New Democratic Party (of Canada).
It will endeavour to establish in this province a government whose object shall be to substitute economic planning for irresponsible control with all its unjust consequences and thereby to give maximum opportunity for public, co-operative, and private enterprise to contribute to the development of our province. To this end we will invite the co-operation of all persons who are dedicated to the extension of freedom, the abolition of poverty and the elimination of exploitation.

http://ontariondp.com/en/about/constitution/