MP backs G20 outlay

The Beacon Herald kicks off a series of year-end interviews with local political leaders with Perth- Wellington MP Gary Schellenberger. Wednesday, Perth-Wellington MPP and provincial Environment Minister John Wilkinson.

Perth-Wellington's MP is backing the government all the way on its controversial pension reform plan and on its stand that spending close to $1 billion on security for a weekend G20 summit in Toronto was justified.

Despite the arrests of about 1,000 demonstrators, many of whom were released without charge or who had charges withdrawn or dismissed, Gary Schellenberger said that in his view police did not exceed their authority.

"I'm strongly behind the government and I am strongly behind the police. I think they did a great job," said Schellenberger in a year-end interview.

Security costs could have been less, he suggested, "if we only had the protesters on the street and not the hooligans that were only there to cause trouble."

Schellenberger said he does not feel police overstepped their authority. Some of the incidents were orchestrated by demonstrators for the television cameras, he suggested.

"No one was killed," he pointed out, and the cost was about the same as for security at the Vancouver Olympics.

Challenged on the comparison of the two events, Schellenberger said the difference was the presence of 20 national leaders, including the U.S. president, at the Toronto event.

About 400 written complaints about police misconduct were made to the Office of the Independent Police Review Director following the June summit.

So far, one officer has been charged in connection with the melee that included damage to police cruisers and some smashed store fronts.

Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty was meeting with provincial government representatives in an attempt to achieve consensus on pension reform the day of the Schellenberger interview, but Flaherty had shifted considerably from an earlier position aimed at expanding the existing Canada Pension Plan to an optional private pool plan.

Critics doubted whether Canadians who already haven't been using available saving and investment opportunities would go for what appears to be a more complex, optional pension system.

Schellenberger, however, rejected that argument.

"This is what's the matter with the country. The government can't be everything to everybody and people have to take some responsibility," he said.

He mentioned that when he ran a home decorating business his company couldn't afford to contribute to the Canada Pension Plan.

He took care of his own personal savings and investments, he said.

"We're in an open society where people have the right to save money or to spend money."

The CPP amounts to a payroll tax for business, Schellenberger said, and if an employer can't afford to contribute but is forced to, the business will go broke and jobs will be lost.

Numerous reports on Canadians' retirement prospects have indicated most people don't put enough away for retirement and that even if they are entitled to a pension, it's not enough for a reasonably comfortable lifestyle.

VETERANS AFAIRS

As chair since September of the House of Commons' standing committee on veterans affairs, Schellenberger acknowledged past ombudsman Patrick Stogran brought forward some important issues about the treatment of veterans.

Veterans Affairs Minister Jean- Pierre Blackburn has acted to correct the situation, Schellenberger said.

"Minister Blackburn has really taken the bull by the horns to make sure our veterans are looked after properly."

One of Stogran's main criticisms was that bureaucrats in the ministry were more concerned about scrimping on health care funding for wounded soldiers than on making sure they were being amply compensated for the extended care they need.

"One thing I've realized out of this is that Veterans Affairs seemed to work well for our Second World War veterans and our Korean (War) veterans, but some of our modern veterans don't belong to any organizations -- they don't belong to the Legion or Army and Navy Vets."

Schellenberger cited changes made to the Veterans Charter, which was implemented in 2006, that are expected to assist those who may have fallen through the cracks.

"The minister has made some changes, some very important changes," he said, including a change that allows flexibility in how compensation for long-term health care is handed out for disabled veterans.

Schellenberger said the department was already working on some of the issues raised by Stogran -- since replaced by a new ombudsman.

"They were getting addressed one way or the other or they were working on getting them addressed. They just weren't quick enough for him," he said.

The standing committee will be reporting to the House in the new year on a study recently undertaken dealing with suicide and mental health among veterans and military personnel.

There was consensus around the table that such a study should be done, said the committee chair.

ELECTI ON?

Asked about the possibility of an election, Schellenberger said there's one chance for that happening around the budget but he had been told there will be "no poison pill in the budget."

"There's no appetite with the populace out there for an election. Our whole thing is to try to bring this economy back from the fragile state that it's been in."

That's where the finance minister's priorities are, said Schellenberger.

He defended the government's infrastructure stimulus program that has been extended to projects begun by March 2011 and pointed to local municipal projects that have benefited, including the new sanitary sewage system in Shakespeare and the industrial park expansion in Stratford.

The MP cited as an example of government money well spent the $3 million in stimulus funding granted to the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in 2009. Not only did it help turn around a projected multimillion-dollar deficit, but it generated some $34 million in economic activity in the Stratford area.

"That's money well spent," he said. "I think when government can give money to leverage money and create activity, that is good."

While local economic development strategies have been largely focused on job creation, Schellenberger said a recent pre-budget conference in Listowel raised the issue of a shortage of general labour.

"It's almost ironic," he said. "Our problem is we have a shortage of labour."

Erie Meats, which bought the former Campbell Soup plant in Listowel, is looking for employees. So is Spinrite Yarns, also in Listowel, as well as an auto parts manufacturer in the riding, he said.

Schellenberger said that in North Perth and in the area that includes Wellington-Palmerston, some 500 to 600 workers are needed for general labour.

In agriculture, he said, the pork and beef industry is "still in peril," although grain and oilseeds farmers have seen a turnaround with good yields and prices.

The value of the Canadian dollar vis-a-vis the U.S. dollar is still a big concern to area farmers and businesses in the riding, Schellenberger said.

Source: http://www.stratfordbeaconherald.com/