Throughout this year, I have been attending events like Waterdown’s Oh Canada Ribfest, holding mobile office hours in Carlisle, Copetown, Rockton and Waterdown, and knocking on doors across Flamborough. I’ve been to countless community events as a guest, and had a tent at a slate of fairs that finished with the Rockton World’s Fair on Thanksgiving weekend.
Flamborough residents have told me about the issues that are on their minds, the things that keep them up at night. What I hear over and over from area residents is that life is unaffordable. People tell me they’re concerned that the promise of Canada isn’t achievable right now. From new Canadians to youth just completing their education and starting careers, the Canadian dream of being able to work hard to earn enough to own a decent home in a safe neighbourhood, raise a family and save for retirement, feels impossible.
When my Omas and Opas immigrated to Canada from the Netherlands after WWII, working hard meant you could achieve all of those things, but these days, Canada feels broken.
In 2014, there was an article in the New York Times declaring that Canada was home to “the world’s most affluent middle class,” but by 2022, every Canadian province lagged behind each of the 50 U.S. states in earnings growth. Canada’s GDP per capita has fallen by 2.8 per cent, while in the U.S. it has gone up 8 per cent, and per-person income has slipped backward, to the same level it was in 2015. Canadians are falling behind our neighbours and getting poorer in comparison.
As I said to people all summer from Ribfest to Rockton Fair, it doesn’t have to be this way in Canada. Canada has every advantage in the world. We are blessed with resources, good and smart people and being situated next to the world’s largest economy. Yet taxes and red tape are choking business investment. Small businesses struggle with each new burden and capital is leaving the country. It feels like all of our advantages are being squandered.
Flamborough is an amazing place to live, with the northern reaches of the Carolinian forests, the Niagara Escarpment, excellent trails, the Royal Botanical Gardens, beautiful conservation areas and more, and I know that what we have in Flamborough and across Canada is worth fighting for. That is my mission in Ottawa, as part of the Official Opposition. Let’s unleash Canada’s great potential so life can be affordable again, our economy can prosper and our GDP per capita can
grow again.
Until next time… thanks!
Dan Muys is the Member of Parliament for Flamborough-Glanbrook. He is the Official Opposition’s Associate Shadow Minister for Transport.
