FedLiberals

HEATHER WILSON (Liberal Party)

The Economy/FedNor

The first question asked had to do with the loss of jobs and the local economy. Alogma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing Liberal Candidate Heather Wilson says the region is up to the challenge of contributing to what is becoming a more diverse economy, away from obvious resources such as mining and forestry…

Wilson says the area economy has suffered as a result of more opportunities heading west. She points out that jobs will be the main catalyst to bring people out of poverty in her riding and across the country.

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Health Care

It’s surprising that an issue that wasn’t mentioned very often early in this federal election campaign is health care. With hospitals struggling to balance budgets through provincial funding and provinces in turn struggling with lower health care transfers for the last number of years, health care is a very important concern. Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing Liberal candidate Heather Wilson echoes that this is vital to her riding and her party…

Wilson stressed that Liberal leader Justin Trudeau has had more meetings with premiers that the current government has, and forsees a positive relationship with the provinces in how their health care needs are changing. She feels Ottawa should be talking to the provincial leaders more as health care steers towards greater care for an aging population.

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The Trans-Pacific Partnership

The Trans-Pacific Partnership has been mentioned during the campaign — with a tentative deal reached during the late weeks. The burning question is why all the secrecy and will more be known about it — depending on who gets elected on October 19th. Heather Wilson is the Liberal candidate in the Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing riding. She says she is hopeful that the proposed deal will be a success and be more open with Justin Trudeau as the P-M…

The T-P-P would affect a number of Pacific countries — Canada included — along with millions of people. The deal has also been criticized for having corporate representatives at the table, with a slant towards making this a global deal rather than a regional one.

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Bill C-51

Another subject marked by controversy is Bill C-51. That’s the legislation that allows C-SIS to come in without evidence and instead make arrests on suspicion of anyone thinking of an act of terror — before they are proven guilty. When asked about what her reaction is to the bill her party actually made revisions to, Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing Liberal candidate Heather Wilson feels more needs to be done. She adds a review is necessary to alleviate any concerns…

Wilson says constituents in her riding expressed concerns about how protests would be looked at under the bill, but action was taken to make sure lawful and peaceful demonstrations are not affected.

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Syrian Refugee Crisis

The Syrian refugee crisis continues to a hot topic around the world. With thousands of refugees looking to leave their war-torn homelands behind, talk in this campaign has been on what Canada is going to do or will do to help those people impacted by a situation that Canada is involved in against ISIS — without a declaration of war being made. Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing Liberal candidate Heather Wilson expressed her feelings of disappointment on what’s going on here…

Wilson says that Liberal leader Justin Trudeau had mentioned that Canada accept 25 thousand refugees back in March. She mentions while she understands why Canada is where it is with ISIS in Iraq and Syria, she adds that the military’s role should be clear and funded appropriately. There is a chance that the situation would be reviewed as one of the first actions a Liberal government would do if elected on October 19th.

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Energy Infrastructure/Grid Protection

Another issue of concern for many people is the issue of energy infrastructure. Millions of people will remember where they were during the blackout of 2003 that affected Ontario and the Northeastern U-S. Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing Liberal candidate Heather Wilson was one of those affected when she operated a tourism camp — and it was days before electricity was restored there. When asked about what her party will do to protect its electrical grid and energy sources, Wilson says a plan would be developed related an announcement made by Liberal leader Justin Trudeau to boost infrastructure spending by 60 billion dollars to 125 billion…

It’s been said that some countries like China and Russia are better prepared than North America for protection from another major blackout. Other candidates have suggested deferral on the issue, saying that the subject is more of a provincial matter.