CAPE BRETON-CANSO: Keeping his campaign promise of establishing a mobile constituency office to travel throughout his large geographical riding, the local Member of Parliament has continued on with his initiative.
Cape Breton-Canso MP Mike Kelloway hosted a virtual roundtable on seniors’ issues with Canada’s Minister of Seniors, Deb Schulte, constituents, stakeholders, and local organizations on August 13.
“What I wanted to do was bring cabinet ministers to constituents, and this is one way to do that,” Kelloway told The Reporter in an interview. “In essence this is a chance for constituents to have a real conversation with ministers from the various portfolios, the ability to ask questions in relation to COVID and the [government’s] response and where there are gaps.”
Being able to provide direct access to cabinet ministers is advantageous, and during the pandemic he’s seen first hand the ability MPs have to influence policy that eventually emerged as COVID responses.
“Those ideas came from our constituents – putting that time in to listen and engage, and coming back with COVID policy alternatives can actually have an impact – I’ve seen it firsthand,” Kelloway said. “I want cabinet ministers to hear directly from Cape Breton-Canso on what’s working and more importantly, what’s not working.”
With the government’s COVID response, the key piece was to put out very strong measures in very quick fashion, and when something is done on this scale, gaps will be found he said his role is to ensure that the cabinet knows where those gaps are.
“If you look at some of the things that were mentioned; connectivity for example, that was great to hear for a lot of reasons,” Kelloway explained. “The number one reason is that’s what I hear from Canso to Inverness – the importance of connectivity with respect to broadband and cellphone coverage.”
He indicated he also found the remarks reassuring from the financial secretary of Unifor Local 4600, Shauna Wilcox, who suggested the importance, from a workers standpoint, of establishing national standards when it comes to long-term healthcare facilities even though they know they’re administered by the provinces.
“I found that interesting because, sitting on the health committee and being only one of the committees who met consistently during COVID, is that regardless of where witnesses came from to talk about COVID and the responses, the unifying principle of many of those discussions with those witnesses, which span so many different disciples, was the need to look at national standards when it comes to long-term healthcare facilities,” Kelloway said.
The unprecedented, once-in-a-lifetime event that has impacted every facet of our society, has taken a serious toll on the senior population – from the increase costs of certain foods and being on a fixed income, to potential shortages to medication and transportation, but most-importantly they’re also effected by social isolation – which all lead to issues of mental health and how seniors have very few outlets to ensure they maintain their physical and mental health.
In the discussion, Schulte advised the first federal minister to begin to write policy on the importance to increase the Old Age Security (OAS) pension and the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) was Kelloway and his office.
“Why? Because it’s right up there with Internet connection and economic development in terms of ensuring our seniors are protected,” he said. “In Cape Breton-Canso seniors are a huge demographic, they’re a huge asset to our community, and they require – I think – the leadership they have provided to us through the years, to ensure they’re looked after, respected and taken care of.”
Kelloway added there are future virtual roundtable discussions with other federal cabinet ministers in the weeks to come, and another one is in the works for September on healthcare.