As a former MP, professional engineer, foreign and trade affairs specialist, military engineer and veteran from Afghanistan, I have expressed ideas  in my various fields of experience and expertise. These ideas for progress have been sidelined and ignored despite the fact that they were in the immediate interests of Canadians. 

We need a country which is united.
We need a country which is developed and thriving economically.
We need a country where jobs and especially high paying jobs are available for future generations.
We need a healthy, competent and qualified leadership in the House of Commons, Senate and Public Service who work for the long term interest of our people, not for short term gain and personal agendas.
We need a modern judiciary which is unbiased politically, upholds high ethics and is responsible to the citizens in applying the rule of law.
We need a press interested in supporting citizens to achieve excellence; a press that is not politically biased.

I will outline for now, 12 issues of interest (more to come) that would require the local, provincial and federal politicians to make vital decisions, which they try to avoid or postpone. Instead, they take refuge in endless studies for cheap political gain. Members of the professional press, who are in business to promote the welfare of Canadians rather than politicians, should also take note.

1.  The rights of Canadians to freely hold and express beliefs are being eroded at an alarming speed under the Trudeau government. Some of its recent decisions even require that Canadians renounce their most deeply held moral convictions and express opinions they disagree with. Our democracy is under siege and the Consevatives lead by Erin O'Toole seem to have abandoned the fight in their ambition to form governemnt at any cost. It is time to get back to sanity and let start the Great Canadian Awakening.

2. The rights of Canadians to control their own bodies are under attack. The Covid-19 pandemic provided an excuse to impose draconian measures lead by a government that has the intention to control every aspect of our lives. Dividing Canadians instead of uniting them, destroying small busineesse that are the backbone of our economy is leading to a fragmented society and will result in a totalitarin regime. It is time to put an end to this nonsense.

3. Federally owned transport lands in Pickering, Ontario.

For close to a half century, studies upon studies have been done to establish the need for an airport in the east end of Toronto. All this time, a land mass four times larger than Pearson International airport in Mississauga, has been left underutilized and has hindered the development and job creation in communities east of Toronto. One quarter of this land has been given to the newly created Rouge Urban National Park; a great idea. However, the remaining land under federal jurisdiction must be developed with input from the community. The stalmate of a half of century is not acceptable anymore.

4. Nuclear power; Carbon-Free power. 

The Pickering nuclear power plant is old and has run its lifetime with pride. Recently, provincial politicians were extremely pleased to have the licence of the plant renewed till 2024, thus postponing any political decision till the next election in four years. On the other hand, the recent GM plant closure in the Durham region has caused major unemployment, as hundreds of workers have lost their jobs. Politicians of all stripes have tried to express empathy, promising an increase in EI benefits, but no one has come forward with a real proposal to find alternative employment for these people. A potential solution does exist, that would take care of several other problems, and avoid further massive loss of highly skilled jobs when the power plant closes. Close to 15,000 tons of spent fuel from the Candu reactors is stored on the site of the Pickering Nuclear plant. Spent fuel that released only approx 1% of its usable energy. This is a real treasure, and they literally want to bury it. This spent fuel can easily be recycled and used in a reengineered nuclear fast neutron power plant, which is a Canadian invention, by the way. Recycling the fuel would get a lot more energy out of it and greatly reduce, even eliminate its toxicity in the short term. We could also establish a nuclear research and manufacturing centre of excellence in Durham region, for small modular nuclear reactors (SMR) on the Pickering site. These SMR's would be deployable all over the country (Ring of Fire in Ontario) to provide sorely needed clean energy in remote areas to establish new communities, and create value from our natural resources.

5. Rouge Urban National Park.

We need to continui to develop the Rouge Urban National Park. Several railways cross the Park, and especially the Havelock rail can be better used so a public transit stop could be built at the entrance of the Park to provide better public access. Furthermore, the Havelock rail also crosses the airport lands and having a railway already in place, it could be used to create a transportation hub, and further enhance the capacity and utility of a proposed airport to draw businesses and create jobs.

6. Oil Pipelines.

Due to political impotence and bickering, no pipeline is on the horizon to be built in Canada to unlock our landlocked oil resources. There is a solution that can circumvent the bickering; it just needs a political will to overcome the impotence. I propose that a pipeline be built between Churchill, Manitoba and Cape Dorset, Nunavut. The project can be built in concurrent phases such as 1. modernizing the quasi abandoned railway to Churchill, 2. modernizing the ports of Churchill and Cape Dorset  to allow oil tanker access, and 3. start building of the pipelines between Churchill and Cape Dorset and 4. along the rail from Alberta to Churchill. Completed the railway to Churchill, modernized the ports of Churchill and Cape Dorset, the transport of oil can start by rail to Churchill and then by oil tankers to domestic and foreign markets as allowed by weather limitations similar to limitations used on the Great Lakes. Such a pipeline and infrastructure projects would create thousands of jobs, unlock our inland oil and other natural resources and protect our rights in the Northwest Passage, while improving the standard of living of the people of Nunavut. These would be important and ambitious infrastructure projects, comparable to the Confederation Bridge in PEI.  They would provide the essential infrastructure to unlock the potential of the Albertan oil fields to international markets, Europe in particular, and Asia via the Northwest Passage. At the same time it would confirm our sovereignty over the Northwest Passage. These infrastructure projects require political will, courage and responsibility; they are nation building.

7. International Trade.

As a trading nation we have signed many free trade agreements, but we do not have the tools to implement them, and this amounts to incompetence. A trade oriented organization should be created at arm’s length from Global Affairs, to promote our small and medium size businesses and their exports on international markets. We need to have a strong presence in markets such as the EU and other countries with which we have free trade agreements. For exploiting these market opportunities maximally, we must be present in the markets. If we really want to diversify our exports we should look for examples available to us in G7 countries, which have proved their success and viability for nearly a hundred of years. The Canadian Trade Agency should be a Governmental agency that supports the business development of our companies abroad and promotes the attraction of foreign investment in Canada. With a motivated and modern organization and a widespread network of overseas offices, the agency will provide information, assistance, consulting, promotion and training to Canadian small and medium-sized businesses. Using the most modern multi-channel promotion and communication tools, it will act to assert the excellence of ‘Made in Canada’ around the world.

8. National Defence Infrastructure and Procurement. 

Military infrastructure and Procurement is expensive and requires knowledgeable professionals with expertise in both the profession of arms and the profession of engineering in order to avoid costly project overruns. It is crucial that the users, the men and women in uniform, have the best facilities to train, fight and live. It is then imperative that military personnel in technical trades have the necessary professional experience to be competent in the Request for Proposal (RFP) process. I would like to point out that the Royal Military College (RMC) and Department of national Defence (DND) would be able to resolve this issue in their personnel policy in order to save hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars in the budget, by making comparatively small investments in selected technical military personnel. There is a real need to create the conditions for a select number of military personnel in trade and engineering to acquire technical experience after their diploma or degree. To achieve this, selected graduates of colleges, universities and especially RMC engineering and science faculties, with the involvement of the DND, should be posted in civilian companies for a period of two years to work on engineering and scientific projects. A similar process is used in other NATO countries such as the UK for example, with extremely good results.

9. National Defence recruiting and release. 

Most of the issues related to soldiers’ lives during their service and after release originate from a superficial recruiting, and a cumbersome release process. These important elements of a soldier’s life are ignored by the military leadership and no one in the Parliament or Senate of Canada has raised this issue forcefully. For someone who has served in the military, the importance of the recruiting process is obvious for avoiding complications during military service, such as PTSD and suicide. The same goes for the length of the release process from the military. There is more than one example of military personnel who have suffered psychological and mental damage which has lead to suicide, when personnel who failed training standards and requested release were not released promptly. In conclusion, I propose that immediate and serious attention must be paid to improving the military recruiting and release processes, in order to minimize these types of serious problems in our military.

10. International Relations and Foreign Aid. 

I strongly believe that Canada can achieve greater respect and create more tangible benefits in the area of Foreign Aid if we concentrate on smaller contributions of designated Direct Foreign Aid to smaller countries rather than large contributions on a regional basis where accountability is profoundly lacking. We have been indulging in this latter form of foreign aid, which is a waste of taxpayers’ money. An example of the more direct method occurred in the late nineties, when a very small amount of help for acquiring demining equipment from Canada to the Republic of Moldova, resulted in great recognition for Canada. I believe that by concentrating on direct aid to small countries in need, we can achieve much more in the way of helping these countries, getting accountability for taxpayers’ money, and showing results. This approach would not only be beneficial, but also politically responsible and rewarding.

11. Immigration of professionals. 

The immigration system is sorely lacking in many areas, especially of late, but I will concentrate on the disconnect between the selection of skilled immigrants for admittance, and thei1r access to their professions once they arrive in Canada. The federal authorities have set up immigration criteria so that successful immigrants will be skilled in professions that are needed in this country. In order to use their skills for the benefit of Canada and themselves, these immigrants need access to professional designations. However, the regulation of professions through professional associations is a provincial responsibility. Many professional associations question the education credentials of immigrants by restrictive rulings that create artificial barriers to the access to professions and qualified jobs, in many cases. The solution is quite simple. The Federal Government has the constitutional right to sign international agreements for the reciprocal recognition of degrees granted by designated foreign educational institutions. This should be done, following procedures similar to those used among member states of the European Union. Once the reciprocal recognition of degrees is in place, professional associations can still establish their own criteria for admission to the profession, but these criteria must be applied equally to graduates of Canadian Universities and recognized Foreign Universities.

12. Affordable Housing for Canadians.

According to the National Housing Strategy, 1.7 million families in Canada, still do not have a home that meets their basic needs. It is true that successive Governments’ focused programs in the past have assisted cities in improving the quality of housing and services. However most recently, Governments at all levels, have encouraged the building of more compact urban areas by permitting infill housing in existing neighbourhoods, redeveloping "brownfield" (old industrial) and "greyfield" (low-density commercial) sites and encouraging more housing close to downtown jobs and transit-oriented development as ways to make more efficient and sustainable use of land and services. Not recognizing however that this would price middle and low income families out of these markets due to location. This has resulted in large price increases of those units and a continued inability to provide affordable housing for those who are the most vulnerable in our society. We need to designate funding available from the Federal government for better use in cities and regions, by building partnerships with local developers in the community with focus on affordable housing. This will provide local employment as well as a real potential for middle and low income families to enter into the housing market. We need to focus on cutting the red tape to provide adequate, suitable and sustainable housing to families, veterans, people with disabilities and the most vulnerable in our community.