Liberal MPs are at work in Ottawa despite Stephen Harper’s shutdown of Parliament.

They are embarking on the first of several weeks of roundtables and working sessions and have invited some of the country’s most notable advocates in various fields to participate. This week’s topics include:

• Jobs, with sessions on manufacturing, natural resources, youth employment, high-tech and clean energy, led by Finance Critic John McCallum;
• Governance, with Peter Tinsley (former Chair of the Military Police Complaints Commission), Paul Kennedy  (former Chair of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP) and Linda Keen (former President and CEO of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission) addressing partisan political interference at independent agencies and commissions, led by Democratic Reform Critic Marlene Jennings;
• Women, recognizing the 40th anniversary of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women and addressing women’s economic security, led by Status of Women Critic Anita Neville;
• Veterans, with a keynote address by Senator Romeo Dallaire and sessions on post-traumatic stress disorder, the New Veteran’s Charter, and the condition of soldiers returning from Afghanistan, led by Veterans Affairs Critic Rob Oliphant;
• Alzheimer’s and Dementia, to further discussions on research into the cause, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of dementia and neurodegenerative diseases, and to address strategies to ease the burden on caregivers and families of patients with these illnesses, led by Public Health Critic Dr. Kirsty Duncan; and,
• Health Goals for Canada in 2017, a virtual forum featuring the Hon. Monique Bégin, Dr. Kumanan Wilson and Dr. Paulette Tremblay, led by Health Critic Dr. Carolyn Bennett.

This page will be updated daily with pictures, links and other materials to help you follow the Liberal team’s work. Click a topic above to jump to that particular event.



Monday, January 25, 2010

Jobs Roundtable

9:00-10:30am - Manufacturing (With John McCallum and Maria Minna)

Speakers:

• Jayson Myers, President & CEO, Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters
• Richard Paton, President and CEO and Fiona Cook, Director of Business and Economics, Chemistry Industry Association of Canada
• Carla Ventin, VP for Federal Government Affairs, Food and Consumer Products of Canada
• Claude Lajeunesse, President and CEO , Aerospace Industries Association of Canada

1:00-2:30pm - Resources (with Geoff Regan and Wayne Easter)

Speakers:

• Paul Stothart,  Vice President, Economic Affairs , The Mining Association of Canada
• Avrim Lazar, President and CEO of the Forest Products Association
• Earl McCurdy, President , Fish, Food and Allied Workers
• Ron Bonnet, Vice President, The Canadian Federation of Agriculture

2:30-4:00pm - Youth employment (with Justin Trudeau)

Speakers:

• Terry Anne Boyles, Vice-President, Public Affairs , Association of Canadian Community Colleges
• Rick Theis, Government Relations Officer, Canadian Alliance of Student Associations
• Alex Munter, Executive Director, Youth Services Bureau of Ottawa
• Andrew Emmans, Young entrepreneur
• Ashlee Cochrane, President and Kody Taylor, Manitoba Representative, National Association of Friendship Centres (Youth Committee)

4:00-5:30pm - High-tech and clean energy jobs (with Marc Garneau and Martha Hall-Findlay)

Speakers:

• Bernard Lord, President and CEO, Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association
• Bernard Courtois, President and CEO, Information Technology Alliance of Canada
• Tim Weiss, Director of Renewable Energy and Efficiency Policy, Pembina Institute
• Jason J. Kee, Director of Policy and Legal Affairs, Electronic Software Association of Canada
• Robert Hornung, President, Canadian Wind Energy Association

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Forum on Governance

10:00am-12:00pm - The Independence of Arms-length Government Agencies (with Marlene Jennings)

Speakers:

• Linda Keen, former President and CEO of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission
• Peter Tinsley, former Chair of the Military Police Complaints Commission
• Paul Kennedy, former Chair of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP
• France Houle, University of Montreal
• Ned Franks, Professor Emeritus at Queen’s University (TBC)

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

National Caucus meeting
(9:00am – 10:30am)

Forum on Women’s Issues

10:00am-12:00pm - 40 Years After the Royal Commission on the Status of Women (with Anita Neville)

Speakers:

• Hedy Fry, MP for Vancouver Centre
• Barbara Cameron, York University
• Kathleen Lahey, Queen’s University Law Professor
• Ellen Gabriel, Native Women’s Association of Quebec
• Charlotte Thibault, Conseil des Montréalaises
• Wendy Robbins, UNB Professor of Women’s Studies and English

12:00pm-1:00pm - Lunch and Keynote Address

Flora MacDonald, former Mulroney cabinet minister

1:30pm – 3:30pm - Women’s Economic Security in 2010 and Beyond  (with Anita Neville)

Speakers:

• Alexa Conradi, President, Federation des femmes de Quebec
• Maria Minna, Liberal Critic for Labour
• Leilani Farha, Executive Director, Centre for Equality Rights in Accomodation
• Patty Ducharme – National Executive VP, PSAC

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Veterans’ Affairs Roundtable

9am-10:30am - New Veterans Charter (with Rob Oliphant)

Speakers:

• Lorne McCartney, Dominion Secretary-Treasurer, Army, Navy and Air Force Veterans Association
• Tom Hoppe, Immediate Past President, Canadian Peacekeeping Veterans Association

10:45am-12:00pm - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Speakers:

• Dr. Zul Merali, President and CEO, Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research
• Eldonna Sharon Brintnell, Professor in Occupational Therapy, University of Alberta

12:00pm-12:30pm - Keynote Address

• L-Gen. Roméo Dallaire, Liberal Senator

1:15pm-2:30pm - Condition of Afghanistan War Veterans


Friday, January 29, 2010

Roundtable on Alzheimer’s and Dementia

9:00am-11:00am - Panel Discussion on Alzheimer’s and Dementia (with Dr. Kirsty Duncan)

Speakers:

• Scott Dudgeon, former CEO Alzheimer Society Canada Author, The Rising Tide:  The Impact of Dementia in Canada
• Dr. Judes Poirier, Douglas Hospital Research Centre and McGill Centre for Studies in Aging
• Shannon MacDonald, Neurological Health Charities Canada
• Joyce Gordon, Parkinson Society Canada
• Don Lamont, CEO, Huntington Society of Canada
• Ray Bailey, Caregiver to person living with Huntington’s disease
• Jim Mann, Living with dementia

Virtual Town Hall Meeting on Health

11:00am-12:00pm - Introduction (with Dr. Carolyn Bennett and Dr. Kirsty Duncan)

Speakers:

• Dr. Paulette Tremblay, CEO of NAHO
• Hon. Monique Bégin, Visiting Professor in Health Administration, University of Ottawa

12:00pm – 12:45pm The Health Goals for Canada

Speakers:

• Senator Wilbert Keon, Chair, Senate Subcommittee on Population Health
• Peggy Taillon, President and CEO of the Canadian Council for Social Development
• Dr. Irving Rootman, Adjunct Professor, Education and Human and Social Development; Chair of the Health and Learning Knowledge Centre at the University of Victoria;
• Sandra Zagon, Co-Founder, Canadian Community for Dialogue and Deliberation (C2D2)
• Janet Hatcher-Roberts, Executive Director, Canadian Society for International Health
• Dr. Suzanne Jackson, Head, WHO Collaborating Centre in Health Promotion, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
• Dr. Kumanan Wilson, Canada Research Chair in Public Health Policy, University of Ottawa
• Hon. Monique Bégin, Visiting Professor in Health Administration, University of Ottawa

12:45 pm – 1:45 pm - Lunch/Site Discussions

1:45 pm – 2:45 pm - E-Consultation

Each site will have 5 minutes to present a summary of their discussion of the indicators that would mean the most to them and that would resonate with Canadians.

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