The First 100 Days
March 9th, 2016 represents a significant milestone in my service to Central Nova: 100 days since I was officially sworn in as your Member of Parliament. Over the first 100 days, our team has made significant achievements here in Central Nova and we will continue to work hard on your behalf at home and in Ottawa.
We have opened offices in New Glasgow, Antigonish, and Ottawa with staff that are connected to different regions of the riding. We conducted a series of unprecedented pre-budget consultations with municipal governments, community organizations, and businesses across Central Nova to understand how the government’s priorities can best be implemented on the ground in our communities.
From the date of the election we have also been taking phone calls and meetings with constituents and organizations to serve their needs. We have also been proactively reaching out to seniors, schools and youth groups to engage different sectors of the population in our mission to make our communities better places to live.
We are proud to have supported the announcements of federal funding for the New Glasgow Farmers’ Market, the Deanery Project on the Eastern Shore, and the prestigious Canada Research Chair awards and related infrastructure projects to StFX in Antigonish. Together the federal contribution for these projects approaches $4 Million that will help create jobs locally and improve the quality of our communities.
In addition, our office is honoured to have played a key role in a series of local and regional initiatives that have received the attention of the highest levels of government. We successfully advocated on behalf of First Nations communities in the Maritime Provinces to prevent a decrease in funding for community members living on social assistance. We have also worked hard to ensure that the local seafood industry has access to the labour force it needs to succeed, which will protect jobs in the local fishery and allow it to grow.
I am also very proud of the hard work we have been putting in, and the results we have achieved, on programs of national concern that have a real impact at home. We have reduced taxes for the middle class, launched an ambitious effort to bring Syrian refugees to our country and communities, introduced a merit-based process for Senate appointments, achieved gender parity in Cabinet, reopened Veterans Affairs offices and begun the long overdue inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women.
We have also created 35,000 new jobs by doubling the funding for the Canada Summer Jobs program, which will encourage young people to join the work force and help local community groups and businesses at home. We have reinstated the long-form census and unmuzzled scientists to help promote the free flow of information.
Although we are very pleased with our efforts to date, we will not rest on our laurels. We signed up to work hard for you and we remain focused on our top priority of helping businesses create jobs here at home. We are working every day to find groups or individuals that are considering Central Nova as a destination to do business. We are working to promote policies that would encourage people living in our communities to become entrepreneurs, and we are meeting with and listening to the local business community to understand how the federal government can help these important economic engines grow in an economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable manner.
I encourage you to reach out to our office by whichever means that is most convenient for you. You can visit us at 2A-115 MacLean Street, New Glasgow or 200-155 Main Street, Antigonish. You can also call us at 902-752-0226, 902-867-2919, or toll-free at 1-844-641-5886. We can also be reached via email at sean.fraser@parl.gc.ca or on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
We look forward to seeing you and hearing from you, and working together for a better Central Nova!