The sounds of summer

The first week of my summer listening tour has been a very productive and interesting one. Many of the citizens I have spoken to have diverse views and also some unique ideas and suggestions. One suggestion that I have heard from a few different citizens involves renaming Old Age Security (OAS) to Elder or Senior Security or something along those lines. As always I welcome your input and suggestion on this or other matters before the House of Commons

Another more recent subject I have heard a number of comments about is the current Canadian Radio and Television Commission (CRTC) “Let’s talk TV – A conversation with Canadians” review on subjects such as television programming delivery and availability. More specifically the comments I have heard pertain to a submission from the CBC that proposes users and subscribers of “over the top streaming services” (such as is provided by Netflix) are charged an additional tax on their monthly bill. This particular tax revenue would be provided to the Canadian Media Fund who in turn uses this fund to subsidize Canadian television production that often appears on the CBC and other networks such as Bell, Shaw and Rogers (to name a few). Currently the subscribers of over the top streaming services are exempted from being taxed by this fund. Many of the comments I have heard to date come from Netflix subscribers who object to being taxed to fund television production they do not watch or in some cases even subscribe to. This is a subject I welcome your views on that can also be shared directly with the CRTC at http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/talktv-parlonstele.htm

Before I close this week I would like to thank the many citizens who took the time to sign the petition opposing the release of convicted mass murderer David Ennis (formerly David Shearing) who is currently serving a life sentence for the murder of the Johnson-Bentley family from West Kelowna. This is an issue I have heard serious concern from many citizens throughout Okanagan-Coquihalla and they are strongly opposed to David Ennis being released. I would also like to recognize the formers classmates and other citizens who have been seriously impacted by horrific violence who have made significant efforts to gather signatures and will be presenting them at the upcoming parole hearing in September.

As my summer listening tour is now underway I welcome opportunities to meet with you to hear your comments, questions and concerns first hand. To arrange an appointment I can be reached at [email protected] or toll free at 1-800-665-8711.

Dan Albas is the Member of Parliament for Okanagan-Coquihalla who writes a weekly report for his constituents and his website www.danalbas.com has an archive of previous reports.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.