For your information, I’ve started a new “Did You Know” section at the end of each Bev’s Briefing. It includes a few tidbits of information I think you will find interesting.

Canada Summer Jobs Program In Action
It’s been a real pleasure visiting with a number of students hired under our government’s Canada Summer Jobs Program in recent days. The CSJP provides funding to businesses, non-profits and community organizations who will provide summer work for students. Students earn money towards their post-secondary education and gain valuable work experience. Employers get help with some of those special projects they may not have had the money to do otherwise. I must say the quality of this year’s projects was exceeded only by the quality of students who are just outstanding. And the program is doing exactly what it was designed to do. One employer told me that he ended up permanently hiring the two students he had under last year’s program.



Chatting with CSJ student Sam at CKXS radio in Wallaceburg and Claire, Cale and Jess (as well as Brian Salt) at Salthaven Wildlife Centre.


Federal Gas Tax Dollars At Work
Residents of Glencoe will have noticed the Symes Street Reconstruction Project is underway. What many of you likely aren’t aware of is the fact that this project, and others like it in different communities, would not have been possible if it wasn’t for federal gas tax money. Federal legislation made the Gas Tax Fund permanent in 2011 and as promised in our 2013 Budget, the payments will now be indexed at 2 per cent per year. They currently sit at 2 cents a litre for a total of $2 billion annually. Ask your Mayor how the federal gas tax dollars are being used in your community.

The New E-Passports
The new e-passports have come to Canada. The passports are much more secure than the old ones and you can now get them for 5 or 10 year periods. The 10 year is your best value, at $160 while the new, enhanced 5 year e-passport is $120. Many other countries have also moved to these more secure travel documents. You can find out more about them at my website www.bevshipley.ca


Gun Licences
We have been getting some calls from constituents about gun licence renewals, with many people mistakenly thinking the gun licence is the same thing as the gun registry. As you know, our government was successful in abolishing the federal gun registry last year. But people have always needed a licence to buy and/or possess a gun and buy ammunition. It’s kind of like needing a licence for your car and registration for your car, only we’ve taken away the registration component. Don’t hesitate to apply for your licence renewal. If it expires before it’s renewed, you have to start from the beginning. For more information head to http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/cfp-pcaf/information/lic-per-eng.htm

Marking the 60th Anniversary of the Korean War
We recently marked the 60th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice and the first annual Korean War Veterans Day. The Korean War was one of the most challenging chapters in our nation’s proud military history. Close to 26,000 Canadians served in Korea and 516 of them lost their lives during the War. Our Conservative government is proud to have designated 2013 as the Year of the Korean War Veteran and I’m happy to see that Korean War veterans from Lambton-Kent-Middlesex and across Canada are receiving special certificates this year, thanking them for their service. If you know a Korean War Vet who has not received a certificate, please give my Strathroy office a call at 519-245-6561.

Did You Know?
-Thanks to Canada’s Economic Action Plan, Canada has created over one million net new jobs since the depths of the global recession – the best job creation record in the G-7.
-Poverty levels in Canada are at their lowest level ever thanks to a growing economy.
-The leading magazine in economic forecasting, Forbes, rates Canada as one of the top places in the world to do business.
Until next time.

Bev Shipley, M.P., Lambton-Kent-Middlesex