THE SOWKCA SNAPSHOT
December, 2020
Merry Christmas and a safe, healthy holiday season to everyone! In what has been an “eventful” year that we will all be glad to see end, we wish you brighter times ahead in 2021.
And now the news:
Air Canada ending service into South Okanagan
Air Canada is indefinitely cancelling service into Penticton effective January 11. Pacific Coastal announced they will begin to offer flights to Penticton departing from the south terminal in Vancouver.
Folks in the west Kootenay had the same experience when Air Canada cancelled its service into Castlegar in March due to the pandemic. Fortunately Central Mountain Air began service into Castlegar in October so residents no longer had to drive 30km to Trail for a flight on Pacific Coastal.
No one can dispute the global impact of covid19 on air travel but CBC’s investigation examining the unprecedented $240 billion the Liberals handed out during the first eight months of the pandemic, reported, “Air Canada has received the largest amount of government pandemic aid of all publicly traded companies in Canada that have disclosed their finances to shareholders to date… roughly four times more than the second-highest sum paid to a publicly traded company.”
We were glad that Dan Albas, MP for Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, questioned Justin Trudeau about Air Canada’s cancelling flights into Penticton during a recent question period.
Follow the money?
CBC’s story “The Big Spend” includes more startling information about the staggering amount of funding the Liberals have handed out during the pandemic and the lack of transparency about who has received exactly what payments.
You know it's getting bad when the CBC starts paying attention!
The report said they’ve only been able to account for about $240 billion but even the most recent fiscal update puts our deficit this year at $380 billion. So that means there is around $140 billion that’s not accounted for.
The article went on to say, “…in many cases the federal government refuses to provide details that may serve to identify who has received these funds — even when it's a business…in stark contrast to other Western countries that provide context and details about their pandemic spending.”
Despite Pierre Poilievre’s best efforts to push for transparency on the spending, he continues to be stonewalled by Justin Trudeau’s Liberals and their compliant NDP partners.
Nominating Committee update
The application period for our riding was officially opened on September 28th and the closing date for nominations is expected to be announced in the new year. Once nominations are closed, all prospective candidates will be interviewed and a vote held in the event there is more than one candidate. In the meantime, nominations are open to all qualified members of the South Okanagan West Kootenay electoral district. If you would like to consider running for the candidacy, please contact us at [email protected].
Conservative Party Convention update
Plans are moving ahead with the Virtual Conservative Party Convention to be held March 18-20. It will feature all the same highlights from conventions of the past including constitutional and policy voting, National Council elections, training sessions and guest speakers.
Should you wish to suggest amendments to existing Conservative policies or constitution to be presented at the national convention, or to propose the addition of others, please contact us at [email protected]. Please state your proposal and include an explanation of why you believe your proposal might better achieve the goals and principles of the Conservative Party. If it’s a new policy proposal, please explain how its adoption might further our party goals and objectives.
You can view our existing policy declaration here, and party constitution here
The proposed policy updates will be presented to the board for review and for voting to see if they are supported for furtherance.
There will be 10 voting delegates who will vote on matters of constitution and policy. If you wish to apply to be a voting delegate, please contact us at [email protected].
Still time to make end-of- year contribution
There’s less than two weeks left to make an end-of-year, tax deductible contribution to the SOWKA. We are asking you to consider any amount you can contribute whether it’s $15.00, $25.00 or $35.00. It will all help ensure we are in a strong position to beat the NDP in the South Okanagan-West Kootenay when the election is called possibly this spring.
Consider Club 400 which is a quick and convenient way to contribute. Making a one-time contribution of $400 (or 12 monthly contributions of $33.34) entitles you to receive a Club 400 identity pin, Club 400 invitations to local Conservative events and regular Club 400 updates. The Revenue Canada tax credit of the first $400 donation is 75% which means your net contribution is $100.
Simply go to the secure SOWK website at https://www.sowk.ca/donate. If you would like to donate over the course of a year, enter $33.34 and click on monthly. For a single contribution, enter $400 and click on one-time. Please note that all contributions made on our website stay with the South Okanagan-West Kootenay.
Alternately you can mail a cheque made out to SOWKCA to:
SOWK Conservative Association
Box 266
113-437 Martin Street
Penticton BC V2A 5L1
A big thankyou to everyone who has donated this year so far !
Fan Mail
We received this beauty from Mr Rod Marks of Grand Forks - Thank you Rod !!
"Madam / Sirs, I am enclosing a cheque in the amount of $300.00 - This is the funds that our Prime Mistake Trudeau sent for the Covid19. I am asking other Seniors who received this amount to do the same. Together we can get rid of the corruption and deceit of the 'Liberal Pandemic'"
Introducing Meagan Salekin - EDA Vice President
I live in Castlegar and have been involved with federal politics since 2007. I have held various positions over the years including Election Readiness Chair, Campaign Manager and President. When the riding boundaries changed, I was the first Vice President of our new South Okanagan West Kootenay EDA and am pleased to be back in that position again, along with chairing our nominating committee.
My main focus is to look for anyone out there that may be interested in running as our candidate. We have a very short window for this so please be in touch with me right away if you are interested! We have one person who has submitted papers but I am a big believer that nomination races are good for the EDA and the potential candidates themselves.
Over the next few months, I would like all of us to focus on preparing for the next election. We have a lot of work at the EDA level to do and will be asking for your help in that regard. It may be something as simple as reviewing a list of the people in your neighbourhood and getting your feedback
I have found the best voter ID is done by people who know the people – not by relying on the Party to be making all those annoying phone calls. If you would like to help out with something like that, please let us know at [email protected] and we’ll get you going!
Meagan Salekin, SOWKCA Vice President
Looking ahead into 2021
In the months ahead we are looking at new ways for our members to stay engaged. One possibility is an online Open House where members can bring any issues forward and a general Question and Answer session.
Stay tuned for more information in next month’s Snapshot.
Contact us
If you have any questions, comments or ideas for The Snapshot, we would like to hear from you. Please e-mail us at [email protected].
“Voters don't decide issues; they decide who will decide issues.”
George Will