Table of Contents

• MP Report: Working Hard for Davenport
  • Small business visits across the riding
  • Meetings with Habitat for Humanity, AI startup, etc.
  • Bay St. Meeting with Plug & Play with Innovation Min Champagne – 
  • Meeting with NATO Parliamentary Executive with PM Trudeau at Washington Summit
  • Salsa on St. Clair – Political dance-off – I won! 🙂
  • PanAmerican Food & Music Festival Opening Reception and so much more!
  • Canada Day- Historic Canada Day Citizenship Ceremony at Earlscourt Park
• Federal Support Available NOW
  • Funding for individuals
  • Funding for businesses incl Carbon Rebate for Businesses
• Links: Important News and Federal Announcements
  • This week’s top news:  $30 billion Transit Fund
  • Global Affairs: Min Joly in China
  • Environment and Natural Resources
  • … and more!

Hello Davenport Friends and Neighbours,

I love summer!  And I love being back in our Davenport constituency having the chance to visit local businesses and go door to door.  It’s really important for me to continue to hear directly from Davenport residents and businesses on what is top of mind for them. So thank you to everyone for the warm welcome these past few weeks.

The Prime Minister was in town this week to announce a historic $30 billion public transit investment over 10 years to expand and improve the transit system across the country. The funding will help provide the TTC with more predictable annual funding, more funding for our public transit networks, and more targeted funding for priorities like electrification. Many residents have asked the federal government for funding to buy the TTC line 2 subway trains. This money can absolutely be used for this! But it is up to the Ontario government, who will receive the money, to work with the City and the TTC to ensure the additional funding is allocated to buying the desperately needed subway trains.

Federal Justice Minister Virani came to my office to do a Q&A Roundtable with my youth council and Davenport residents on the Online Harms Act (Bill C-63).  This is vital and much-needed legislation that has undergone years of consultation across our country. Five other countries have already implemented a similar law. I’d encourage all to read the bill and watch the video on the Minister explaining it.  

Some important things to note about the bill: 

• C-63 takes laws that already exist in our physical world and is now re-creating those same laws for the digital world.
• There are two parts to the bill. The first part is about eliminating online content that sexually victimizes children, that is used to bully children, and that induces children to harm themselves. The second part gives Canadian law enforcement officers tools and mechanisms to deal with online content that incites violence, violent extremism or terrorism, or foments hatred.
• Law enforcement officers have asked for the tools and legislation contained in this bill.
• The definition of hate used in Bill C-63 is the Supreme Court of Canada’s definition of hate. 
• Five other countries, including Ireland, Germany, and Australia, have introduced similar legislation; we took lessons learned from these countries and incorporated them into Bill C-63.

This legislation is so critical and much needed; I am glad we have finally introduced it into the House of Commons.

Last week, I attended the Washington NATO Summit as part of the official Canadian delegation.  We made three key announcements: 

• Canada has announced a path to  2% of GDP spending on defence by 2032. In 2014, we were at less than 1%; we have come a long way.
• We teamed up with Finland and the United States to announce an Icebreaker initiative to strengthen our presence and defence capabilities  in the High North and Arctic Region 
• We announced 12 new state-of-the-art submarines to  boost our naval strength and help keep our waters safe while supporting our allies.

I also met with Congressmen, think-tanks and local and international leaders  to talk about disinformation — specifically how Canada can accelerate our steps to counter it and to educate the public about the massive amounts of disinformation on social media and across media platforms.

Keep an eye out (via mail) for my upcoming constituency mail piece, a summary on why the work I am doing as the Chair of the Canadian-NATO Parliamentary Association is vital for Canada now.

Two upcoming events to highlight: Big On Bloor this weekend July 20 and 21; I will be at my table from 12pm to 5pm. Come by to say hello! 

And secondly, on July 29 I’m hosting a Facebook Live on the capital gains tax with Sergio Ruivo, Tax Preparation And Planning Specialist. Join us at 5PM to listen in or ask your questions via  this link. 

Finally, last call for nominations for the King Charles III Coronation Medal! If you know someone from Davenport who has made outstanding contributions to our community, please nominate them by July 30 at 5pm. You can find the criteria, nomination form, and submission requirements here. 

With that, I’d like to wish everyone a wonderful rest of summer! This  will be the last Bi-Weekly Update until mid-September when the House of Commons is back in session; and the office will also be closed from August 19 to 23 for a short summer break.

As always, it is a true honour and pleasure to serve you.

My very best regards,

Julie Dzerowicz
Member of Parliament – Davenport