Despite the difficulties of the ongoing pandemic, Oakville residents and businesses can count on the federal government for continuing support, says Oakville MP Anita Anand.
Now serving as Canada’s Minister of National Defence, Anand reached out to share her end-of-year thoughts just a few hours after her government announced an expansion of pandemic-related benefits on Dec. 22.
“I believe in our government’s plan to have people’s backs and to keep moving our country forward for everyone,” she said.
“Making sure that we are supporting Canadians is our number one priority, and we will continue to do that until we are all on the other side of the pandemic.”
The expanded program will provide income support to workers and businesses impacted by capacity restrictions, as well as lockdowns.
Re-elected as Oakville’s Liberal MP in September, Anand spent her first term in office as Canada’s Minister of Public Services and Procurement, where she was responsible for sourcing supplies of vaccines, COVID-19 tests and personal protective equipment.
“No doubt 2021 has been a difficult year for our country but we are making progress in the fight against COVID-19,” she said. “I have heard so many incredible stories of people in Oakville and the GTA stepping up to help their neighbours, by donating to food drives or lending their time to help Canadians in need and that is a heartening aspect of the difficult time that we are experiencing.”
Looking forward to 2022, she said the Liberal government is eager to keep its election promise and bring $10-a-day childcare to Ontario residents.
A key plank in its election platform, the federal government has negotiated agreements to bring affordable care to families in all other province and territories.
“We are really working with the province of Ontario to ensure that an agreement gets put in place for the benefit of families across the board,” said Anand.
She added that she was “extremely grateful” to be re-elected in September’s federal election.
“I love Oakville and I love serving Oakville and it is a complete honor to be the Member of Parliament for this beautiful town.
“I had a virtual Christmas party with the riding on Friday night and it was quite interesting to be in that environment in a celebratory fashion and still be able to take questions about our government and about my role.”