Making a travel documentary had been Steve Hulford’s dream, and after almost 60 days on the road in the summer of 1995, with three friends and a camera, the dream was falling apart in a bus depot in Mataram, Indonesia.
Sure enough, the next day, the missing backpack reappeared. Hulford, the aspiring documentarian, completed his film, Real Travel: 60 Days in Indonesia. Listed among the credits as an associate producer is the diplomat, better known now as the politician Catherine McKenna, Liberal Member of Parliament for Ottawa Centre and current Minister of Infrastructure and Communities.
Stir in an emerging global pandemic, wobbly stock markets, a stalled domestic economy, rail blockades and the rapid onset of worldwide financial malaise, and McKenna’s position, as point person for a plan to spend massive sums of taxpayer dough on projects that can take years to complete, is about as high profile as it gets for any Canadian politician not named Justin Trudeau.
“With my sister, she’s like, “Politics? Whatever,” McKenna said, adding that being from an Irish Catholic family from Hamilton that “hangs pretty tightly” is part of what keeps her sane, since her relatively brief stint as a federal politician has been perfectly nuts. Provinces, in turn, are the financial keepers of our cities and municipalities, which are responsible for about 60 per cent of the country’s infrastructure, but only have access to about 10 cents on every tax dollar.
Canada is playing catch-up, and its GDP, plus everyone stuck crawling through their workday commute, bears the consequences. “My focus now is getting projects built quickly, but also that we are focused on what gets built,” McKenna said. “The federal government must have agreement with all the provinces and then just get out of the way after that — forget about the red tape,” he said.
Ottawa committed nearly $1.3 million to get the job done in Hopedale, and other nearby communities, with a summer 2017 construction start date. Almost three years later, the internet in Hopedale is slower than ever, according to the mayor.Marjorie Flowers, mayor of Hopedale, Nfld “The money has gone somewhere, and we are certainly not seeing it in our community,” Flowers said. “Here we are, with a federal post office using dial-up in 2020. It’s crazy.
oconnorwrites Not a fan. Lots of activity, lots of tweets but a real shortage of hard accomplishments. Also, no sense of balance. Everything seems to be about the environment. Environment is important but there’s a lot of other important stuff as we..
oconnorwrites cathmckenna From what I’ve absorbed Catherine is one of the most effective politicians in all of Canadian history, and within her fields of responsibilities from climate to infrastructure and community building, we are blessed and lucky for her to say the least. 🍁🙏✨
oconnorwrites Toddler brain Mckenna
oconnorwrites McKenna is a loudmouth imbecile. She is not fit to be a minister, that is quite clear.
oconnorwrites What a load of elephant doo doo!
oconnorwrites Maybe it's her? cdnpoli