About Andrew >> Why Liberal

Who do you agree with, Andrew Telegdi or the
Harper Conservatives?

Foreign Wars If Stephen Harper had his way, Canada would have joined the U.S. in invading and occupying Iraq these past six years. Andrew denounced the invasion. Under a Liberal government, Canada stayed out of it.

Economic Development Both before and since his election to Parliament in 1993, Andrew has promoted the high tech and advanced education that underlie Waterloo Region's prosperity and make it the envy of cities around the world. The Harper Conservatives killed Technology Partnerships Canada, a Liberal program that had brought more than $75 million in loans to companies in Waterloo Region.

Fiscal Management Andrew is proud that under the previous Liberal government there was no deficit spending for eight successive years. In 2008, the Harper Conservatives have brought the country to the brink of a deficit and lowered Canada's standing on standard economic indicators.

Crime This city's Safety and Crime Prevention Council and Community Justice Initiatives are living testaments to Andrew's priority on reducing crime through community development. The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police favours the same approach. The Harper government prefers to scare Canadians with inflated crime statistics, to build more jails, hire more police, lock more people up, and lengthen sentences - in the same fashion as the Republicans in the United States, which has among the highest crime and incarceration rates in the world.

Democracy In his 15 years in Ottawa, Andrew has worked hard to establish a vibrant structure of parliamentary committees where MPs can openly express their views. The Harper Conservatives were generally on Andrew's side - until they formed the government. Since then, Harper has concentrated power in the Prime Minister's Office even more than before, and members of his own party are forced to behave like trained seals.

Citizenship Prior to the last election, Andrew worked to get a unanimous parliamentary motion passed to make the rights of citizenship, for both native-born and naturalized Canadians, compliant with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. However, once in government, the Harper Conservatives reversed themselves.

Manufacturing Since the Harper Conservatives came to office, they have neglected the importance of the manufacturing sector and as a result Canada has lost hundreds of thousands of good, well-paid jobs. Andrew recognizes the importance of this industry and has worked to secure jobs in manufacturing in this region and Ontario.

 

Return to top