Mark your calendar for an appointment with me!

I hope the column this week finds you well. There are several items that I’d like to raise your awareness about this week, and they are: the details of our fast approaching townhall meetings, the Parliamentary Page Program and application deadline, and the extension of the 2010 calendar contest for our riding.
The first order of business is to remind you of the next round of townhall meetings in our riding. Past meetings have focused on current issues like the federal budget. I’d like you to join me this time for a discussion about the future and where you want the economy of Northwestern to head in the next decade and beyond. I’m sure most will agree that forestry demand will recover to some level as the broader economy recovers, but also that the industry reached its peak some time ago and that we must look elsewhere for new economic drivers in our region. Given our geographic location, unique culture, and many other strengths we should be should be able to develop a strategy over time and come up with ideas as to how the federal government can help our region move forward. As always, the meetings will be open to the public and I hope to see and hear from long time and new residents alike who have experience in certain key industries, belong to different groups and organizations, or simply have strong opinions about where we should be going moving forward.
The meetings are scheduled as follows Atikokan, November 9, 2009, Fort Frances, November 12, 2009 and Thunder Bay, November 15, 2009.
The second order of business is to make you aware of the upcoming application deadline for the 2010-2011 Parliamentary Page Program. Each year, the House of Commons Page Program offers paid employment to 40 students, selected from high schools and CEGEPs across Canada.
Students who are accepted into the program work for one year as pages in the House of Commons, while pursuing their first year of study at a university in the National Capital Region. As Pages, students will gain firsthand knowledge about Canada’s legislative process and the inner workings of the House of Commons.
For students who are considering attending a post-secondary institution in the National Capital Region, I strongly suggest applying to this program. Applications must be in by December 7, 2009. For more information, and to download the application form, please visit:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/programs/pages/PP_Welcome-e.htm?WhereFrom
The final order of business this week is to announce that the 2010 calendar design contest has been extended to Monday November 16th. This contest is a chance for young residents in our riding to help design next year’s edition of the calendar which will be distributed to more than 36,000 homes. The theme for 2010 is ‘Where I Live,’ so winning entries will show what makes Northwestern Ontario interesting and unique (animals, hobbies, people, history, etc) in the eyes of the artist.
The contest is open to all students in Kindergarten to grade 8 in the riding of Thunder Bay – Rainy River, and all submissions must be on flat paper (drawing, painting, or sketch). In order to meet certain printing deadlines, all entries must be received in my Ottawa office no later than November 16th to qualify.

Calendar contest entries should be sent (no postage required!) to:
John Rafferty, MP.
326 West Block
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON.
K1A OA6
Have a great week and please get those Page applications and calendar entries in the mail as soon as possible!