April 26, 2011
Warawa proud of Ottawa record
By Matthew Claxton, Langley Advance April 26, 2011
Mark Warawa met with voters at Langley City’s library in a recent all candidates event.
Photograph by: Matthew Claxton, Langley Advance
Mark Warawa has been the Member of Parliament for Langley for seven years.
"I had no idea really what it was going to be like," said the former Abbotsford city councillor.
He said much of the time the House of Commons is like a permanent all-candidates meeting, with a lot of heckling.
But the work has been fulfilling, nonetheless, Warawa said.
Justice, transportation, and the economy are priorities Warawa said are key. However, he has a number of other projects that he says have been interrupted by the election.
He's been working with Langley resident Peter Ash to get the House of Commons to condemn the killing of albinos in Tanzania, where superstitious people have been killing them to make medicine.
"That's one of the first things I'll be doing if I'm sent back to represent Langley," Warawa said.
Warawa is also proud of pushing through, over the course of several years, a change to the EI compassionate care rules.
A woman from the Okanagan came to Langley to care for her dying sister, and was denied a compassionate care benefit because siblings weren't considered in the right category, Warawa said.
The complaint landed in his constituency office. Getting that changed, so that a dying person could name their own caregiver, was a satisfying achievement, he said.
He also points to the Bedford Channel dredging, a project that involved business, the Township, the province, and Ottawa.
Although he won the 2008 election with one of the largest majorities of any MP in the House of Commons, Warawa is not sitting back during this election.
"We're all over Langley, meeting as many people as we can," he said.
He's talking to a lot of undecided voters. Warawa said he knows from talking to people on their doorsteps that not everyone has the same philosophy. If he wins again, he has to continue representing everyone in Langley, not just Conservative voters, he said.
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