Dave Van Kesteren MP

[Alastair]

This is the Member of Parliament for Chatham - Kent - Essex and he is a member of the Conservative Party. Here is his about him page from his web site...

Dave Van Kesteren was elected as the Member of Parliament for Chatham-Kent-Essex in January 2006 as a Conservative Government Member of Parliament, led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. His election to office in 2006 marked the first time in 17 years that Chatham-Kent-Essex had elected a Conservative Member of Parliament.

Prior to becoming the Member of Parliament for Chatham-Kent-Essex, Dave worked in the auto industry. In 1985, Dave opened his first auto body shop, later running his own used car business and then becoming a Hyundai dealer in 1996.

Born in Chatham to Dutch parents who immigrated to Canada in the early 1950`s, he is the fifth child of ten children. Strong proponents of family values, Dave and his wife, Faye, have celebrated 34 years of marriage and have eight adult children, and have been blessed with many grandchildren.

In the 39th Parliament, as the newly elected Member of Parliament, for Chatham-Kent-Essex he was a Member of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics; the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology; and the Subcommittee on Oil and Gas and other Energy Prices. In the 40th Parliament he was again a Member of the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology; the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans; and completed his first chairmanship of the Sub-Committee on Canadian Industrial Sectors. For the second session of the 40th Parliament, he was a Member of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women and Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology. Currently, in this third session of Parliament, he continues his work as a Member of the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology and the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development.

He is an active member on numerous Parliamentary Associations and Interparliamentary Groups. Specifically, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, Canada-United States Interparliamentary Group, Canada-United Kingdom Interparliamentary Association, Canada-Japan Inter-Parliamentary Group, Canada-Israel Interparliamentary Group, Canada-Europe Parliamentary Association, Canada-China Legislative Association, Canada-Africa Parliamentary Association, and Canada-Taiwan Friendship Group. This does not include the several other Friendship groups he is associated with including the Canada-Netherlands Friendship Group of which he is Chair. He is also the founder and Chair of the Canadian Trucking Industry Caucus and several other Caucuses that focus on specific issues related to Canadian industry sectors.

Dave has had several opportunities to travel internationally on behalf of the Government of Canada. He traveled to Taiwan in 2006 with the Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association to further Canada’s diplomatic trade relations in the region, to China in 2007 and again to Taiwan in 2008 with other government Members to Celebrate the Presidential Inauguration. He and Faye had the honour of traveling to Israel in July of 2007 with the Canada-Israel Committee. In August 2008 he attended the Southern Governors Association Annual General Meeting in Greenbrier, West Virginia. In February of 2010 he and Faye had the honour of traveling to Turkey along with other Members of Parliament from all Parties.

Dave continues to represent the people of Chatham-Kent-Essex and their interests at the Federal level. He is very proud of the riding and works hard every day to keep Canada a strong and prosperous nation, not only for our generation but for those generations to come.

END

Now I have to ask how can he handle all these rolls and still represent his constituents? Further, given that "In the 40th Parliament he was again a Member of the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology; the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans; and completed his first chairmanship of the Sub-Committee on Canadian Industrial Sectors." he was asked by myself if he could help me find a way to obtain general information on the Industrial and Commercial sectors of Canada. All I got was an assistant phoning to ask what I wanted and when I explained he said he'd get back to me but never did.

Now bear in mind I am developing the ElectricCanadian site to be a resource where anyone can learn about Canada and its history and in particular to be a resource for the school children in Canada. They need to know more about the Industrial and Commercial sectors of Canada but getting decent information is actually very hard to find. So here is a guy that is the chairman of the Sub-Committee on Canadian Industrial Sectors so who better to ask for help?

So given his roles stated above you would think it would be easy for him to help with my request. However he clearly didn't think so and ignored me. I thus have to conclude that when he is up for re-election I sure won't be voting for him.

However I do fully support the Conservative Government so by not voting for him it would mean I'd need to vote for another party.

That seems to me to be a real problem for any voters like myself who support a party but don't like the standing MP of that party. And so does anyone have any suggestions?

Alastair

[Glesgalass]

Theoretically you are supposed to vote for the party which represents your beliefs and not the individual. Some people register their disapproval by voting informally....eg writing a message across the voting form about what they think of the candidate. So, it's up to you Alastair what you want to do. I personally would hate to waste a vote by voting informally. I must admit to having thought about it from time to time but could never quite bring myself to do it.

Elda

[Alastair]

I note in Scotland that with their devolved system you get to vote for the MP but you also get a second vote for the Party. That means you get directly elected MP's and then you get List MP's. Sounds like a good idea. Mind you with proportional representation you rarely get an overall majority which I guess makes it harder to get things done as we don't seem to want to compromise these days.

Thanks for your views Elda.

Alastair

[sandyc]

Hi Al, I used to believe that my vote was for the person. That changed a long time ago and now the vote is for the party.
As to the "list MSP's" I admit to not understanding that, because it can also cover "independents". Strikes me more as a way of getting some people voted in who would not make it "directly" (for many reasons).
Your comments re your local MP do not surprise me, but do disappoint me. Does he not have a local office where you can visit him and make your points in person? Part of the money they are paid is to support such an entity...
We also have this system whereby we "rank" the candidates; perhaps that is just for local elections. I know I find it VERY confusing...
Sandy

[Alastair]

I did phone his local office Sandy and that's where I got that assistant that did nothing.

The problem is that given his work in parliament he's actually the ideal person to help with what I am trying to find out as he's the chair of the committee so should be best placed to advise on how to get the information I am after.

As to the "List" in Scotland. As I understand it when you vote for a party the percentage of votes go toward electing the members on the "List". So say for example the voting was 40% SNP, 30% Labour, 15% Liberal, etc. then that will get you that percentage of List MSP's. I can't remember the number of List MSP's but let's say it's 50. That would mean the SNP get 20, Labour 15, etc. And so taking the SNP List then the top 20 on the list would be elected to serve as an MSP. They are then assigned to an area of Scotland which might go over 3 normal constituencies.

At least that is how I think it works.

Alastair