Former MP finds blessing in charity work

WINNIPEG, MB—Two decades in the political limelight comes at a cost. Sixteen years after stepping down from a long and turbulent political career—during which he represented Manitoba's Provencher riding in Parliament and held three separate cabinet posts—Jake Epp still hasn't found a church he can attend incognito.

Elected by a largely Mennonite constituency in his hometown of Steinbach, Epp represented the interests of Canadian evangelicals in Ottawa for more than twenty years. Though he argued fervently against abortion as Minister of Health, many of his pro-life constituents felt he didn't draw a clear enough line in the sand. In 1991 the church Epp helped start—now called Southland Community Church—revoked his membership.

Epp left politics for good in 1993. He and his wife moved to Calgary where Epp took the job of president of Transcanada Pipelines. They found an Alliance church they liked and started attending.

"It was a wonderful church," Epp says. "But we walked in one Sunday and somebody said, 'Oh good, Preston [Manning] goes here as well. Now we're going to get some really good fights with you and Preston.' All of a sudden my wife wasn't around. She just walked out."

It's easier just to find a pew at the back in a church where no one recognizes him, Epp says. These days he finds his spiritual encouragement in charity work.

"I hate this warfare in churches. I have no time for it. I don't want to be involved in it. I'd much rather do my charitable work and get my blessings that way," Epp says.

Aid to Afghanistan

Epp chairs the board of Health Partners International of Canada (HPIC), a Christian organization that delivers medical supplies to developing countries around the world. ChristianWeek caught up with Epp during his recent visit to Winnipeg to meet with HPIC board members.

Glen Shepherd, HPIC's president, can't say enough about what Epp brings to the organization, citing both knowledge and a network of contacts developed during his years as Canada's health minister.

HPIC works with about 600 doctors and more than 40 non-government organizations, to deliver medical supplies to places where they are needed most: Haiti, Cuba, Afghanistan and many other countries.

Two years ago Epp visited Afghanistan as part of a government-appointed commission led by John Manley to make recommendations on Canada's future role in Afghanistan.

The final report called for more emphasis on development work bolstering the country's medical infrastructure. "HPI in its own way has now been tasked with providing some of that health care and development," says Epp.

The overthrow of the Taliban left the health system in shambles, says Shepherd. "So much bad medicine comes into the country." Afghanistan is flooded with cheap pharmaceuticals from India and China that don't meet quality standards, packaged with fake labels.

HPIC delivers medical supplies to a hospital in Kabul run by CURE International. Over the next five years HPIC plans to send $25 million worth of medicine to Afghanistan while working with the Afghan ministry of public health to develop an office that will ensure the quality of pharmaceuticals entering the country.

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