On Dec. 5, the Governor General delivered the speech from the throne laying out the minority Liberal government’s plan for Canadians.
The speech was heavy on platitudes, but light on details.
It did not explicitly highlight how the Liberal government would resolve the unity crisis; particularly the ongoing unease in Alberta where tens of thousands of oil and gas industry workers remain unemployed due to the economic downturn.
Agricultural producers are also facing significant challenges in getting their commodities to market, increased costs imposed by the carbon tax and the need for supports during what has been an especially trying harvest.
Shortly after the throne speech, I was able to press the minister of agriculture on how her office forgot to file for negligible risk status with the World Organization for Animal Health, a key part of the Canadian beef industry’s ongoing recovery from the BSE crisis.
The Liberals continue to ignore all 13 premiers who have asked for a change of course on the Liberal “No More Pipelines” Bill C-69, as this continues to target our energy sector.
This minority government also failed to mention rural crime concerns being faced in Battle River-Crowfoot and many other ridings. Rural crime is one example, but instead of proposing solutions, they insist on implementing measures that will punish law abiding firearms owners.
They failed to outline how their infrastructure plan will be rolled out to benefit the rural regions of our country. They failed to address their record of out of control spending without a plan to get our budget to balance.
As the throne speech was debated, the Liberal minority government faced several votes.
In fact, the very first vote was a Conservative motion related to the need for Parliament to examine Canada’s relationship with China.
The motion was opposed by the government, but passed with opposition parties support. It was demonstrated early on that the Liberals no longer have a free ride in Parliament. You can count on me and the Conservatives to work hard every day for Canada, Alberta and the Battle River-Crowfoot riding.
Finally, I want to take a moment to address Andrew Scheer’s recent announcement of his intention to resign as leader. He has requested the process to choose a new leader be initiated as soon as possible. He will remain as leader with full support of caucus. I will be sure to write more about this in the future, and a thank you to Andrew for his leadership, friendship and contributions to our nation.
I wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a blessed New Year.