Conservative MPs hear from residents at open house

“We’ve opened it up and said, ‘Anybody can come in,’” he said. “These folks that are coming in from the U.S., it is a safe country, there is no rationale whatsoever for them to come from a safe country into Canada, those are the agreements we have. The issue is where do they cross?”

Dreeshen feels there is a different set of rules at a normal border crossing versus not using one.

“This is the loophole that is being presented. When you do that, you then have to have people process all of these different claims. The cost of manpower is slowing down the normal process that we have for normal immigration.”

The need for more pipelines in Canada was also brought up Wednesday. Dreeshen says it’s important to note there were four pipelines built during the Conservatives time in government.

“We had approval for Northern Gateway,” he says. “That was done, it was arbitrarily stopped by this Prime Minister. We had in the process Energy East that was ready for regulatory review then they threw a bunch of extra limiting factors on that which slowed down that process.”

Dreeshen adds the Conservatives also had the Trans Mountain pipeline ready to go as well, needing only to work its way through the process before going ahead.

“All of those things had been done. We also have a number of projects where Aboriginal groups want to get involved in the building of pipelines and being involved in our natural gas and oil business. But all of those voices were silenced and right now what we’re talking about is, ‘Boy, wouldn’t it be great if we could get that one pipeline built that is simply on the same right of way as what we had had before’.”

With the spring session of Parliament approaching, Dreeshen says it’s important to hear from constituents on these issues before heading back to Ottawa.

“It’s certainly an opportunity for us as a team to discuss where it’s coming from and to try to find some solutions,” he explains. “There was a lot of frustration with the legal Bills C-71 and C-75 which have to do with firearms and watering down the criminal justice system. I just think it’s important for people to have the chance to talk to us in person so that they know they’re being heard.”

Dreeshen says the concerns heard in Red Deer Wednesday are very similar to those also heard in Edmonton this week.

“Again, issues on immigration,” says Dreeshen. “I think maybe they’re more urban-centric in Edmonton. Here we had a little bit more talk on agricultural issues, the environment and the great work that our farmers and ranchers do in order to look after the land and sequestration of carbon.”

Going forward, Dreeshen anticipates the Conservatives to continue working on their policy platform in advance of the 2019 federal election.

“We have already presented various views and positions as having to do with justice and criminal activities. We’ll be working on an environmental package that we will be presenting, so we believe that is an important aspect looking at things from a global perspective. We will have to look at an immigration system to find out how to stop some of the abuses that we see right now.”

Trade and pipelines will also remain election issues according to Dreeshen.

“In so many ways we’ve seen our government put up barriers to our trade,” he laments. “When we see tens of billions of dollars that are leaving our province and country to go invest in oil and gas in other places in the world, it just does not make sense. We know if we had that type of income that not only could we be building more schools and hospitals and looking after our own citizens but we are the kind of people that would want to help the rest of the world as well.”

However, Dreeshen feels the current government has sat back and allowed Canada to be handcuffed by taxation policies and over-regulation.

“I think we need to make sure that we just have that positive message. We have a lot of focus on the issues that are important to the average Canadian, looking at affordability, respecting families and respecting communities. Those are the key things that we want to look at and to make sure that our discussion has to do with the people that we represent.”

Other Conservative MP’s from Alberta who attended Wednesday’s open house included Sherwood Park – Fort Saskatchewan MP Garnett Genuis, Ron Liepert from Calgary Signal Hill, Glen Motz from Medicine Hat – Cardston – Warner, Martin Shields from Bow River, Kevin Sorenson from Battle River – Crowfoot, Arnold Viersen from Peace River – Westlock and Calgary Confederation MP Len Webber.

by Sheldon Spackman

Conservative MPs hear from residents at open house

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