Peter Mackay visits with former Red Deer MP Bob Mills during a visit to Gasoline Alley on Wednesday. (rdnewsNOW/James Dunn)

By Sheldon Spackman

Drumming Up Support

Peter Mackay brings Conservative leadership campaign to Red Deer

Feb 5, 2020 | 3:44 PM

Rural crime was the focus of discussion for Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) leadership hopeful Peter MacKay as he made a campaign tour stop in Gasoline Alley on Wednesday.

MacKay says rural crime is having a caustic impact on people’s lives.

“It’s bringing fear and a real sense of urgency to some of these matters that are complex, that involve policing, that involve legislation, that involve addressing some of the social causes, including addiction and the crisis that’s there in terms of our health care system and mental health and how we deal with these issues,” he explained. “So it’s a big cause, Canada is a big cause and it requires a lot of attention and effort and I feel that I want to contribute through public office.”

A former Crown prosecutor and federal justice minister, MacKay says tackling the issue will in part require an influx of policing resources.

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“I think we’re going to have to go back and revisit some of the penalties that attach to violent crime,” he added. “Our (former Conservative) government put in place a number of mandatory minimum penalties when it involved violent crime. What I’ve heard today, and what I’ve heard repeatedly from victims, is the sense that they’re being re-victimized within the system.

“They see people who have done horrible things to them and their families and their property out on the street within 24 or 48 hours, that doesn’t instill a sense of confidence.”

MacKay says it’s his concern for the country and the feeling he still has something to give that has brought him back into politics after nearly five years away.

“Part of my message to Alberta today was one of respect and appreciation,” he pointed out. “We as a country have to recognize that when the Alberta economy is working, when people are working, when there is revenue flowing, when there is oil and gas flowing, this is good for the entire country.

He added, “I think we’re far stronger as a nation, we’re far stronger within the confederation, when we work together with respect to try to come up with some solutions, part of which in my view, is getting our resource sector off its knees.”

MacKay says it boils down to putting Canada back on a path to greater prosperity.

“Unlocking that potential means breaking down inter-provincial barriers,” he explains. “It means obviously allowing people more access to their own capital. It means stripping away some of the regulation and bureaucracy that’s choking a lot of businesses, and it means working with partners, working with provinces, working with the private sector, working with industry, working with many different groups across this country who want to be able to be more efficient, be more effective in delivery of what they do each and every day.”

Promoting unity within Canada and within the Conservative party are also top-of-mind issues for MacKay.

“The reality is if we’re going to be in position to do the important work necessary to bind this country together, we have to be unified as a cohesive, thoughtful, compassionate party at the end of this process.”

Red Deer-Lacombe MP Blaine Calkins hosted MacKay’s campaign stop and says he is a good choice for Conservatives in Alberta.

“Here in Alberta, we need someone who can win the Prime Minister’s seat in Ottawa,” he explained. “We do not have any more options left here – bankruptcies, unemployment – we have massive issues here in central Alberta and we seem to have a federal government that’s tone deaf to – as a matter of fact, I would say is in large part responsible through their policies for – the problems that we’re facing. I’m supporting Peter because I know that when he’s put in front of Canadians as a leader of the Conservative Party, he will be the next Prime Minister of Canada.”

Current party leader Andrew Scheer announced in December he was stepping down, but would stay on until a new leader was chosen.

Conservative party members will vote on a leader June 27 in Toronto.