MP Blaine Calkins speaks to attendees at the Clearwater Community Crime Watch Annual General Meeting in Leslieville.

By Adam Ophus

"People are frustrated"

Clearwater Community Crime Watch holds AGM in Leslieville

Mar 3, 2020 | 10:53 AM

Frustrations over rural crime continue to be evident among local residents.

The Clearwater Community Crime Watch held their annual general meeting at the Leslieville Community Hall on Tuesday, March 3.

Conservative MPs Gerald Soroka (Yellowhead) and Blaine Calkins (Red Deer-Lacombe) attended and spoke at the event.

No time was wasted at the gathering as Calkins spoke to the 100-plus people in attendance about how he and Soroka were working to convince Ottawa that Alberta needs a change in how the legal system works.

“The Trudeau government managed to boil down our report to about three pages and then, from what they saw, said we don’t have a problem,” Calkins shared.

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“We get that people are frustrated, but the RCMP work off of reports so you need to send those in,” Calkins said in a bid to encourage residents to report any suspected criminal activity, even if they think nothing will come of it.

Calkins then delved into the frustration both civilians and RCMP share with the large amount of crime being done by repeat offenders.

Responses quickly came from those in attendance asking what’s the point of adding more police or even arresting criminals if they just walk right out. Calkins responded with an analogy to help make his point.

“We can put as many fisherman as we want on a catch and release stream, but it’s not going to help us catch more fish,” he suggested.

Calkins told the attendees that he was once conservation officer before going into politics and that if anything, Alberta’s new RAPID force that plans to bring sheriffs and fish and wildlife officers into the rural crime plan “shows the level of frustration.”

He described a Pan-Canadian Framework of a possible tax credit to help install a security system in a person’s home who can’t afford it, admitting that people shouldn’t have to wall themselves in, but it’s a start.

The general consensus from the crowd was positive for Calkins’ and ‘Soroka’s ideas for private members bills relating to crime.

Some of the topics brought at the meeting up were to charge criminals entering a rural property with aggravation as it would give the courts more room to lay heavier charges and put electronic tracking on repeat offenders among other planned ideas.

One angered citizen said it seems most of these crimes are tied to buying, using or selling drugs.

“The government is investing heavily in the drug trade by offering safe injection sites like the one in Red Deer… one of the problems is these individuals don’t have to seek help, we can’t force them,” answered Calkins.

The night ended with Calkins explaining that he plans to start a caucus in Ottawa and even calls it his “hellraising effort, because we need to raise a little hell.”

He said if you want change, you have to send in emails and make phone calls to people like the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Bill Blair, and the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, David Lametti.