Tagged with: Alberta


November 24, 2017 | No Comments

Liberals are rushing ahead to meet their arbitrary deadline to legalize marijuana

The Liberal government needs to stop and listen to the scientists, doctors, and law enforcement officials who are telling them that their plan to legalize marijuana is being rushed through without proper consideration of the negative impact of such complicated legislation.

Filed under: General

November 22, 2017 | No Comments

The Liberals are rushing to legalize marijuana without a plan to protect youth

Justin Trudeau’s government is rushing to legalize the recreational use of marijuana without proper planning or consideration of the negative ramifications of their legislation.

It’s very concerning that it doesn’t keep marijuana out of the hands of children. 

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October 25, 2017 | No Comments

Finance Minister Bill Morneau is trying to change the channel on his ethics crisis

It’s time that Morneau stops trying to change the channel, apologizes to Canadians, and starts following the rules that apply to all Members of Parliament.

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October 2, 2017 | No Comments

The Liberals’ Phoenix pay system fiasco is worsening

Today, I asked the Minister of Public Services and Procurement when she would stop blaming others and clean up this mess.

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October 2, 2017 | No Comments

My statement in the House of Commons on the terror attack in Edmonton

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October 1, 2017 | No Comments

Today is National Seniors Day in Canada!

This day pays tribute to the contributions of seniors who have helped build our country and who continue to make valuable contributions in our communities.

It’s also a chance to celebrate the seniors who have positively impacted your life.

Happy National Seniors Day!

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September 29, 2017 | No Comments

Edmonton’s small business community is outraged with the Liberals’ unfair tax changes

Small business owners at my roundtable on the unfair tax hike in Edmonton roundly blasted the proposed Trudeau/Morneau small biz tax changes.

Our participants (including two accountants) say if the Liberal plan is carried out it will have a wide-ranging negative impact on everything from family farms, to mom and pop businesses, to the ability for Canada to retain doctors.

All these people vow to continue opposing these changes and they’re encouraging everyone they know to call, write and e-mail federal Liberal members of Parliament demanding they stop this ill-advised damaging scheme.

Please do YOUR part by speaking out loudly. Conservatives will fight this tax hike every step of the way.

Together we can make the Grits stop this insane tax-grab scheme.

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July 27, 2017 | No Comments

Appreciative of the feedback received from Veterans and Veteran’s advocates

Thank you to everyone who participated my round table discussion on Veterans issues with Conservative Veterans Affairs critic John Brassard.

Your feedback is invaluable.

Canada’s Veterans have selflessly served our country. It’s important that when they transition to civil life they have the resources they need, when they need it.

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July 6, 2017 | No Comments

Canadians worry about crime, justice and public safety

By KERRY DIOTTE

 

As a federal politician, crime, justice and community safety are almost always at the top of the list of concerns I hear about from people.

These topics have especially dominated the news and the minds of many people I’ve talked to lately.

Just the other day I met with constituents in my local office, both of whom were crying out for changes to the way we seek to have safer communities.

One 77-year-old man complained he and his wife had suffered 54 break-ins or petty crimes in and around their Londonderry area home since 1990.

Few people were arrested for the offences, despite the fact that he’s got scores of surveillance video, he told me.

What’s more, he said their farm in Mayorthorpe was hit by thieves and vandals who made off with $40,000 in stolen goods and did $30,000 in vandalism.

The man is upset there aren’t more police resources to probe such crimes. He figures Canada needs to toughen laws to put repeat offenders away for longer stretches. “It’s become a justice industry,” he says. “It’s not justice.”

A retired veteran of the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) I met with the same day echoed similar frustration with the approach to public safety.

His concern centres around a lack of resources from the federal government to deal with people released from federal prisons, deemed to be high risk to re-offend “sexually or violently.”

The former EPS officer who’s still active in the criminal justice system says these high-risk ex-cons have typically been kept in prison until the last day of their sentences and don’t get the benefit of statutory release.

The former officer told me a trio of city police detectives in Edmonton do their best to supervise an average of 30 of these high-risk offenders who walk among us — a high percentage of those ex-cons being sex offenders.

The retired officer argues more resources are direly needed to stop these hardest of hardened ex-cons from re-offending. As proof the system isn’t working, he brought me a list of eight such, hard-core ex-cons who indeed did re-offend.

Those re-offences include the aggravated assault of a woman confined to a wheelchair, sex assaults against children under the age of 16 and several homicides, he said.

“If these cases are going to remain the responsibility of policing agencies across Canada, they need proper funding from the federal government for training and adequate personnel,” he said.

To me, that’s a no brainer.

The concerns of these two men are the tip of the iceberg. Recently Edmonton Journal columnist Paula Simons lamented that Canada has a “broken court system.”

Simons raised numerous concerns including that courts don’t have enough judges or other resources to deal with the workload. 

I believe that’s particularly true because of a Supreme Court ruling called the Jordan decision. That ruling means accused criminals must get a trial is a timely manner or they must be released.

Canadians have already been shocked that several people charged with violent crimes didn’t get a trial fast enough and were released scott free.

Simons rightly a point out it’s a federal government responsibility to appoint federal judges and there are a whack of vacancies.

This is hardly news to our Conservative caucus.

We’ve been hammering at the federal Liberal justice minister for months now as vacancies for judges remained unfilled for no good reason.

When repeatedly questioned in the House of Commons by Conservative deputy justice critic Michael Cooper, Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould has blathered a lot of non-sensical excuses for the delay including talking about the fact we need to aim for “diversity” when hiring judges.

In my view, public safety can’t take a back seat when there aren’t enough judges appointed and people charged with murder and other violent crimes are walking free without being tried.

Another controversy keeping crime high on people’s radar was the recent defeat of Wynn’s Law by the federal Liberal majority government.

Backed by Conservatives, it would have closed a loophole in the law so that those applying for bail would have to have their criminal records and pending charges shown to a judge.

Liberals made a bogus argument that, somehow, disclosing someone’s criminal record or pending charges would bog down the justice system. Just TRY to figure out that loopy Liberal logic.

Violent crime has also been much on the minds of many in Edmonton, in part because the city had experienced more than two dozen homicides and 2017 is only half over. By June 29 the city had recorded its 25th murder.

The spike in murders was enough for police to call a news conference to ally public fears and reassure citizens the city is still relatively safe.

Given all these recent headlines, it’s understandable Canadians are worried about community safety and concerned not enough is being done by governments to assure the public.

Public safety should be a top priority for any government. Our Conservative opposition will continue to urge the Liberal government to fill vacancies in the federal courts and stand up for victims of crime and law-abiding Canadians.

E-mail me at [email protected] to share your thoughts on these issues.

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June 18, 2017 | No Comments

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!

Thank you to all the fathers and father figures who invest their time, wisdom and love into their children.

The unconditional love of a parent helps give a child the inspiration and courage to succeed.  

And, our communities and personal lives are strengthened by these men.

This father’s day, I hope you’ll join me in showing your appreciation.

To every father, I wish you a…

Happy Father’s Day!

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