In November of 2015, newly elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wrote an open letter to Canadians.

In that letter among other promises the PM offered this:

“….we committed to set a higher bar for openness and transparency in Ottawa. Government and its information must be open by default. Simply put, it is time to shine more light on government to make sure it remains focused on the people it was created to serve- you.”

I believe these words that the Prime Minister wrote to Canadians in 2015 are important and must be honoured. 

As the Official Opposition, it is also our role to hold the Prime Minister and his Liberal Government accountable for these and other promises made to Canadians.

Accountability is vital.

It is why, in 2006, former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper created the independent Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) to help hold your government accountable.

It should also be noted that the creation of the PBO was the result of a campaign promise made by former PM Harper to create more accountability in Ottawa, in response to the former Liberal government sponsorship scandal.

Why does this matter? 

Because accountability and transparency are under threat in Ottawa.

In 2018, the Trudeau Liberal Government tabled a budget that included a $186.7 billion infrastructure spending plan.

What's deeply troubling is when the PBO requested the documents to review this infrastructure spending plan, no documents were provided.

As a result, in March of 2018 the PBO publicly reported:

“Budget 2018 provides an incomplete account of the changes to the Government’s $186.7 billion infrastructure spending plan. PBO requested the new plan but it does not exist.”

Fast forward to January of 2020 and now a minority government, we, as the Official Opposition, tabled an opposition day motion that is summarized as:

“…given the PBO posted on March 15, 2018, that “Budget 2018 provides an incomplete account of the changes to the government’s $186.7 billion infrastructure spending plan” and that the “PBO requested the new plan but it does not exist”, the House call on the Auditor General of Canada to immediately conduct an audit of the government’s “Investing in Canada Plan”.

Although the Trudeau Liberal Government vigorously opposed this motion, it passed with 166 votes in favour and 152 opposed. 

Now here we are now in March of 2021(almost April), three years after the PBO first raised the alarm bells, and the Auditor  General recently released the audit (Report 9) of the “Investing in Canada” Infrastructure plan.

Unfortunately, the Auditor General also stated:

“Overall, Infrastructure Canada—as the lead department for the Investing in Canada Plan—was unable to provide meaningful public reporting on the plan’s overall progress toward its expected results.”

This relates to $186.7 BILLION in spending. 

My question this week:

Should this be acceptable conduct from your government?

​I can be reached at Dan.Albas@parl.gc.ca or call toll free 1-800-665-8711.

This week in the virtual House of Commons, the Conservative opposition party tabled an 'opposition day motion' that called for the Liberal government to introduce a data driven COVID re-opening plan within 20 days to support “gradually, safely and permanently lifting COVID-19 restrictions.”

As is often the case with opposition day motions, the Liberal government has offered up a litany of reasons that suggest they will oppose this motion that, at the time of this report, has not yet been voted on.

Why the need for a re-opening plan? 

As Canadians know, vaccinations are now underway and regrettably Canada is currently significantly behind many countries, including the United States.

Already many local small businesses involved in tourism, as well as accommodation providers are receiving reservation requests from fully immunized American citizens for potential upcoming vacation stays.

For an industry that has been devastated by this pandemic, the opportunity for bookings and accompanying revenue is desperately needed.

Unfortunately, for this industry, and many others, they are unclear how and when to respond to these requests.
There are also remains a critically important question.

Many citizens are currently under various restrictions and requirements.

While the Prime Minister has promised that all citizens who are wanting to be immunized by the end of September will be, we do not know what vision the PM has following this time frame.

This relates to the obvious question.

For Canadian citizens who eventually are fully vaccinated, how will that potentially change federal restrictions for them on travel beyond Canadian borders?

Likewise, if other countries propose a requirement that fully vaccinated citizens produce vaccination verification documentation, how does this Government propose to respond to this?

Many Canadians want and deserve to know what the game plan is once vaccines in Canada have been fully administered. 

The answers to these questions are also very badly needed by those in the travel and aviation sectors who have been decimated by this pandemic.

While the Liberal government MP's arguing against this motion have largely suggested that expectations for a re-opening plan is “too soon”, it must be noted that USA President Joe Biden and British PM Boris Johnson have both released public plans for economic reopening.

We all know that COVID restrictions have had serious economic and mental health impacts on many Canadians. 

It is important that we all have clarity on when and how the federal government believes regular economic and social life will be able to resume.

My question this week:

Do you believe it is a reasonable expectation that the Liberal government present a data driven, gradual re-opening plan much as the USA and UK have already done?

​I can be reached at Dan.Albas@parl.gc.ca or call toll free 1-800-665-8711.

​Last month I did a report on Bill C-21: “An Act to amend certain Acts and to make certain consequential amendments (firearms)”.
 
This report touched on the Liberal Government's latest firearms bill that, among other measures, also places new restrictions on certain types of “assault style” semi-automatic rifles but has been criticized for not removing these same rifles from the public.
 
As former NDP official opposition leader Thomas Mulcair recently stated,

“Trudeau got pummeled, with longtime gun-control allies saying they felt “betrayed” and saying his government lied to them.”

The reason for this criticism relates to the fact that previously PM Trudeau stated:

"These weapons were designed for one purpose and one purpose only: to kill the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time," Trudeau said. "There is no use and no place for such weapons in Canada."
 
As critics have pointed out, if PM Trudeau believes this to be true, why is his bill allowing these rifles to remain in Canada?

While there is often debate on targeting legal gun owners as opposed to criminals, one fact that data backs up is that the majority of gun crime in Canada is committed by guns that have been illegally smuggled into Canada.
 
The statistics show roughly 80% of Canadian gun crimes are committed with firearms illegally smuggled into Canada from the United States.
 
This raises another question – why not target illegal gun smuggling?
 
My Conservative colleague, MP Bob Saroya from Markham-Unionville (Ontario), recently tabled his private members bill C-238 to do precisely that.
 
Bill C-238 proposed to significantly increase the minimum sentences for illegally smuggling guns into Canada, as well as being found in possession of an illegally smuggled gun.

The minimum sentence would increase from one year to three years, or 5 years if it were a second conviction for illegally smuggling guns into Canada.
 
On January 27, 2021, Bill C-238 was defeated by just 21 votes.

116 Conservative MP's, along with 31 members of the BLOC, 2 Liberals and 1 Independent all supported this bill.
 
Opposed were 142 Liberals, 23 NDP, 3 Independent and the 3 Green MPs. 
 
That brings me to this week’s question –

Would you have supported Bill C-238 to increase the minimum sentences for smuggling or possessing guns illegally smuggled into Canada?

I can be reached at Dan.Albas@parl.gc.ca or call toll free 1-800-665-8711.
  

​It was back in October of 2020 that I last referenced the proposed ban of some single use plastics announced by PM Trudeau at that time.

This proposed ban that the government proposes, by the end of 2021, includes grocery store bags, straws, coffee stir sticks, six-pack can holding rings, plastic cutlery and certain food takeout containers if they are made from hard-to-recycle plastics.

In my October MP Report, I also asked the question “What are your thoughts on this proposed ban of single use plastics?”

Most citizens I heard from were generally or enthusiastically supportive of this proposal.

Since October of last year, in my role as the Shadow Minister for Environment and Climate Change, I have also heard feedback on this proposal from a number of different stakeholders.

One of the primary concerns is that the proposed method to ban these single use plastics is to amend Schedule 1 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) and add these plastics to the list of “toxic” items that are currently banned.

As critics point out, the challenge to this method is that the science does not support these plastics being on a list that includes toxic items such as asbestos, mercury, acetamide and lead, among other items.

The reason why this distinction is being made is to point out that the greater risk to plastic pollution is not to human health, but rather the inability to properly dispose of this plastic that often becomes an unacceptable form of pollution to our environment.

There are also other challenges.

Industry stakeholders have raised concerns that alternatives to single use plastics could significantly increase the load on local landfills by as much as 4 times current volumes.

There are also technical challenges, as single use plastics can significantly and economically extend the shelf life of food, as well as providing many important resources in healthcare particularly during a pandemic.

Syringes, PPE and other critically important items depend upon single use plastics.

In summary, the need for science and a thorough review, as well as detailed consultation will be of vital importance as we move forward on this subject.

However, one topic that we must act upon now is the importance to deal with plastic waste.

To that end I would like to commend Conservative MP Scot Davidson from York—Simcoe, who introduced his private member’s Bill C-204 into Parliament.

Bill C-204 proposed that the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 is amended to prohibit the export of certain types of plastic waste to foreign countries for final disposal.

As some may recall in 2019, Canadian taxpayers footed the bill for Canadian waste that was transported to the Philippines to be shipped back to Canada for proper disposal.

It cost $1.14 million to ship sixty-nine shipping containers of garbage from the Philippines Port of Subic Bay to Vancouver, where it was properly disposed of.

Not all of this garbage was single use plastics, but this example underscores the need for Canadians to deal with our own garbage, much as Bill C-204 proposes, when it comes to plastic waste.

I am pleased to say that Bill C-204 passed in the House of Commons with 178 votes from the Conservatives, BLOC, NDP, Green and Independents all supporting it.

Only the Liberal Government members were opposed.

My question this week:

Do you support the principles of Bill C-204?

I can be reached at Dan.Albas@parl.gc.ca or call toll free 1-800-665-8711.
  

​It was a little over one year ago, March 9, 2020, that Canada announced its first documented COVID-19 related death.

Today there are now over 22,000 COVID-19 related deaths.

On March 15, 2020, Canada wide lockdowns began to emerge in various provinces and territories. 

Over the past year the Federal Government has introduced, revised, and updated many pandemic related support programs for Canadian families and businesses.

With many of these programs now being extended in various ways over the past year, Statistics Canada recently released a report that provides important analysis on how these support programs have impacted Canadians.

This is important information given that Canada has borrowed and spent more on COVID related programs than virtually any other developed nation.

Despite this spending, we now know that Canada’s economy shrank 5.4% last year.

What is interesting about the data from Statistics Canada is, while it stated the obvious: “households did experience notable declines both in wages and salaries”, the data also revealed that “the value of COVID-19 support measures provided by governments more than compensated for those losses.”

The Stats Can data further reported that middle income households “on average they gained roughly $2,500 more than they lost.”

Further reporting that “young and middle-aged households gained around $3,000 more through COVID-19 support measures than they lost in wages and salaries.”

As Bloomberg reported on this Statistics Canada data: “Canadians received C$20 in government transfers for every dollar of income lost…”.

Ultimately the value of the federal government transfers to households increased by $119 billion in 2020, compared to pre-pandemic 2019.

However, the total decline in income for 2020 was a loss of $6 billion by comparison.

In other words, the spending on the various pandemic support programs has resulted in far more money going out the door over the measured decline in actual income.

Where is most of this emergency money ending up?

According to the data, into savings accounts.

In fact Canadian household savings as a percentage of nominal GDP are at the highest levels since the 1980s.

As with all data, it is important to recognize that not all households will be experiencing the impacts of COVID-19 and government support programs the same way.

Many are indeed struggling, in particular lower income households.

From a federal government perspective, this data does indicate serious challenges.

Despite spending record amounts of money, Canada is falling behind in both GDP growth as well as employment.

In addition, the current levels of support are financially unsustainable and further have seriously reduced Canada’s fiscal capacity to respond to a future pandemic or other economic crises. 

The Statistics Canada data has seen critics suggesting that the Federal Government overspent and achieved poor results in return.

The PM has insisted that the Federal Government “went into debt so Canadians wouldn't have to.”

Aside from the fact that it will be future generations of Canadians who will have to pay for this debt, my question this week is this:

Are you satisfied with the Government of Canada COVID support programs overall?

I can be reached at Dan.Albas@parl.gc.ca or call toll free 1-800-665-8711.