December 20, 2004

A Year of Highs and Lows

By Garry Breitkreuz

This past year has proven to be one filled with many victories and some disappointments not only for the Conservative Party of Canada, but for all Canadians.

December 7, 2003, marked a monumental day in Canadian political history. On that day, the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada officially recognized the creation of the new Conservative Party of Canada. While it has only been one year since the formation of the new Party, a great deal has been accomplished. On March 20, 2004 , the new Conservative Party elected its first leader, Stephen Harper. Under Mr. Harper’s leadership, the Conservative Party has played an important role in keeping Paul Martin and the Liberal government accountable for the mismanagement, and failure of leadership that led to the sponsorship scandal.  Corruption and lack of direction continue to characterize the Liberals’ time in office in Ottawa .

We have seen the Liberal government turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the entire agriculture industry -- an industry which provides one of every seven jobs in Canada and contributes $5 to $7 billion to Canada ’s annual trade surplus. Despite its importance, Canadian cattle producers continue to struggle to feed their animals and their families while the Liberals hope for the American border to re-open to livestock. In February 2004, the Conservative Party put forward an Action Plan for Agriculture. In that report, we specified the need to look at countries beyond the United States to market our superior Canadian beef. Had those recommendations been implemented, the cattle industry could have already been benefiting from new customers instead of watching the months pass by without change.

Spring 2004 brought with it Liberal publicity stunts and promises all in preparation of a federal election, and all of it on the backs of Canadian taxpayers. Just before Prime Minister Martin dropped the writ, the Liberals pulled a fast one during an inquiry involving Canada ’s meat packers. While the Conservative Party was doing everything within the powers of government to get answers from the meat packers, including pressing the Competition Bureau to get involved, the Liberals were blocking the path. In fact, the Liberals brought forward the threat of fines if the packers refused to open their books, an avenue the government is not even authorized to take. What that “fining” tactic did was stall and forfeit the entire inquiry. Coincidentally or not, the inquiry ended without answers just days before Mr. Martin called an election.

On June 28, 2004, after only seven months as a unified party, the Conservative Party won 99 seats in the federal election, including 24 seats in Ontario .  The election brought with it some highs and lows. On the one hand, Mr. Martin and the Liberals made some very interesting promises to Canadians.  Yet, on the other hand, Canadians have come to know Liberal promises are very seldom fulfilled. Canadians were able to witness the leadership and wisdom of Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper. Polls have proven that majority of Canadians have the same beliefs as that of the Conservative Party, yet Liberal lies won them the election. Losing the election was difficult, but we certainly achieved victory when only a Liberal minority government was elected. We now have a government which must stay true to its word in order to stay in power.

Since Parliament began sitting this fall, the Conservative Party has orchestrated substantive amendments to the Speech from the Throne, an unprecedented achievement in our parliamentary history. Thanks to the Conservative amendments, the Liberal government was forced to agree to the reduction of taxes for low and modest income Canadians, to establish an independent commission to examine how the government manages its employment insurance program, to examine options for electoral reform and lastly, to guarantee a free vote on Ballistic Missile Defense. We have also exposed the latest Liberal fiasco, this time in the Immigration Department. It is only a matter of time until all Canadians understand how this Liberal government has manipulated its way to power using tax dollars, and I predict the Liberals will pay the price next election.

I have had an opportunity to introduce in Parliament two Private Member’s Motions and one Private Member’s Bill:  M-70 would guarantee a woman’s right to know all the risks of having an abortion; M-69 would require an Auditor General Public Safety test for all firearms legislation; and M-235 seeks to strengthen property rights in federal law.

In late November, I moved a pair of motions at the House of Commons Justice Committee that would have transferred $20-million from the $82-million annual gun control budget to the RCMP to be used for front-line policing priorities.  The full committee defeated my motion by a 7-4 count with the governing Liberals being joined by the Bloc and NDP members in voting against it.

I can assure the constituents of Yorkton-Melville that the Conservative Party will continue to hold the Liberals accountable for their actions. The waste and mismanagement of taxpayer dollars, be it through past debacles like the Sponsorship Program or on-going ones like the gun registry, has got to stop. Canadians need to know their money is being respected and put to good use.

We will also maintain our pressure on the government to establish a long-term plan for the agriculture industry, one that will not result in a collapse should a second case of BSE be detected in Canada . I can see the devastation our farmers are facing, both from the cattle aspect and due to the frost which ruined crops across our constituency. It’s obvious that the CAIS Program is not filling the needs of our agriculture producers and changes need to be made.