Blaine Calkins MP Report
With 2015 behind us, I want to wish all constituents in Red Deer - Lacombe a Happy New Year! And as tradition demands,it’s also a time to reflect back on 2015.
For the first several months of 2015, Canada was respected on the international stage, we had our fiscal house in order, our economy was on track to continue to grow, and taxes were the lowest in over 50 years. Canada was moving forwardconfidently on trade deals with Europe (CETA) and the Pacific region (TPP), and we were seen as a dependable ally in thefight against terrorism and ISIS.
Fast Forward to October 19th.
Voters were sold a bill of goods that was anchored on the mantra Real Change. This real change was supposed to be a different way, a sunnier way to supposedly restore confidence in the House of Commons. If the first 40 days of this new government are any indication of the Real Change Justin Trudeau is going to bring Canadians, voters may be asking for their change back in 2019.
So let’s have a recap of these first few days:
Liberal promised to relocate 25,000 refugees by the end of 2015, which we now know was unrealistic. Promise broken.
Trudeau also deceived Canadians by saying he’d take our CF-18’s out of the fight, which he has apparently reneged on. Promise Broken.
Trudeau also indicated he’d only run $10 billion deficits for the first few years of a Liberal mandate. The fiscal update passed in early December by the Liberals indicates they will run up the debt for Canadians by more than double that. Promise broken.
However, the Liberals have kept some promises: Canadians taxes will be going up, you can save less of your hard earned money in a Tax Free Savings Account, and families will be losing benefits under the Universal Child Care benefit, promises which weren’t worth keeping.
To further exacerbate problems for working Albertans, Keystone XL was cancelled by president Obama just a few days after Trudeau became the PM, and Northern Gateway Pipeline seems all but dead now, as Trudeau has promised to ban tankertraffic off the west coast.
Then, there’s the Liberal entitlement attitude, creeping back in! Remember Trudeau saying that income splitting and the UCCB wasn’t a good policy, because it only benefitted rich families like his? However, once he took office, with the ink barely dry on his swearing in papers, he ordered Cabinet to approve the salary cost to hire two nannies to raise his children.Mr. Trudeau believes he is entitled to his entitlements and he believes that you and I should be the ones who pay for them.
Finally, keep in mind the Liberals spent almost 3 billion dollars internationally in their first 30 days in office, all of which were not accounted for in their platform. The rising cost of Liberal commitments will have to be offset by some sort ofrevenue generating tool (taxes). Justin Trudeau woke up on October 20th with a hangover realizing he won the lottery, andin true frat boy mentality, he is intent on spending every dollar possible as recklessly as possible.
Please contact my Constituency office if you have any questions or concerns on any federally related matters, postage free, at: Bay #6A, 4612 - 50th Street, Ponoka, T4J 1S7; tel: 403-783-5530; toll free: 1-800-665-0865 or visit my web site: www.blainecalkinsmp.ca or on twitter at www.twitter.com/blainecalkinsmp