Blake Richards

[Justice, April 9th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, although I find the actions of that side completely wrong and reprehensible, I will apologize for the fact that I did show disrespect for the Chair.

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, March 18th, 2019]

With regard to the Sunshine Village Ski Area site guidelines: (a) what was the process and result of the consultative process to develop the guidelines, including, but not limited to, (i) the dates of all Parks Canada consultations, formal and informal, on draft site guidelines, (ii) how many responses were received, (iii) the details of each of the responses received, (iv) what conversations took place, written, online, spoken or otherwise, regarding the submissions or process of the consultation, (v) how were Sunshine Village and its staff included in the consultation, including all correspondence and notes relating to the staff of Sunshine Village, (vi) how were stakeholder groups consulted on the development of the site guidelines, including but not limited to environmental organisations, tourism organisations, consumer organisations, and sport organisations, (vii) what briefings were produced for the Privy Council Office, the Office of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, the Office of the Prime Minister or any other government department, (viii) whether the Minister of Tourism, her staff, or her department were contacted on the consultation process and, if so, what was discussed; (b) how were the guidelines related to ecological considerations developed, including but not limited to (i) what conversations took place around changing the boundaries of Sunshine Village, including, but not limited to written, online, or spoken conversations, (ii) which stakeholder groups were consulted in the drafting of the guidelines related to the Upper Healy Wildlife—Gondola Base Corridor, Sunshine Meadow, Lower Bye Bye Bowl, and Eagle Crest, (iii) what reports, documents, opinions, or research were commissioned regarding the Healy Creek Wildlife—Gondola Base Corridor, the Sunshine Meadows, the Lower Bye Bye Bowl, the Eagle Crest and the ecological effects of the Sunshine Village, (iv) what recommendations were taken under consideration in preparing the site guidelines, with reference to ecological considerations, (v) what conversations, written, online, spoken or otherwise, took place to develop the final site guidelines, with reference to ecological considerations, (vi) what were the considered implications, positive and negative, of changing the boundaries of the Sunshine Village site, (vii) were the Minister of Tourism, her staff, or her department contacted on the ecological considerations and, if so, what was discussed; (c) what are the maximum future growth limits of Sunshine Village and how were they calculated, including, but not limited to, (i) which “third-party industry expert” prepared and calculated the maximum future growth limits, as alluded to on page 21 of the Site Guidelines For Development and Use, Sunshine Village Ski Resort, December 14, 2018, (ii) what were the details of the analysis, (iii) what were the recommendations of the analysis, (iv) how did Parks Canada consider the analysis, as demonstrated through written, online, spoken or other forms of communication, (v) were the Minister of Tourism, her staff, or her department contacted on the maximum future growth limits of Sunshine Village Ski Resort and, if so, what was discussed; (d) how were the guidelines surrounding parking developed, including, but not limited to, (i) what reports, documents, opinions or research were consulted in drafting the parking recommendations in site guidelines, (ii) what conversations, online, written, spoken or otherwise, took place between Parks Canada and Sunshine Village in discussing and drafting the guidelines, (iii) what conversations, online, written, spoken, or otherwise, took place amongst Parks Canada officials in determining the parking recommendations, (iv) what consideration, as documented through emails, notes, minutes of meetings, telephone calls or video chat, or other forms of communication, was given to the express wishes and proposals of Sunshine Village with reference to the parking proposals, (v) who approved the parking proposals as indicated to Sunshine Village, (vi) what briefings were produced for the Privy Council Office, the Office of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, the Office of the Prime Minister or any other government department regarding the parking proposals, (vii) were the Minister of Tourism, her staff or her department contacted on the guidelines surrounding parking and, if so, what was discussed; and (e) how was the decision to require Sunshine Village to accept the draft site guidelines by January 21, 2019, made, including, but not limited to, (i) what conversations, online, written, spoken, or otherwise, took place to decide how to respond to CEO Ralph Scurfield’s letter of November 30, 2018, (ii) what conversations, online, written, spoken, or otherwise took place in determining the January 21, 2019, deadline to accept the draft guidelines, (iii) what conversations, online, written, spoken, or otherwise, took place to prepare for a public request for proposals should Sunshine Village have not agreed to the site guidelines, (iv) what briefings were produced for the Privy Council Office, the Office of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, the Office of the Prime Minister or any other government departments regarding the January 21, 2019, deadline and potential public request for proposals, (v) were the Minister of Tourism, her staff, or her department contacted on the January 21, 2019, deadline or on the preparation on a public request for proposals and, if so, what was discussed?

[The Economy, March 18th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, the current Liberal government and Prime Minister continually put themselves and their cronies ahead of Canadian families. Canadians are struggling, and Liberal failures are making it increasingly difficult for them to be able to succeed. Half of Canadians are only $200 away from not being able to pay their bills, and all Canadians are now afraid of what is ahead. While Canadians struggle, the government is making life harder and more expensive.

If Liberals cared about or respected Canadians, they would put in place policies for Canadians to be able to succeed. They would build pipelines. They would cut red tape instead of increasing it. They would cut taxes instead of raising them. They would create the opportunity for the private sector be able to create jobs, and they would cancel the carbon tax.

Canadians know that the current Liberal government is doing nothing to make life more affordable and everything to make life harder. Times are tough and are getting tougher. One in three Canadians feels that his or her current standard of living has gotten worse. That is the sign of a Liberal government that puts its political interests ahead of Canadians. It is time for the Prime Minister to show Canadians some respect and start putting them first.

[Petitions, February 7th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, I table this petition today on behalf of parents from across Canada who have suffered pregnancy or infant loss. There are thousands of signatures on this petition. Those parents, in their most difficult time, have seen government programming often cease to exist, causing more unnecessary and emotional financial hardship for them.

Today, as we just heard, the human resources committee's study on the impact of pregnancy and infant loss on parents was tabled, and it recommends that EI accommodate a bereavement leave, so on behalf of all bereaved parents in Canada, I table this petition today. It calls on the government to act immediately on these committee recommendations and introduce changes to show more compassion and sympathy toward grieving parents.

[Tourism, February 4th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, the government says one thing and does another. It promises a balanced budget by 2019, and then deficits for decades to come. It promises to make life more affordable for Canadians, and then increases the cost of everything with an unfair carbon tax. It says that the environment and the economy go hand in hand, and then refuses to negotiate fairly and honestly with the Sunshine Village ski area.

Can the Minister of Tourism explain how threatening to kick a family business off the land it has used for 38 years protects our environment or grows tourism for our economy?

[Elections Modernization Act, December 12th, 2018]

I will just point out on this point of order that the minister has just raised, Mr. Speaker, that if the government really wanted to table these things, perhaps it should not have pushed to end routine proceedings and should have given people an opportunity to table petitions and do other things.

I just want to point out that procedurally, the government forced a vote that eliminated this opportunity, and now the minister is standing up on a point of order to try to do exactly what they all, including the member, voted to eliminate.

[Committees of the House, December 10th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative Party feels that the report by the Liberal majority on the finance committee just reflects the broken promises of their government. Unfortunately, the Liberals have failed to balance the budget in 2019 as they promised, instead adding more multi-billion dollar deficits, more unchecked spending and more debt. The Liberals are also making it harder for our economy to grow through added regulations such as the pipeline-killing Bill C-69, payroll taxes and the carbon tax. As such, we are attaching a dissenting report that is also being tabled today.

[Business of Supply, December 4th, 2018]

What is your guy doing? Cancelling pipelines.

[Business of Supply, December 4th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I listened to the member's speech. He talked about this so-called balanced approach toward pipeline approvals and the regulatory approvals process. I struggle to understand how the heck they can call it balanced when they have a government that had three viable private sector pipelines put before them; two of them were cancelled as a result of the actions of that government and we have now one that at best could be described as being on taxpayer-funded life-support and we have, of course, Bill C-69, which would end any possibility of future approvals for pipelines. That is not balanced. I certainly would like to see him go and try to tell Albertans how balanced that is, because I will tell members the answer Albertans would give him.

I will now read a very brief passage from an email I received from a constituent, just today. He happens to be a national sales manager for an oil field supply company. He said that they received this email from one of the major companies that they supply. I will not name the company. He said that this is the quote from the email that they received: “As the oil differential and pipeline woes are continuing to strain our industry, we will not be doing a matting purchase until such time as we see some positive news.” It then listed off a number of things, including, “differential and commodity price, pipeline approvals, regulatory constraints lifted”. It goes on to say, “We have governments, both federally and provincially, who are not working toward opportunities for investment in Canada. Our federal government is holding up the pipeline file and at the same time trying to push through Bill C-69 to make it harder for large infrastructure projects like pipelines to get approved.”

He says that the effect of an email like this, cancelling an order in their case, would be about a $20-million hit to their small service company. That number does not include any subsequent spinoffs or jobs or work generated. That is one of many like this from Alberta. I want to know what the member would have to say to those people.

[Employment Insurance, November 23rd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, parents who have lost a child experience unimaginable grief. In some cases, that grief is added to by the immediate loss of government benefits, which forces them back to work long before they are ready. These families deserve some compassion and support from their government. Instead, the Liberal government shut down debate on the issue and also voted against creating bereavement leave.

Words are not enough. When will that Liberal government take action to actually show these families the compassion they need?