Mr. Speaker, rural crime is rising in Alberta and across Canada. To help address this, myself and 11 other colleagues formed the Alberta rural crime task force. We listened to thousands of ordinary rural Albertans, as well as law enforcement officials and community experts. Funnily enough, not once did we hear any concerns about the impact of male construction workers in rural areas, despite the Prime Minister's current fearmongering. Instead, we heard from rural families afraid for their safety, targeted by repeat offenders coming from urban areas who know police are unable to respond quickly.
The result of this work is a comprehensive report entitled “Toward a Safer Alberta”, which compiles what we heard, including solutions that could greatly reduce rural crime. They are ideas such as innovations in crime reporting, making police resources more efficient, ending the revolving-door justice system, and clarifying personal and property rights.
Instead of blaming rural Canadians, the Prime Minister should listen to them for once. Canada's Conservatives are committed to reducing rural crime and making our rural communities safer for everyone.