Blaine Calkins

[Justice, December 11th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the pain Tori Stafford's family had to endure when it lost its daughter is unthinkable, but the pain it has had to endure since then is absolutely outrageous.

The Liberals refused to back down after they sanctioned the transfer of Terri-Lynne McClintic to a resort style healing lodge. Now they are justifying Michael Rafferty's transfer to a medium-security facility, which they deliberately concealed from Tori's family. It is clear that the interests of child killers are more important to the Liberals than the interests of victims and their families.

Why is the Liberal government putting Tori's family through hell? Has it not already been through enough?

[Alberta Rural Crime Task Force, December 4th, 2018]

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.

[Energy Industry, November 29th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday Canada's Conservatives forced an emergency debate on the crisis facing Alberta's energy industry, a crisis brought about by the Prime Minister who has said numerous times he wants to phase out Alberta oil.

By cancelling the once approved northern gateway, killing pipelines to the east, banning tanker traffic on the west coast, bungling Trans Mountain and imposing his carbon tax, the Liberals have heaped devastation upon devastation on Albertans.

There are over 100,000 unemployed energy workers in Alberta. Oil is selling at $11 a barrel and continues to plummet, while world prices have recovered. Businesses have closed, investment has fled and families are finding it harder to make ends meet. This is the reality with which Albertans are faced.

Finally, the Prime Minister has admitted that the energy sector is in crisis. What a revelation. Albertans know better. The Liberals are not Alberta's saviours. They caused this crisis and their disdain for Alberta could not be more evident.

However, my fellow Albertans need not despair. It can all be fixed in 2019 by electing Jason Kenney as premier and the Leader of the Opposition as prime minister.

[Democratic Reform, November 26th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have admitted, on multiple occasions, that Russia interfered in the last federal election, but they have refused to give any details to Canadians. Canadian elections belong to Canadians and we have a right to know how our elections have been influenced by foreign entities.

However, instead of being transparent and open, the Liberals refuse to say how the Russians manipulated the last election. Why will the Prime Minister not come clean with Canadians and take foreign influence in our elections seriously?

[Firearms, November 21st, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government has proven time and time again that they are soft on crime and do not prioritize the safety of Canadians. Rural crime in communities across Canada has been steadily increasing, and law enforcement has been unable to mount an adequate response.

With Bill C-71, the Liberals doubled down by going after law-abiding firearms owners while doing nothing to make communities safer or to reduce gun violence. Now they are proposing a blanket handgun ban, which will do nothing to curb gun violence and will instead only make criminals out of law-abiding firearms owners.

Yesterday the leader of Canada's Conservatives committed to getting tough on criminals who use guns to commit violence, while respecting law-abiding firearms owners. This Conservative plan will get illegal guns out of our communities and put criminals behind bars for a long time. These common sense proposals—tackling straw purchases, creating a firearms smuggling task force, having a firearms ban for violent and gang criminals and giving more tools to police to solve gun crime—will make a real difference in our communities, both rural and urban.

Unlike the soft-on-crime Liberals, the Conservatives have a real plan for a safer Canada.

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, November 19th, 2018]

With regard to the comments made by the Prime Minister on September 25, 2018, in relation to the 2015 election that Canada did not have “much direct interference” by Russia: in what specific ways did Russia interfere in the 2015 election?

[Questions on the Order Paper, November 5th, 2018]

With regard to convicted terrorists having internet and social media access in Canadian correctional institutions: (a) how many individuals are currently serving sentences in correctional facilities as a result of convictions for terrorism related offences; and (b) of the individuals in (a), how many have internet or social media access while incarcerated?

[Justice, October 29th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, it is clear that the Liberal government is soft on crime and way too focused on coddling criminals instead of supporting victims and ensuring the safety of Canadians.

In the last month, we have seen the Liberals proactively welcome convicted terrorists back to Canada, transfer Tori Stafford's murderer into a healing lodge where kids are present, punish law-abiding gun owners while making life easier for terrorists, gangsters and criminals and provide generous veteran's benefits to a cop killer who never served a day of his life in the military.

Now it is doubling down with Bill C-75, a deeply-flawed omnibus justice bill that reduces the penalties for serious crimes like human trafficking, utilizing date rape drugs and impaired driving causing bodily harm. This is just further proof that the Liberals are making Canadians less safe and cannot be trusted to look after the interests of victims.

Why are the Liberals always on the wrong side when it comes to criminal justice?

[The Environment, October 29th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I listened with great interest to my colleague's speech and I want to thank him for bringing this important issue before the House of Commons. I do not think anybody in the world disagrees that disposable plastic and the issues it causes in the environment are pervasive and real. We can travel to certain countries around the world and see the plastic lined up on the beaches, in the ditches and so on.

However, I am concerned with the tone my colleague had in his speech when he talked about going back and laying the blame squarely at the foot of the producers along the way. In my riding, there is Dow Chemical, NOVA Chemicals, Sarnia Insulation and all of these value-added union jobs in the petrochemical industry. They are creating plastics for medical use and a variety of other very important life-saving procedures. Therefore, plastic obviously does have a very important place in our economy and in our society. I am worried about the tone the member has had in demonizing all plastics, which is where I am afraid this is going. I hope he is not calling for a ban on all plastics, but I have a feeling that is where this conversation might end up.

Has the member heard of the Plastic Bank, which is the notion of monetizing waste plastic and using that as a means for cleanup? Especially in third world countries, using blockchain technology, the monetization of plastic actually leads to cleanup and puts a value on this plastic that could be redeemed for cash and value that is improving the economy in those places. Could the member comment on that?

[Veterans Affairs, October 24th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, enough is enough. The family is right here in Ottawa, and it deserves an answer. The real question is this. Does the Prime Minister think this murderer should be getting veteran benefits? If he does, he should say so. If he does not, he should tell us what he is going to do to stop these payments. Will he finally give the Campbell family and veterans a straight answer?