Martin Shields

[The Economy, March 24th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, it is always a pleasure to speak in the House, and tonight I am speaking about something I asked in question period and statements I made in the House. It has to do with the RCMP.

Outside of Ontario and Quebec, many municipalities have the RCMP with a municipal contract. We respect the RCMP, and I have worked with it as a municipal leader and a mayor in my community. It is a fantastic community force within our municipal structures.

However, it had been without a contract for almost five years, and then the federal government settled the contract, which means it had a huge retroactive piece to it. The municipalities were not part of that negotiation. The federal government was. This is a huge retroactive settlement that the RCMP deserves. It deserves this settlement.

However, the municipalities that contract with the police were not part of this. I had somebody remind me it was sort of like something that happened in the Boston Harbor in 1774 or 1775, the Boston Tea Party, where the people living in Boston were upset about taxation without representation. That is what the municipalities feel like.

I heard from the mayor and city council in Brooks, Strathmore, Acme, Kneehill County and many more who have spoken to me. St. Mary's in Nova Scotia is also very concerned, so this is countrywide.

How would this affect the taxpayers? We are talking about a 5% to 10% tax increase. The St. Mary's community said 11% is what it would cost as a tax increase. We are talking about property tax and business property tax. It is one of the most regressive taxes we have.

We have communities that have been suffering with COVID and businesses that have endured lockdowns and supply disruptions. Now business and property owners are facing anywhere from a 5% to an 11% tax increase. This is brutal on our small businesses. These is an extreme challenge for homeowners. We talk about the number of economic challenges we have in our communities coming out of COVID, and they are facing a retroactive pay increase that was negotiated by the federal government.

The federal government negotiated this agreement. That is great. It is deserved, but the federal government should pay for this retroactive pay. It should not come back to the municipalities that were not involved in this negotiation. It should not come back to the property owners and the small business owners at this extremely frustrating time to be in a small business and survive. The federal government negotiated it. The municipalities were not part of that process. They should not get the bill for this.

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, March 21st, 2022]

With regard to the comments from the Director of Media Relations at the Bank of Canada (BOC) that "I do not want to be in a situation where we're allowing Blacklocks' to be asking us": (a) how did the BOC determine that they did not want to be in a situation where they're allowing Blacklocks' Reporter to ask them questions; (b) has the BOC received any advice or direction from anyone outside of the BOC, including the Privy Council Office or the Office of the Prime Minister, related to Blacklocks' Reporter, and, if so, what are the details including the dates and summaries of the advice or direction; and (c) what corrective action, if any, is being taken by (i) the BOC, (ii) every other department or agency, broken down by each department or agency, to address any biases against Blacklocks' Reporter, including what measures are being taken to ensure that Blacklocks' gets their fair share of questions in government news conferences?

[Questions on the Order Paper, March 21st, 2022]

With regard to the government's Wellness Together website and the PocketWell application: (a) have there been any data or privacy breaches or related incidents concerning the website, application, or any data collected since January 1, 2020, and, if so, what are the details, including the (i) incident summary, (ii) type of data involved, (iii) number of users whose data was involved, (iv) corrective action taken, including whether or not the users were notified, (v) date of the incident; and (b) what specific processes are in place to deal with any data or privacy breaches concerning the website or the application?

[Health, March 3rd, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, I respect my colleague. Anybody who can be an Olympic athlete deserves respect, and one who has represented our country I duly respect, so I respect my colleague across the way.

With respect to the mandates, one of the challenges we are having in the ag sector in southern Alberta is because of the mandates. I have heard from a lot of people in the ag sector that 200 families have left for either Texas or Mexico. We have incredible productivity in the irrigation area: 20% of the ag GDP is from irrigation in Alberta. The ag people in my riding, and other southern Albertans, are extremely upset that we have lost so many because these people chose not to be vaccinated and chose to oppose the mandates. This is going to be an incredible problem in the ag sector in southern Alberta this year.

[Health, March 3rd, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, it has been an interesting day in the House. I know my colleague across the way is expecting some communication that I might have about mandates and health. I will get to that in a minute, but there were some other things I wanted to mention coming out of what I heard today in the House. It was a very interesting discussion.

As we know, about 30% of the natural resources in Canada is from foreign countries, and that is primarily used in the eastern part of our country. Also, in just a couple of decades, $500 billion from Canadian energy has been shared across the country and used extensively in Canada to build roads, schools and hospitals, but we have also spent $500 billion on bringing foreign resources into our country. One of those foreign resources would be Russia, which exports to Canada.

Canada spends about 1.4% of our GDP on military, while Russia spends 5%. It gets a lot of its resources from exporting of resources. Some statements have been made that I will refer to. The Ukrainian foreign minister said that the world needs to boycott Russian oil and gas. To begin with, here in the House, there was a discussion of that, and a minister said that we do not take Russian crude. Eventually it got to the point that we do take oil derivatives, and extensively in the billions, over the years.

What has Russia used this money for? According to Ukraine's foreign minister, a full embargo is needed, because Russia now has the means to pay for arms to murder Ukrainian men, women and children. We have to understand the challenge that it is.

Some people would suggest that I think in my riding it is all about oil and gas, but that is not so. Some of the largest wind farms in Canada are in my riding. The largest solar farm in Canada is being built in my riding. We are one of the sunniest places in this country, if not the sunniest. We have a lot of different sources that we use as we talk about energy. In my riding, there are a lot.

However, Russia has gotten $13.1 billion from Canada for their oil. In 2021, it was almost $400 million of oil. This is what Russia used to pay for a lot of things they are using against Ukraine. We need to use Canadian resources going forward as we have a transition in our economy. We have to stop importing oil from countries like Russia.

[Business of Supply, March 3rd, 2022]

Madam Speaker, to my hon. colleague from the Maritimes, it has been brought up whether there was an ask for this type of resource.

The Polish ambassador came to me a couple of years ago. What he could not understand was why there was not an LNG place on the east coast close to Poland, as they were building a very large reception centre. He outlined exactly what he thought would happen, which has happened today. He was very concerned. We have had people approach us. The Polish ambassador was in my office very concerned, asking for our natural gas.

[Small Business, March 3rd, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, “Justinflation” is hurting small businesses in my riding.

Chin Ridge Seeds is a birdseed producer in Taber, Alberta, that relies on imported ingredients for their production. The cost of a single truckload of these ingredients went from $6,000 to $19,000 in a few months. Irrigation pipes went up by 30% and they are critical. Don, the owner, told me that they do not need handouts from the government; they just need it to get out of the way.

Will the government stop its spending spree, get out of the way and let small businesses prosper in the Bow River riding?

[Health, February 17th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, the science has changed. Canada's top officials, including Dr. Tam, have recommended a review of COVID policies. We are seeing countries around the world with lower vaccination rates dropping their restrictions. We are seeing provinces in our own country dropping restrictions.

Is the government going to stick to its word and follow the science? When will the mandates for Canadian travellers who are fully vaccinated be dropped, and when will the mandates be totally dropped for testing Canadian travellers upon return?

[Retroactive Pay for the RCMP, February 7th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, a lot of municipal leaders have contacted me recently about the issue of retroactive pay for the RCMP. It was settled after a number of years. The RCMP deserves this raise. They provide policing in many rural communities and constituencies like mine. However, the negotiations were with the federal government, not the municipalities and not the province. Mayors have told me this property tax could be anywhere from 5% to 10%. Coming out of COVID, we do not need a tax increase on property, which is a very regressive tax to small businesses in my constituency.

The feds negotiated this contract. I believe they should take responsibility for the retroactive pay and not put it on the property owners in my riding.

[Questions Passed as Orders for Return, January 31st, 2022]

With regard to federal government statistics on labour shortages in Alberta: (a) what are the government's estimates on the percentage and number of businesses in Alberta that encountered a labour shortage in (i) 2019, (ii) 2020, (iii) 2021; (b) what is the breakdown of (a), by sector and industry; (c) what is the projected labour shortage in Alberta for (i) 2022, (ii) 2023; and (d) what is the breakdown of (c), by sector and industry?