Finance committee  I'll go really quickly. Actually, within the mandate letter that was provided to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, it was distinctly stated to ensure that the relationship exists between the province and the municipalities and not the federal government, so it was explicitly st

Finance committee  My recommendation is understanding that local government is the most accessible government. We're the government of proximity, as President Pearce, the president of the FCM, has said. It's understanding that we have a role, we're fiscally prudent and we're closest to the people.

Finance committee  Small population centres with low density probably don't have the capacity to actually provide the analysis of that type of information. There is some flood-mapping data done by the Insurance Bureau of Canada. The Province of Alberta had some flood mapping that it just will never

Finance committee  You probably heard some of the media on the moratorium, on the pause that they call a moratorium, on renewables in Alberta. The lens that we had, and the concern we had, was actually food security and saving good-quality agricultural land. Pivots in southern Alberta were being re

Finance committee  When you think of raising your children, fairness is always the measure of whether you're doing a successful job and your kids are always going, you're being unfair, you're picking favourites. In regard to our good friends in Atlantic Canada, I respect and understand the economi

Finance committee  My members would unequivocally ask for a carve-out as it relates to agricultural, and ultimately the conversation should also be about heating. We live in a cold, northern country on the planet Earth. We have a disadvantage. I think it's good because we have a lot fewer bugs than

Finance committee  Yes—a hundred per cent. It's a brilliant policy decision. We need to talk about food security in light of climate change conversations. A third of this province is in a one-in-50-year moisture drought. A third of this province was on fire. We need to recognize that. That is the

Finance committee  I think we need to realize that we need to feed ourselves first, and we're being asked by other countries to help feed the world. We need to recognize that and I think that's an important conversation for us to have as a national strategic conversation. We need to be able to fee

Finance committee  I appreciate being here today. Thank you to the committee and thank you, Chair. I represent 85% of the land base in the province of Alberta, including 69 municipalities. We have 15% of the population and contribute 26% to the GDP and 44% of capital investment. We are stewards of

Citizenship and Immigration committee  That's an excellent idea, because I can speak again with passion about what it is like to be a rural Canadian, and I think two programs.... The self-employed farmer stream is looking for opportunities to identify tax benefits to attract folks to begin that discussion, to begin th

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'll go really fast: local solutions for local problems. The federal government could really look for the overarching opportunities, but also look for the boots on the ground, the people who know the community, who know the ideas, whether they are local politicians or the local i

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I can answer very quickly. Thank you for that. That's great: 47 years. You've seen the change in Canada as well. Exactly: I think rural Alberta wants to prosper by immigration. We've seen that in the urban centres. I think it's really about developing that two-way street. It

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'll apologize. I don't know the details of it, but by every guess, though, as someone who has been in rural eastern Canada, I think it's a fabulous opportunity; so again, it's about building upon those. I'll have to dig deeper into those opportunities. It was brought up, I know

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you for giving me so much time. As someone who likes to talk, I do appreciate that. I'm a Montreal Canadiens fan too. I'll throw that in as well. I think the conversation really goes around where the energy is. Really, I think one thing that COVID has taught us—and we're

Citizenship and Immigration committee  That's a fabulous question. I'm going to try to contain myself in how passionately I speak about this topic. I believe this is a conversation around opportunity. When I use the word “poverty”, I only use that to shock people, inasmuch as I think we're missing an opportunity by no