On Parliament Hill

As I returned to Ottawa this week, I am reminded of the reasons that I am a Conservative Member of Parliament.

With a strong background in business and having been actively involved in the community, I firmly believe in the principles of hard work and personal responsibility. As a tax payer who plays by the rules, you deserve a government that works for you and not against you.

By offering lower taxes, our Conservative Government has given you greater control of your own money. You earned the money and you should decide how it is spent. In fact, we’ve cut taxes over 160 times and brought the federal tax burden to its lowest level in 50 years.

Our low-tax plan included lowering the GST to 5% and reducing the lowest personal income tax rate to 15%, along with other initiatives. These measures have helped the average Canadian family’s net worth grow by almost 45% since 2005—with the most growth coming from middle-class families.

Although the vast majority of us here in Provencher are law-abiding taxpayers who help build our communities, there are those who wish to undermine this hard work. Those who break the law, endanger our children and threaten our communities must be held accountable. I believe that the rights of victims must come before those of the criminal.

Since forming government we have introduced a number of measures to combat crime. Some of these include:

• Introducing the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights – This includes a victim’s right to information about victim’s services, to protect their identity from public disclosure, to present a victim impact statement in court, and to financial compensation in certain circumstances.
• Ending house arrest for dangerous criminals.
• Making those convicted of sexual offences against minors ineligible for a record suspension (pardon).

Some of the other fundamental Canadian values that I vow to defend include freedom of speech, freedom of religion and a country’s right to self-defence. Although they are important to us here at home, we must also make efforts to defend these values overseas.

I am proud to say that our Prime Minister has taken a principled stance on the international stage. Through his unwavering support for Ukraine and Israel he has earned much respect. In fact, this past week, in response to Mr. Harper’s support for Ukraine, Canadian hockey legend Wayne Gretzky referred to him “one of the greatest Prime Minister’s ever”.