A year in Parliament

Shannon LeClair
Times Reporter

 

Minister of State for Finance, and Crowfoot riding MP Kevin Sorenson reflects back on 2014.
“When I look back on 2014 there are two events that are very emotional for me, the first one I lost one of my closest friends and colleagues Jim Flaherty our Finance Minister,” said Sorenson.
The call came in that morning, April 10, with news that the ambulance was at Flaherty’s house.
Sorenson said he, and other colleagues, had been hoping that Flaherty would be able to retire and spend time with his wife and kids. The fact that he was taken was a very emotional time for Sorenson because Flaherty was such a good friend and colleague.
“The other thing of course when I think back on 2014 was the shooting on Parliament Hill and that morning when sitting in the caucus room with 175 of my colleagues and all of a sudden the shots rang out and just the fear that I think we all had, those are the two big events that I remember, but 2014 in spite of all that (was) a good year.”
Sorenson said 2014 was a productive year on a couple of different fronts.
“As Minister of State for Finance for Canada, I am very pleased with the way our economy has grown. We’ve laid out measures in our last budget to focus on job creation and now we see the numbers that since 2009 in the lowest part of the recession we’ve helped create 1.2 net new jobs in Canada,” said Sorenson.
Between 80 to 90 per cent of that are full time jobs in the private sector. There have also been new tax measures put into place for families, and the investment in infrastructure and other areas is part of why Canada is seen as having one of the strongest economies.
A few other major events stand out from the past year. The stand Canada took against Russia when they went into the Ukraine, and the one the Prime Minister took with Vladimir Putin stand out to Sorenson, as does the principal stand Canada has taken against ISIS/ISOL and evil.
“We continue to work with our allies, we’re involved in air strikes against the ISOL targets, they have taken over certain oil fields and they have ammunition storage facilities that we continue to hit and we work together with our allies on that,” said Sorenson.
That is something that will be followed well into 2015.
It has been a fragile recovery since 2008-2009, and things won’t be easy in 2015, especially with dropping oil prices, but Sorenson said the Canadian government promises to take measures that will continue making things better for families, like helping with job creation and business growth.
The dropping oil prices are also having an impact on the federal side of things, but the key is to continue to monitor things and to plan for any economic impact it may make at the federal level.
“In spite of pulling up to the pumps and seeing the advantage there certainly we know that our social programs and everything else we spend on is affected by the revenues that come in, so we have to keep disciplined, we have to make sure that we manage wisely,” said Sorenson.
“We recognize, unlike the Liberal leader Justin Trudeau who says budgets will balance themselves, no, it takes discipline, it takes focus, it takes hard work and that’s what we’re doing.”
Sorenson said the government is going to continue moving forward with balanced budgets and work on legislation to continue to protect the streets and communities across the country.