Back in Ottawa and ready to fight for Bow River

By Martin Shields Member of Parliament Bow River Riding

Thank you, Bow River, for re-electing me as your Member of Parliament. It continues to be an incredible honour to be your voice in Ottawa, and I look forward to standing up to represent your interests in the House of Commons going forward.
While I know the national election result wasn’t what many of us were hoping for, my Conservative colleagues and I are ready to push harder than ever for the priorities that matter to you.
Before I get into what we have been doing so far to prepare for this new minority parliament, I want to pay homage to our Canadian veterans. Remembrance Day just passed, and I was honoured to attend ceremonies across our riding. Veterans deserve our thanks not just on Remembrance Day, but every day. Whether during war or peacetime, members of the Canadian Armed Forces have always stood ready to defend freedom, democracy and justice. Let us never forget.
With respect to what’s happening on Parliament Hill, we called on Trudeau to immediately recall Parliament to deal with four pressing policy areas: keeping Canada strong and united, helping Canadians get ahead, restoring ethics and integrity in government, and getting the energy sector back to work.
Trudeau has chosen to delay reconvening the House until December, but my Conservative colleagues and I have gotten to work right away. To start, we held an Alberta caucus meeting to find new ways we can advocate for our province as fiercely as possible in this new minority parliament. That includes doing everything we can to get C-69 repealed, pipelines built and our energy industry working again.
We also held a special Alberta-only meeting to find ways to address the crisis facing our farmers after this season’s harsh weather. I know that many sectors in our local ag industry have been hit hard, especially crops like sugar beets. My Alberta colleagues plan to meet with our Alberta government counterparts to collaborate, demand the Trudeau Liberals immediately complete the Business Risk Management Review promised two and a half years ago, call on the government to make agriculture relief programs more responsive to farmers in need, push the government to aggressively work to reopen the Chinese market for Canadian canola and to halt its plan to impose the carbon tax in Alberta.
These measures are just a starting point. We will be fighting for you every chance we get, and with every tool at our disposal.
As always, I can be reached in Ottawa at martin.shields@parl.gc.ca. My Brooks office can be reached at 403-793-6775 or martin.shields.c1@parl.gc.ca, and my Strathmore office at 403-361-2980 or martin.shields.c1B@parl.gc.ca. Please don’t hesitate to contact me about any federal issue.