Trudeau wants an audience, not an opposition – Red Deer – Lacombe MP Blaine Calkins

Blaine Calkins MP

Published

3 months ago

2 minute read

Parliament Must Meet
Justin Trudeau has made it clear that he would like to permanently replace Parliament with press conferences. He wants an audience, not an Opposition and this is absolutely unacceptable. Let me be clear, this isn’t a partisan issue. This is about whether or not a democratic country like Canada should have a functional Parliament and frankly, right now with 1 in-person sitting day that lasts about two hours and 2 virtual sitting days that each last a couple of hours each a week we do not have a functional Parliament. Without regular sittings of Parliament, there is no regular oversight of the Liberal government. It’s no wonder they don’t want to come back. Moreover they are supported by the other opposition parties. I am ready to go back to work in Ottawa in a safe and responsible manner! Canada’s Conservatives are the only party who are pressing for a return to Parliament with regular working hours but with a reduced number of MPs for safety. If members of the Bloc or the NDP, or the Liberal back bench don’t believe that Parliament is an essential service, they should answer as to why they ran for office in the first place. Conservatives strongly believe in the role of Parliament. It is vital and it must be fully restored. Hundreds of thousands of Canadians are hurting right now and they need our help. They need Members of Parliament to return to Ottawa to fight for them.
Posted by Blaine Calkins on Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Justin Trudeau has made it clear that he would like to permanently replace Parliament with press conferences. He wants an audience, not an Opposition and this is absolutely unacceptable.

Let me be clear, this isn’t a partisan issue. This is about whether or not a democratic country like Canada should have a functional Parliament and frankly, right now with 1 in-person sitting day that lasts about two hours and 2 virtual sitting days that each last a couple of hours each a week we do not have a functional Parliament. Without regular sittings of Parliament, there is no regular oversight of the Liberal government. It’s no wonder they don’t want to come back. Moreover they are supported by the other opposition parties.

I am ready to go back to work in Ottawa in a safe and responsible manner! Canada’s Conservatives are the only party who are pressing for a return to Parliament with regular working hours but with a reduced number of MPs for safety. If members of the Bloc or the NDP, or the Liberal back bench don’t believe that Parliament is an essential service, they should answer as to why they ran for office in the first place.

Conservatives strongly believe in the role of Parliament. It is vital and it must be fully restored.

Hundreds of thousands of Canadians are hurting right now and they need our help. They need Members of Parliament to return to Ottawa to fight for them.

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Trudeau wants an audience, not an opposition – Red Deer – Lacombe MP Blaine Calkins

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Central Alberta

COVID-19 downward trend in Alberta continues – Central Alberta well below 200 cases

Published on August 6, 2020

Duane Rolheiser

Images from the Province of Alberta

Covid-19 cases in Alberta are on a downward trend over the last few days. There are 186 active cases in Central Alberta. 91 people have been diagnosed in the last week (July 30-August 5).

Beaver County at 65 and Starland County at 59 still account for the majority of Central Alberta’s 186 cases. Here’s the Central Alberta breakdown in cases including municipalities with no cases at all.

Central Alberta Communities – Active Cases

Beaver County – 65
Starland County – 59
Red Deer – 10
MD of Wainwright – 7
Flagstaff County – 6
Settler County – 5
Drumheller – 5
Lacombe County – 5
Kneehill County – 4
Paintearth County – 5
Red Deer County – 4
Vermillion River County – 3
Special Areas 2 – 3
Camrose – 2
Sylvan Lake – 2
Lacombe – 1
Mountain View County – 1
Camrose County – 1
Provost County – 1
Clearwater County – 0
Wetaskiwin – 0
Olds – 0
Ponoka County – 0
Two Hills County – 0
Wetaskiwin County- 0
Minburn County – 0
Special Areas 4 – 0

In the City of Red Deer there are 10 active cases. 3 in “North” Red Deer, 2 in “South-West” Red Deer, and 5 in Red Deer – East.

Here are the total number of cases for the entire province including all the recoveries.

COVID-19

For CFL fans the last refuge is always hope

Published on August 6, 2020

John Short

The best thing Randy Ambrosie has done for the CFL is create headlines.

Which makes it interesting that, in many ways, the worst thing he has done for Canada’s struggling professional football league is create headlines.

It’s amazing that the former offensive lineman with the Toronto Argonauts, Edmonton Eskimos and Calgary Stampeders, appointed in 2017 has been commissioner for barely more than three years.

Among his first stated projects was a “world-wide CFL,” complete with athletes from almost anywhere in the world. In most league centres, trials were pooh-poohed as ridiculous, but at least one German player — no previous grid experience — won a spot on last year’s Grey Cup champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Ambitious plans for 2020 fell apart after a promising start: coronavirus interfered, no surprise.

At that time, a national uproar developed when Ambrosie designed a pitch for $150 million in federal funds to make sure the aged league could stay alive for the 2020 season and several years into the future. Many spoke out that the league’s noble Canadian tradition deserved support but it was hard to imagine, and still is, that megabuck owners such as David Braley of the B.C. Lions, Bob Young of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Roger Greenberg of the Ottawa Redblacks should be handed major federal aid while many other Canadians were suddenly facing dire emergencies.

Small wonder that the original appeal got only cursory notice from Ottawa and other government levels. Then, later, came a bid for a loan of $44 million. Followed by the newest request: only $30 million, interest-free, of course.

Details have not been fully released but Ambrosie has said the money would be used for player salaries, COVID-19 tests and the startup costs required to play in a “hub city” situation at Winnipeg, proposed by Manitoba Mayor Brian Pallister. It is also known that the government has asked — maybe for the first time — about a potential repayment plan.

Word circulated last week that a meeting between CFL brass and government officials is due within a few days. There have been indications — nothing official, of course — that this smaller request has been receiving positive attention.

When and if the funds are provided, work will begin in earnest. Players who have been objecting to lack of info from their league and team employers can finally expect some serious attempts to communicate. How the funds will be split among the league’s teams is also up for grabs: most successful at the box office are community-based western organizations who have been harmed as much as their wealthier league brethren by the general economic and social shutdown.

For fans, the last refuge is always hope. Today, at least, it seems there is some chance we’ll get back to games on the field rather than behind closed doors.

Fingers crossed, everyone.