(Christian Diotte/House of Commons Photo Services)

By paNOW Staff

BACK IN SESSION

Local MP returns to the House of Commons, two months after federal election

Nov 22, 2021 | 12:00 PM

From oil and gas to agriculture and the cost of groceries, Prince Albert’s Member of Parliament said he has a lot to talk about as Parliament resumes.

MPs return to the House of Commons on Monday for the first time in five months.

It’s a new Parliament that looks almost identical to the old one, after an election on Sept. 20 that saw only a handful of seats change hands and gave Justin Trudeau’s Liberals their second consecutive minority.

It’s also facing many of the same issues: the ongoing battle against COVID-19, rebuilding the battered economy, climate change, and Indigenous reconciliation.

It’s likely to face a similar partisan divide as well, with the Conservatives putting up stiff opposition to most Liberal initiatives, forcing the government to rely primarily on the NDP and occasionally the Bloc Quebecois to pass legislation and survive confidence votes.

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Prince Albert MP Randy Hoback pointed out a few other issues he and the Opposition will be looking at this session.

“Our relationship with the U.S. and supply chains with the U.S., border crossings, the softwood lumber situation where they doubled the tariffs on softwood lumber,” he said. “Those things are things that Trudeau should have addressed last week when he was in Washington and didn’t so we’ll be asking him why.”

Hoback added the Conservatives will also address support for Canada’s oil and gas sector, saying the Liberals are constantly attacking one of the cleanest energy sources in the world in favour of importing oil from other countries that have no regard for environmental standards.

He also mentioned the cost of living and how Canadians are dealing with rising inflation.

“I just filled up my truck, normally it’s $100, it was $135 today. I filled up my propane tank, usually, it was 32 cents a litre, now it’s 75 cents a litre or higher. These are costs that Canadians are paying as the result of mass spending by this Liberal government and the inflation rate pressures that has created.

“Canadians are paying more for groceries, they’re paying more for fuel, for the everyday things they need to survive and that’s an issue that needs to be addressed.”

Just last week, Statistics Canada said the annual pace of inflation in October rose to 4.7 per cent, the fastest pace since February 2003.

Driving much of the gain was gasoline prices, which rose 41.7 per cent compared with a year ago.

First on the agenda for the new Parliament session is the election of a new Speaker of the House, followed by a speech from the throne delivered by Governor-General Mary Simon in the Senate on Tuesday.

MPs will also be talking about the flooding in British Columbia and support for those affected along with making sure the supply lines are functioning.

When it comes to issues specifically affecting the riding of Prince Albert, Hoback said the agriculture sector needs support, but he also touched on the bright future for the local forestry industry.

“We’re seeing, hopefully, a pulp mill restarting in Prince Albert, an OSB plant starting up in Prince Albert, a furniture factory, making sure that they have the markets for their product at a level playing field.”

Earlier this month, Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole named Hoback to his Shadow Cabinet as the critic for International Trade and Supply Chain Resilience.

This legislative agenda promises to be packed, with the Liberals having pledged in their election platform to introduce or reintroduce at least eight bills in the first 100 days of their third mandate. The Commons is scheduled to sit only 24 days before the 100-day clock runs out on Feb. 3.

The government is also planning to introduce two bills not included in the platform that it hopes can be passed quickly: one implementing new, more targeted benefits aimed at individuals and sectors, like tourism, hit hardest by the pandemic, the other aimed at criminalizing harassment and intimidation of health-care workers.

The new Speaker will have to deal almost immediately with a Conservative challenge to a decision by the board of internal economy, the all-party body that governs the House, to require anyone entering the Commons precinct to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

The issue of Conservative MPs’ vaccination status, which dogged Leader Erin O’Toole through the election campaign and beyond, gained fresh urgency over the weekend when Quebec Tory MP Richard Lehoux was diagnosed with COVID-19 despite being fully vaccinated.

While all other parties say all their MPs are fully vaccinated, O’Toole has consistently refused to say how many of his MPs have not received two shots. He has said only that all 119 Conservatives will be able to enter the Commons because they are either immunized or have a medical exemption.

–With files from the Canadian Press

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panews@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertNOW