The usually globe-trotting MP for Battlefords-Lloydminster was back in his home riding Monday to speak to Rotary Club members about the burning federal issues of the day.
Gerry Ritz, minister of agriculture and agri-foods and minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board, spoke to about 40 people attending the Rotary Club luncheon at the Tropical Inn.
His speech touched on the wide range of issues ranging from agriculture to trade, talking about such issues as grain prices, traceability, the harmonization of rules and regulations with the USA on safety and inspection issues for agriculture, research and innovation issues, the positive impact of tax cuts on the economy, as well as issues surrounding the health of the global economy.
Efforts to repeal the long gun registry proved to be a hot topic during the question and answer period that followed Ritz's speech. The minister sympathized with concerns raised at the luncheon that the gun registry serves to criminalize long-gun owners whose permits may have expired or been lost.
Ritz also responded to a comment from the floor noting a recent news item that said chiefs of police had lined up against the government's stance on the gun registry.
"They always have," responded Ritz, who noted the rank and file police officers had a different view. They could not track what was located where, according to the minister.
Front line officers "tell me it doesn't help them overall," said Ritz to reporters later.
"For the dollars invested they'd rather see our other justice bills move forward where we'd be putting a lot more onus on the violator, not the victim of the crime."
Ritz said to reporters there was a need to "be more strident" in the way perpetrators of gun crime are handled, as opposed to ordinary hunters and farmers.
As for the current private members bill to get rid of the long gun registry, Ritz noted it is being opposed by Liberal and NDP members of the House of Commons. The vote will not be about the bill itself, he said, but about whether or not it will be legitimate to bring it back to the Commons. "With a minority situation they can control that", said Ritz.
Another hot topic raised was the long-form census. The government is seeking to scrap the requirement that completion of the long-form questionnaire be mandatory, and replace it with a voluntary form.
Ritz said the switch was being made because of concerns over invasion of privacy from the old long-form questionnaire, and said people who didn't want to complete the form were being threatened with jail time.
He dismissed suggestions that a voluntary form would be less accurate than a mandatory one, saying that twice as many long forms were going to be sent out and a greater response was expected.
The issue of infrastructure spending also came up, as several municipalities have come forward, Saskatoon in particular, to state they were facing difficulty getting projects completed because of the flooding in the province. But the federal minister held firm to the March 2011 deadline date.
"It continues to be the deadline," Ritz said to reporters afterward.
Ritz seemed to leave the door open to the government taking a second look at the situation facing municipalities at some point. However, he said "there's a tremendous potential to get these jobs done - well under way," said Ritz.
He noted there aren't a lot of places these days where construction isn't done 12 months a year. "We'll see how it all plays out. There's a tremendous opportunity to get all this done this fall."
Ritz also dismissed criticism from federal NDP leader Jack Layton that the government was being inflexible in holding to the March 2011 deadline.
"Jack's inflexibility started when he voted against all of this," responded Ritz. "So I'm not sure how he has any sort of criteria for legitimacy in coming out speaking to maintain it or add to it or extend the deadline when you're Jack Layton and if you had your way there would have been zero dollars - zero projects."
