Federal Conservative leader Erin O’Toole proposed a plan to help Canada recover after the COVID-19 pandemic, including a plan to eventually balance the budget, in an address he gave electronically to three southeast Chambers of Commerce on Thursday.
He appeared in a studio in Ottawa along with Souris-Moose Mountain MP Dr. Robert Kitchen, and took questions from the Weyburn, Estevan and Moosomin Chambers in the presentation given via Zoom.
With a federal election looming this year, O’Toole went on the attack early, pointing out the shortcomings of the Liberals to address the pandemic or to lead the economy.
“As the leader of the opposition, I have a job to do, to hold the Liberals to account. Canada under the Liberals has failed at every step of the pandemic. Other countries, like our friends to the south, are already reopening, because they were ready. Mr. Trudeau has had the worst response of the G-7 group of countries,” he said, adding that every year under Trudeau’s leadership, Canada has fallen further and further behind, particularly in Western Canada.
O’Toole said there needs to be a return to leadership, both in terms of national unity and for the economy, and noted this country is at a crossroads as we emerge from the impacts of the pandemic.
Both the agricultural and oil-and-gas sectors have suffered under the Liberals, particularly the energy industry with pointed attacks on this sector, he said, and the impact on mental health has been felt deeply in Saskatchewan.
He noted that one in five residents in this province has experienced levels of depression, which was three times the rate prior to the pandemic, and agencies like Envision Counselling have seen increases in the numbers of people they are dealing with, so his party has developed the Canada Mental Health action plan in response.
He was asked what his approach would be to building pipelines, noting that projects like Energy East and Keystone XL have been cancelled under Trudeau’s government.
O’Toole noted his first job was working for TransCanada Pipelines, doing pipeline inspections, and as a young lawyer he worked for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP).
He noted that Trudeau’s failure with pipelines is “the most historic failure in the country’s history”, and if he’s elected, O’Toole promises to eliminate Bill C-69, which has put severe restrictions on the development of any resources, including oil and gas.
In regard to his party’s environmental plan, O’Toole defended the policy that many critics have called the Conservatives version of a carbon tax.
“My plan is not a carbon tax, despite what people like to say. If you don’t send a cent to Ottawa, it’s not a tax. What it is, for the first time we’re talking about a plan to put a price on carbon at the consumer level, but it’s a third of what Trudeau is proposing to charge with his carbon tax,” he said, explaining each person or business would have a carbon account which would work in a similar way to how people use savings and chequing accounts.
The focus would be on reducing emissions in whatever a person can, such as through the purchases of items that emit less carbon, and in this way they would encourage entrepreneurship and more jobs.
This would include investment in more carbon capture technology, which he noted MP Kitchen has been vigourously promoting from the Estevan area and which entrepreneur Elon Musk has said is crucial for addressing climate change issues.
“Mr. Trudeau doesn’t think it is, but we know it is,” said O’Toole, adding he would also recognize the contributions of agriculture and forestry to the environment.
As a former member of the Canadian Armed Forces, O’Toole was asked for his opinion on the allegations of sexual misconduct in the military today.
He responded that he has served alongside many incredible women in the military, including with a young woman from Weyburn, Capt. Juli-Ann Mackenzie, who tragically lost her life in a search-and-rescue off the coast of Labrador.
“She was an exceptional Canadian,” said O’Toole. “I spoke about her in the House of Commons on Remembrance Day, because she was in my platoon and she died serving her country. So what do I owe young women like Juli-Ann? The ability to serve Canada free from a culture of harassment, with respect from the nation,” he said.
There were and are cultural problems in the military that have to be addressed, he added, and said “We owe it to all service families to change the cultural problems in some of these institutions … To whom much is given, much is expected.”
In regard to the death of RCMP Const. Patton recently in the line of duty, he was asked if the Conservatives would advocate for tougher laws to protect police officers who are doing their duty in protecting the public.
“I would support enhanced sentencing for people who take risks” that end up taking the lives of those who are protecting the public and have a difficult job to do, he said.
