Ottawa Journal by David Tilson MP — The Liberal report card – Summer 2016

July 28, 2016 · 0 Comments

Taking a look back at the spring sitting of the House of Commons, a number of conclusions can be drawn about the Liberals’ first months in power.
Even though we are not in a recession, the Liberals have stampeded headlong into deficit which taxpayers will have to pay for eventually. They are cozying up to Iran and Russia. They are playing hardball with Alberta, a province devastated by the world downturn in oil prices. In short, this is not the warm and fuzzy government many Canadians thought they were electing.
Despite his many campaign promises, Justin Trudeau has not reduced taxes for Canada’s middle-class and Canadians know that this Liberal government does not promote policies that support Canadian families. In fact, Justin Trudeau has betrayed Canada’s middle-class by forcing future middle-class families to pay for the Liberals’ $30 billion deficit. Measures include increasing taxes on middle-class families that enroll their children in sports and arts programs; demanding a CPP tax-hike that will cost families and small businesses thousands of dollars every year; ending the hiring credit for small businesses; keeping the small businesses tax rate at 10.5 per cent instead of lowering it to the promised nine per cent; and forcing provinces and territories to adopt carbon emission policies that would cost families nearly $1,000 a year.
On the world stage, by rebranding their approach to foreign policy as “responsible conviction,” Justin Trudeau and his Minister of Global Affairs claim that Canada is back on the international stage. In fact, the opposite is true.
They have abandoned our principled stand regarding Canada’s steadfast support for Israel in order to get along with Iran. By simply rebranding their “honest broker” position, the Liberals are further isolating our friend and ally Israel at a time when it needs our friendship the most. Iran’s state support of terrorism has been widely acknowledged. The Iranian regime has used terrorism as an essential component of its foreign policy and military strategy. Dealing with Iran is tantamount to irresponsible conviction.
Regarding China, Minister Dion failed to reprimand Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s conduct towards a Canadian journalist during their joint news conference in Ottawa recently. Minister Dion’s silence is an indictment of the Liberals new doctrine. When given an opportunity to defend a basic principle of democracy such as freedom of the press, the Liberals preferred to stay silent, afraid to take a stand.
It is also deeply concerning the government continues to cozy up to Russia. Vladimir Putin has indicated that he and Prime Minister Trudeau have discussed re-establishing “full relations.” We must stand firm against the Russian invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea. We must protect our Arctic sovereignty against Russian imperialism. We must, like our U.S. and European allies, support the Conservatives’ Magnitsky Act, which would hold Russia’s corrupt officials, murders and torturers to account.
Canadians remain perplexed by the government’s refusal to vote in favour of our motion declaring that the atrocities committed by ISIS against minorities constitute genocide. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, former U.S. secretary of state Hilary Clinton, the British Parliament and European Union Parliament have all been stating the obvious for months: ISIS’ crimes are genocide. It is unfortunate that the Liberals were so opposed to taking on the threat of ISIS that they were unwilling to accept reality and the magnitude of the atrocities being committed in the Middle East. The Liberal decision to pull Canada’s CF-18s out of the fight against ISIS and end our combat mission exemplified the government’s naïve approach to Canada’s national security. At a time when our allies were increasing their efforts to destroy this barbaric terrorist organization, the Liberals pulled us out of the fight and shamefully allowed other nations to do the heavy lifting. tilson