Archive for October, 2007

I don’t know if you have been following some of the cross border shopping stories that have been in the news recently. In particular, I am referring to some of the stories about Canadians trying to buy automobiles and snowmobiles in the U.S.

It seems that some of the larger corporations have been trying to stop Canadians from buying their vehicles in the States and then driving them north. The companies were denying Canadians warranty coverage or threatening dealers who were selling to them. Like most Canadians, I prefer to buy locally if I can. But–when a Bombardier snowmobile costs $3,000 - $4,000 less south of the border, it only makes sense to take a shopping trip south to make the purchase (for some cars, the savings are considerably higher).

The big corporations seem to have the idea that free trade should only exist if it helps them. If NAFTA works against them they want to do what they can to limit free markets. It is because of this problem that my office started work this week on a piece of legislation to protect Canadian consumers from price discrimination.

The bill that I am working on is based on the basic idea that Canadians should not be discriminated against when they buy vehicles outside of Canada. At this point, I want the law to do two basic things. First, companies must not be allowed to pressure their dealers to not sell to Canadians. Secondly, warranties should be honoured on both sides of the border.

These are just basic common sense demands that we shouldn’t have to put into law. I don’t think Canadians would stand for price discrimination based on gender, race or province of residence, and I don’t think we should accept discrimination based on the colour of our passport.

I’m Brad Trost, your MP for Saskatoon-Humboldt. I welcome your feedback, contact my offices anytime at (306) 975-6133.

On October 16th, Parliament started up again for the fall season with the Speech from the Throne. A few of the elements in the Speech from the Throne tended to dominate the news cycle: the comprehensive crime bill, a restatement of the Arctic sovereignty strategy, and enhanced environmental protections were in the forefront. There were other things that the government stated in the Speech from the Throne, and I would like to mention a few of them.

First, we are going take another run at scrapping the long-gun registry. The three opposition parties continue to be firm supporters of the registry, and they all opposed Bill C-21, our first attempt to scrap the registry. While I don’t know if we can gather the votes to overturn the registry, but we will certainly continue to try.

Mining also got a mention in the Speech from the Throne. This is important to a province like Saskatchewan which produces potash, uranium, and oil & gas. Mining has produced good jobs for Saskatchewan. The pledge by the government to eliminate unnecessary red tape for mining projects will help create more of those good jobs in Canada.

Finally, the government will make sure that the Canadian Human Rights Act will be enforced on reserves. The fact that Aboriginal people don’t have the protections that all other Canadians enjoy is a disgrace and we as a government cannot have two separate sets of laws for Canadians. All Canadians deserve protection under the law, both on and off reserves.

Other issues (namely tax cuts) got a mention in the Speech from the Throne but that is a topic for another day.

I’m Brad Trost, your MP for Saskatoon-Humboldt. I welcome your feedback, contact my offices anytime. You can contact my office at (306) 975-6133.

Last week, I was watching the news on TV and there was a story on a report from the United States Congress. A U.S. Senator was trying to scare people about the Canada-U.S. border. He was making it sound as if Canada was a threat to U.S. security. The hearing got so ridiculous at one point, when another U.S. Senator claimed that terrorists came over from Canada into Buffalo, New York. He seems to have confused what happened on a fictional TV show (the West Wing) with the real world.

While American ignorance of what really goes on in the world is nothing new, I wondered how many Canadians know what is being done to make sure we have safe and secure borders. The following is a partial list of action taken by the Conservative government to keep Canada safe. We have:

Invested $430 million in border infrastructure and security upgrades.

Armed our border officers and hired 400 new officers to eliminate dangerous “work-alone” situations.

Added 1,000 new RCMP personnel to address federal policing priorities such as: fighting drugs, smuggling and enhancing border security.

Invested $19.5 million in RCMP Integrated Border Enforcement Teams (IBETS), strategically located along the border to disrupt cross-border smuggling.

On top of all of these measures, we have added $80 million to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) to help keep tabs on terrorists. We do take security very seriously in this government and we have no intention of taking it easy in regards to terrorism.

Finally, if you are ever talking to an American about our border security, remind them that people sneaking across the border going north is more of a problem than people heading south. Just remember to be polite when you remind them of this–you are, after all, Canadian.

I’m Brad Trost, your Member of Parliament in Saskatoon-Humboldt. You can call my office in Saskatoon at 975-6133, or drop by to visit our two offices one in Saskatoon (five days a week) and the other in the Humboldt mall (Tuesdays and Wednesdays). I always appreciate your feedback.