Archive for September, 2009

Buy American, softwood lumber tariffs, Country of Origin Labelling–these are all methods by which American companies are trying to stop Canadians from selling into the U.S.

So what does Canada do to protect our trade? First, Prime Minister Harper, Cabinet Ministers and backbench MPs like me, regularly and aggressively meet with American politicians to press them on these issues. We remind them that protectionist policies hurt American consumers. We also ally ourselves with American businesses that support Canada.

Secondly, we expand our trade with other countries in order to diversify the Canadian economy. If the Americans want to discriminate against oil from the oil sands, fine. We can sell that oil to Asia. We are signing trade deals with Norway, Switzerland and Colombia, while bringing in investment from Asia.

These are smart ways to grow Canadian trade.

I’m Brad Trost your Member of Parliament in Saskatoon-Humboldt. You can call my office in Saskatoon at 975-6133 or drop by our two offices to visit: Saskatoon Monday-Friday or Humboldt Tuesday and Wednesday. I always appreciate your feedback.

You might have heard Prime Minister Harper on the news the other week, talking about the separatists and the socialists (the Bloc and the NDP). While he was criticized for that remark, what many people have missed is just how close the NDP and the Bloc have become over the last year.

Remember: it was the NDP who first approached the Bloc Québécois to form the three party coalition government.

The NDP even joked on their phone calls that the coalition couldn’t be called the coalition for Canada because they were now allied with the Bloc.

And last year, the NDP even voted with the Bloc (against both the Conservatives and Liberals) to allow the Quebec legislature to impose its language laws on the Canadian government.

Considering how closely the NDP are working with the Bloc Quebecois it’s no wonder that some people are referring to the NDP as Les Bloc Anglais .

I’m Brad Trost your Member of Parliament in Saskatoon-Humboldt. You can call my office in Saskatoon at 975-6133 or drop by our two offices to visit: Saskatoon Monday-Friday or Humboldt Tuesday and Wednesday. I always appreciate your feedback.

Well with the summer gone, and the House of Commons sitting again, it’s time for me to start up my weekly column (at least until the Liberals/NDP/Bloc force another election).

This week, I thought I would update you on some things that I heard in the riding throughout the summer.

While the infrastructure grants (sewers, water systems, roads, arena upgrades) were very popular this summer, a couple of points were noted. It is a hardship on small communities to have to do engineering for a project before it is known whether or not it will be approved for a grant. Therefore, it was suggested that the federal government be more flexible in its program requirements for communities under a certain size.

At the beginning of the summer, I received considerable feedback on my stance on funding for Toronto’s Pride parade. A few people from Saskatoon criticized my stance, but several times as many people (both in Saskatoon and in the smaller communities) thanked me for what I said. The reasons why people supported my stance varied; some thought the money was being wasted; others were opposed to the message that the parade was promoting.

General concerns about the national economy were raised. Saskatchewan (it was noted) was doing well. But the pork and beef sectors are struggling and they are very important to the province and the region. (The federal government did announce a program to help pork producers this August.)

There were other issues brought up this summer but these were the main ones.

I’m Brad Trost, your Member of Parliament in Saskatoon-Humboldt.  You can call my office in Saskatoon at 975-6133 or drop by our two offices to visit: Saskatoon Monday-Friday or Humboldt Tuesday and Wednesday. I always appreciate your feedback.