Greetings to All!

Just a note to let you know to watch for new columns in the fall. Wishing you all a great Canada Day and entire summer of 2011!

The assassination of Shahbaz Bhatti, the first Federal Minister for Minorities in Pakistan, may not have caught your attention a couple of weeks ago.

As the only Christian Cabinet Minister in Pakistan, Bhatti fought for basic, fundamental liberties that we sometimes take for granted, including freedom of religion and freedom of speech.

Bhatti knew full well that one day he would be killed for defending these basic rights. As we in Canada approach a possible spring election, I wonder how often we take our political rights for granted.

Many Canadians, particularly our War Dead and Veterans, have sacrificed so that we can have basic liberties.

The rule of law and representative and responsible government may sometimes seem dry and dusty concepts. However, these principles have made Canada a place where all peoples can live without fear.

We owe it to both past and future generations to use and protect our freedoms.

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.

I don`t know if you have ever heard of a drug called Salvia, I hadn`t until just last week. Salvia Divinorum is a hallucinogenic herb that is gaining notoriety among Canadian youth.

In 2009, 7.3% of youth aged 15 to 24 reported using salvia at least once in their lifetime, according to the Canadian Alcohol and Drug Use Monitoring Survey.
 
Salvia is a drug that can have harmful effects on its users, including: Hallucinations; out-of-body experiences; slurred speech and awkward sentence patterns.
 
Your Conservative government wants to protect Canadian youth from the damaging effects of this drug. In keeping with the actions of other countries, the Government of Canada has announced plans to outlaw salvia. Instituting laws banning such substances is just one of the tools we can use to protect young people from dangerous drugs.
 
Your Conservative government believes it is important to do what we can to protect our children and keep our streets safe.
 
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.

In my column, I generally talk about policy. But this week, I’m going to give advice on how to write your Member of Parliament.

Every MP office receives hundreds, if not thousands of pieces of correspondence every month. We try to respond to our constituents in a reasonable amount of time, but we need your help.

First, write to your own MP.  While there are occasions when it is useful to write other MPs who have a specific expertise, a Member of Parliament is primarily responsible to his local constituents and rightly gives their views priority.

Secondly, be brief, stick to the point and try to limit each letter or e-mail to one subject.  If I’m not sure what you are asking about, I can’t answer your question.

Finally, avoid sending in form letters or pre-printed cards to which you simply add your name and drop in the mailbox. I need to know what you think, not what some professional organizer wants you to mail to me. After all, I work for you, not a lobby group based in another province.

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.

This past week, the House of Commons passed Bill C-59, the Abolition of Early Parole Act. C-59 will eliminate parole for white collar criminals who serve just one sixth of their sentence.  While the Bloc Quebecois were consistently for the bill, the position of the Liberals was somewhat strange.
 
At first, the Liberals were opposed. They voted against the bill, arguing that it was too expensive to keep white collar criminals in jail.
 
Then they surprised everyone by voting in favour of the bill, reversing the position they had taken earlier in the day.
 
But by that evening, the Liberals changed their position again, voting against the bill and trying to stop it in committee.
 
Now if Liberals believe that criminals should be out on parole after serving one sixth of their sentences, fine. Let them argue that position; but the Liberals should be able to stick to it consistently for more than just one day.
 
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.

Canada’s federal business tax rate is 16.5 per cent. The Ignatieff Liberals want to raise taxes on business to 18 per cent—and if the Liberals don’t get their way, they’re going to force an election.

If you don’t think a 1.5 per cent tax hike on business is a big deal, consider the following points:

First of all, provincial taxes and other federal taxes are stacked on top of the federal business tax. 

In Saskatchewan, that means a marginal tax rate of up to 44 per cent by the time profits are finally paid out to owners. A 44 per cent tax on business is not a low tax rate, no matter what the “tax’em some more” crowd claims.

Secondly, an estimated 100,000 jobs are at risk when Canada’s corporate tax rate moves up by 1.5 per cent. Now in a country of 34 million, Canada has about 18 million employed. The Liberals may be willing to chance the loss of 100,000 jobs out of 18 million in exchange for more tax revenue. But if it is your job that is lost, that one pink slip is pretty devastating. So, I have a question for the Liberals. How many Canadians of the 100,000 deserve to lose their jobs in the name of higher taxes?

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.

During the last week of January, I held one of my scheduled coffee shop tours through Saskatoon-Humboldt. There were a few issues which repeatedly came up. 
 
First, I was often asked if the federal government was going to change the youth criminal justice system. There seemed to be a consensus (among the people I talked to) that young offenders need to receive stiffer sentences.
 
Constituents also expressed to me their concern that the provincial government didn’t seem interested in addressing the issues around marriage commissioners. While the men and women I talked to understood that the issues involved were provincial and not federal, they expressed their frustration to me that no one at the provincial level seemed to care.
 
Finally, the issue of flooding was another topic of discussion. Even though we all hope that it won’t happen again, the people I talked to were realistic about the probability of flooding in the spring.
 
These are just a few of the issues brought up during my coffee shop stops in the riding in January.
 
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.

The number one priority of your Conservative Government remains growing the economy.

We know that red tape is a silent killer of jobs and limits economic growth.

Our Government has already reduced the paper burden for small businesses by 20 per cent across government departments through the Paper Burden Reduction Initiative.

That’s why the Conservatives are taking further action to reduce that burden by launching a Red Tape Reduction Commission, which includes members who understand first-hand how red tape can negatively impact successful companies.

The Commission will travel from coast to coast to hear from small businesses and entrepreneurs who deal with red tape every day and are, therefore, in the best position to identify how it can be reduced.

The Red Tape commission will allow small business and entrepreneurs to do what they do best: Create jobs and drive the economy forward.
 
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.

One of your Conservative government’s top priorities over the last year has been to make our streets safer.

To do this we:

• Strengthened Canada’s national DNA database, with Bill S-2
• Improved the National Sex Offender Registry, again Bill S-2
• Eliminated the two for one credit for time served, Bill C-25
• Introduced Sebastian’s law to require courts to consider adult sentences for youth convicted of the most serious crimes, Bill C-4
• Cracked down on gang crime, Bills S-10, and C-14

These bills are just one part of the work we’ve been doing to keep criminals behind bars.  Canadians deserve to have safe streets– and effective laws help keep our streets safe.

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.

Saving for retirement is one of the biggest financial challenges that many Canadians face. That’s one reason why your Conservative government is creating the registered pooled pension plan. 
 
Millions of Canadians do not have access to private sector pension plans; particularly Canadians who work for small businesses or are self-employed.
 
The proposed new pension plan will allow these businesses to team up and pool their resources using a registered financial institution and allow the self-employed to participate.    
 
As a result, millions of Canadians (who either work for small and medium-sized businesses or are self-employed) will have access to good, affordable, secure pension plans for the first time. This is one practical step your Conservative government is taking to provide economic security for millions of Canadians.

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.