Federal Government Continues to Push Failed Housing Program
Plus another upcoming meet-and-greet, Alberta adds Zolgensma under drug coverage, update on Conservative fight for accountability, and Information Commissioner report on access to information failures
Federal Government Continues to Push Failed Housing Program
Mahogany Parade of Lights
Thank you to all constituents that came for the Auburn Bay Parade of Lights last Saturday. I met over 400 residents as I passed out hot chocolate and heard the concerns from many about the higher cost of living, provincial vaccine mandates, and other issues of concern to the community. For those who could not make it last week, I welcome you all to take part in the Mahogany Parade of Lights this Saturday from 5pm-7pm. I will be at 1955 Mahogany Boulevard SE from 3pm to 5pm before the start of the parade, passing out more hot chocolate, and will be happy to take questions and listen to your concerns during this time.
If you are interested in learning more about how the parade will proceed, find out more at the link below.
Federal government determined to triple down on the failed FTHBI program
The Ottawa Liberals continue to demonstrate their inability to improve affordability for Canadians. Recent reports show that Canada has the second-largest housing bubble in the world and housing prices have increased by almost 22% since last year. However, the Liberal government continues to waffle when their failures to combat Canada’s real estate inflation are raised. When the First Time Homebuyer Incentive was introduced in 2019, I called it for what it was – an expensive election gimmick that would cost the taxpayers $1.25 billion. The federal government claimed that the FTHBI would help 100,000 Canadians buy a home by 2022. The reality that it was a gimmick was proven to be right during the 2019 federal election when the Liberal government then amended their own newly released program with broader criteria for approval. As of February 2021, this program has helped just over 9,000 Canadian homebuyers – a measly 1.6% of total home purchases in 2020 alone - and the government has now decided to triple down on this botched housing program, further expanding eligibility with the hope they can find success as 2022 waits around the corner. I said from the very beginning that the program was going to fail, and it failed. It failed first-time home buyers and it failed young Canadians, regardless of the housing market segment they were in or the part of the country they were shopping in.
I had the opportunity this week to question Liberal MPs on this failed First Time Home Buyer Incentive program and ask them to adopt the Conservatives’ housing proposals. Given their insistence that the program is still viable, I have submitted requests to obtain further information on the program and will update the public once available. Watch my exchanges with Liberal MPs in Parliament below:
Alberta adds Zolgensma permanently to its public drug coverage program
Great news for Albertans! The Alberta government has announced that Zolgensma, a one-time use gene therapy for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), will be covered under the provincial government’s Rare Diseases Drug Coverage Program on a permanent basis. Previously it was covered as part of a temporary interim agreement.
As some of you may know, SMA is an inherited disease that affects nerves and muscles causing muscles to become increasingly weak. SMA is typically diagnosed in infancy or early childhood. If left untreated, it is the most common genetic cause of infant death. Research has highlighted Zolgensma’s potential for those with SMA, as it showed Zolgensma works better the earlier the condition is caught.
I’d like to thank the Alberta government for continuing to listen to the available cutting-edge science and broadening patients’ access to rare disease medication.
Information Commissioner publishes report criticizing Global Affairs Canada for violating the access to information laws
Access to government-held information is the cornerstone of our citizen-driven democracy. It is a right of Canadians to file access to information requests (ATIPs) to the government as it ensures transparency and allows for accountability. Under the Ottawa Liberals, access to information has been thrown to the wayside and transparency has completely faded. Requests now experience unprecedented delays, sometimes delaying up to a year or longer. The Information Commissioner has referred to the situation as a systemic culture of secrecy, and it makes one wonder what they are trying to hide.
In September, the Information Commissioner ordered the release of nine access to information requests to Global Affairs Canada the federal government had been stalling on releasing for a year. These requests were all from my office and covered many important issues such as relations with Taiwan, China’s persecution of Uyghurs, and Hong Kong protests. In the report, the Commissioner criticized the federal government for failing to meet its legislative obligations under the Access to Information Act and that its delays constituted a failure the basic requirements of the law. The Ottawa Liberals must fix the system they broke.
Update on Conservative points of privilege
On Thursday, progress was made on the Conservatives’ points of privilege raised in the first week of Parliament’s return, regarding the MP vaccine mandate and the federal government’s defiance of Parliament in failing to turn over unredacted documents related to the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg.
Speaker Anthony Rota ruled that the Board of Internal Economy exceeded its authority when imposing a vaccine mandate imposed upon the House of Commons. He noted that only the House itself can make a decision on restricting access to the Chamber and other parts of the parliamentary precinct. This confirms what the Conservatives have been saying all along; Only MPs, through a vote in Parliament, can set their own rules or restrictions governing the House of Commons. However, the Liberal government forced through a motion returning to a hybrid Parliament until June 2022, which included compelling a vaccine mandate on parliamentarians until that same period. This is typical of the Ottawa Liberals. When they receive pushback from the Speaker, they force other methods through to enforce their view.
On the federal government’s continued refusal to disclose the Winnipeg Lab documents, the Liberal Government House leader Mark Holland proposed the formation of a special ad hoc committee of MPs from all parties be allowed to view both the redacted and unredacted documents. If any information is to be made public and there are disagreements on the matter, a panel of independent arbiters — made up of three former senior judges agreed upon by all political parties — would decide how the information could be made public without compromising national security, national defence, or international relations. This is not good enough, and it is a repetition of a suggestion that was refused by all opposition parties as it allows the government to skirt the will of Parliament expressed in a majority vote. The government openly defied Parliament in the summer and even resorted to the court system to prevent the disclosure of documents, dragging the Speaker before a judge to avoid accountability. In offering this solution, the federal government is trying to avoid Speaker Rota’s future ruling on the point of privilege. The only acceptable manner to resolve this impasse is for the federal government to release the documents to the impartial and non-partisan Law Clerk’s Office who would then determine what should or should not be provided to parliamentarians and the public. Parliament cannot be defied by the federal government. The federal government is accountable to Parliament and cannot be allowed to dictate how government documents are obtained or redacted.