Fraser Tolmie is seeking re-election as the Conservative Party of Canada candidate for the Moose Jaw – Lake Centre – Lanigan riding.
Affordability/cost-of-living
Well, we want to ensure that the carbon tax as a law is removed. Right now it's not. It's been reduced to zero after almost two years of, well, actually more than two years of us pounding on the door of the Liberal and NDP government to have it abolished.
We've seen tremendous drop in gas prices at the pumps, so we know that that works. We also would want to reduce the 15 per cent to the income tax on the average worker, which is more money in people's pockets. We have a lot of good practical steps that as a Conservative party that we believe are instrumental, especially for seniors, you know $34,000 tax which gives people $10,000 more in their own pockets.
So, we have practical steps that will help the average Canadian, especially after 10 years of this Liberal government and their disastrous financial policies that have impacted people.
Tariffs and Economics
Well, I mean obviously I want it to end. I don't know if, and I've said this before, we're going to be able to actually do that when you've got someone that's in power that seems to be irrational in the United States. Someone that just loves headlines and and doesn't stop talking. That's going to be a wait and see issue that we're going to have to deal with. I've said this from the beginning, we have to be rational.
This guy down there keeps prompting us to be emotional and a lot of people are biting and that's why I'm dealing with this question as it is because people are making it an issue. I think we have to respond in strength. Well, we brought that (China tariffs) up a while ago. I remember having an interview with you and you said to me is there anything else you want to bring up? It's the unfair treatment of our farmers in Ottawa that they neglect our farmers and the billions of dollars in lost economy with canola and other grains and commodities that we grow here to save an EV plant that you know isn't producing anything. We're obviously very concerned and that's top of mind for us especially in this riding.
So, what I've noticed is that when we have issues with China, which we've had a few, that there is always another way to get our.goods to market and there's always another client and we have always talked about diversifying and we need to do that for everything with regards to the goods that we produce here in Saskatchewan.
Carbon Tax
We’ve seen that it’s been absolutely disastrous. Every minister that Carney has put into his cabinet after being elected as leader of his party stood up in the House of Commons and said eight out of 10 Canadians are getting more money back. Well, if they really believe that, then why did they cancel it? They know that it was a bad policy and trying to introduce something like that again is not good for the average Canadian or for all Canadians to be quite honest with you. I mean that is something that we're not for. We believe that money should be in people's pockets.
There are incentives that can be implemented to lower emissions instead of coercing the people of Canada, and that's what this Liberal and with the support of the NDP have been doing to people, they've been coercing people and it's been disastrous.
We've seen line up at food banks. We've seen this local food bank here, I've said this numerous times, where it almost closed during the summer because the rising costs of food and lower donations because people didn't have much to give and people that normally wouldn't use it are using it and that's heartbreaking. That's not looking after the people of Canada snd it's not a good policy.
Immigration
I think you have to have a very moderate approach when you when it comes to immigration, where there's a need, you fill it, right?
One of the things that I did as mayor was bring in an immigration work program to help businesses that needed employees because there was a work shortage.
You've got to have a balanced approach, and I believe that's what we would do as a Conservative party to bring in people that will help fill the needs that we have in the need to grow our economy. And that's one of the things that we've talked about with the Blue Seal program. A program where people that have medical backgrounds in maybe the country that they live, that they're able to write an exam so that they can either practice as doctors, dentists, nurses and help with the healthcare crisis that we're going through.
Go back to the previous question that you asked me about carbon tax, well, we've seen carbon tax being downloaded onto other levels of government in the provincial level of government, it's affected our healthcare system. Hospitals are being charged carbon tax when there's a healthcare crisis going on and they're having a difficulty balancing their books. Carbon taxes being downloaded onto school boards, the Prairie South School Board here, their bill has gone up over $2 million because of carbon tax. That money should be going towards education, it should be going towards healthcare and then on the municipal level it's being downloaded.
We've seen inflation where the purchasing power for replacing aging infrastructure, you're getting less because dollar values have gone up and user fees are going up in recreational facilities, because they're paying carbon tax. While kids are learning to swim, parents are drowning in taxes because there's only one taxpayer. They pay for the municipal level of government, they pay for the provincial level of government, and they pay for the federal level of government nd there's got to be alignment to help these people.
Crime
Its impacts are very concerning because what I'm hearing from not only local police but from police across Canada is that people are afraid to come forward because of this catch and release system that the NDPs and the Liberals have put in. People are committing crimes and then being released hours later and they're escalating the crime. People are afraid to come forward because they're afraid that there's going to be retaliation from the person that's committed the crime. We've seen that. So, we want to bring in tougher sentences and that people do the time for their crime.