Provencher Member of Parliament Ted Falk is back in the constituency as the House of Commons has risen for the summer.
Falk says the last session wrapped up early Thursday morning, ending a long, 10-week stretch of sitting. He notes the last two weeks in particular were full as MPs sat until midnight nearly every evening debating legislation.
"The last two weeks with midnight sittings just I think really took a toll on all MPs," suggests Falk. "And I think by the time we wrapped up very early Thursday morning, MPs were ready to go home."
Falk points to several key bills that passed through the House of Commons in this sitting. He says one of the more notable is Bill C-11, which is an Online Streaming Act. Falk says this bill really gives the Liberal cabinet the ability to determine what social media content users will be able to see.
"And those decisions can be made actually in the cabinet, kind of under a cloak of secrecy, and then forwarded to the CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission) and the CRTC can give direction to social media outlets as to what kind of content they are going to allow their users to see," he explains.
Falk says the Conservatives look at this as a censorship bill, whereas the government is deciding what Canadians can and cannot see.
"We don't think that's right," he adds. "We as Conservatives believe that individuals should have the ability to determine what they want to watch and when they want to watch it."
According to Falk, this legislation made its way through the House of Commons and the Senate. He notes the Senate sent it back with amendments, but those amendments were rejected and the legislation passed anyway.
Falk says a sister bill to C-11 is C-18, which also found its way through both the House of Commons and the Senate. According to Falk, Bill C-18 requires media giants like Google, Facebook, and YouTube to pay for any news content from legacy media that is being posted on their platforms.
"In my opinion, I think Canadians certainly have indicated that they prefer to see their news on social media platforms and that is the direction they are going and so whether or not they are going to shift back to mainstream media outlets and to their platforms will be interesting to see," says Falk. "I think Facebook, Google, YouTube, places like that should be paying their fair share of taxes here in Canada."
Falk says another interesting bill that is still in the Senate is C-21. He notes this bill attacks firearms owners who have legally and lawfully gone through the process of getting licensed and have acquired their firearms legally.
"This will prohibit the use of a lot of these guns," adds Falk. "And the way the legislation is written, you will actually see some traditional firearms that have been used for sport shooting and hunting become prohibited."
According to Falk, Bill C-21 does absolutely nothing to address the real root problem in this country with criminality, gun smuggling or gang violence.
"The bill is a disappointment because the Liberals have seen easy target to go after people that own guns legally and use them lawfully and responsibly," suggests Falk. "They've decided to go after those people to try and create a perception that they are actually trying to address the real issue of criminality and this bill does absolutely nothing to address that."
Then there is Bill C-234, which Falk says would exempt farmers from paying carbon tax on all fuels used for heating and cooling on farms.
"I think it would be a huge win for our agriculture, for our farmers and I think it's important that we continue to support agriculture, this is our food supply," says Falk. "We need to protect that, and we need to show farmers that they are important."
And finally, Falk says there is Bill C-46, which is the federal government's latest budget. He notes some of the voting done late Wednesday night was to make sure the budget passed. Falk says this budget will see $60 billion of deficit spending, which will add to inflation.
"The easiest way to address inflation would be for the government to stop this deficit spending and show some fiscal restraint which is something that Conservatives are committed to doing," adds Falk.
With Falk back in the constituency for the summer, he says he will be busy trying to hit as many community events, festivals, and parades as possible. Falk says this is a great opportunity to connect with constituents and hear firsthand the issues that are important to them.
"I'm surprised how many constituents are aware of the legislation that Parliament is debating and grappling with," admits Falk. "They are very eager to share their perspective with me and it's not always the same, and there's lots of folks on both sides of issues before Parliament that have different perspectives on some of the bills."
Falk says it is very interesting and rewarding to hear those different perspectives and then carry them to Ottawa for debate. The House of Commons is scheduled to resume sitting on September 18.