Trudeau Can’t Hide From Democracy

January 20, 2022

Parliament won’t be sitting until January 31st, but Canada’s Conservatives have been working hard to make sure that the government continues to be held to account until then.
Over the past few weeks, our Conservative team has successfully called emergency meetings of the Health Committee, Ethics Committee, Finance Committee, and Industry Committee. Typically committees only meet when Parliament is in session, but if four committee members request an emergency meeting, one has to be called. This may seem like political theatre, but these meetings are tackling important issues.

Protecting Your Privacy
The emergency meeting of the Ethics Committee was held to investigate the government secretly monitoring the cell phone data of millions of Canadians. The committee will hear from Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, and Dr. Teresa Tam, as they study this secret surveillance plan.

Keeping Life Affordable
At the emergency meeting of the Standing Committee on Finance, committee members have been tasked with studying inflation and housing affordability. This is particularly relevant as reports now show that housing prices rose by a record 26.6% in December from the year prior, and the new inflation numbers indicate that inflation has risen once again to 4.8%.. the highest it’s been in over 3 decades! The committee will hear from the Minister of Finance, Governor of the Bank of Canada, and more.

Support for Health Care
The Health Committee meeting was called as we enter year three of this pandemic. For the past two years Justin Trudeau has failed to respond to calls for increased surge capacity in provincial health systems, leaving us exactly where we were when the pandemic began. The committee will study advice regarding quarantine length, availability and access of PPE and vaccines, and support to provinces for surge healthcare resources.

National Security Review Needed
And finally, the Industry Committee is meeting to discuss the Canadian lithium mining company, Neo-Lithium, being sold to a Chinese state-owned company without a national security review. It’s concerning for a Chinese state-owned company to be involved in the Canadian mining of critical minerals, so the studies that come from this committee will be important.

We may not be back in the chamber of the House of Commons yet, but Canada’s Conservatives have not taken a break from fighting for you and working to get our country back on track.