Peace River – Westlock MP Arnold Viersen talked oil and gas, marijuana legislation and the proposed caribou range plan when he was the guest speaker at the Barrhead and District Chamber of Commerce meeting March 15, held in the Charles Godberson Rotary Room at the Barrhead Agrena.
“My riding consists of the three f’s — farming, forestry and fracking and as long as we can keep all of these things doing well, we’ll be OK,” Viersen said, noting during his travels throughout his constituency of late, the resounding message he’s heard is that there has been an overall 30 per cent reduction in those industries.
“It makes sense because the oil patch constitutes about a third of what we do in Alberta and while you might not be totally involved in the patch itself, the issues surrounding it have had a trickle down effect. Nobody is starving yet, but we’re all hurting.”
Viersen said he has had talks with representatives from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) and noted that over the last two years, a total of 125,000 jobs have been lost in Northern Alberta.
“These affected people don’t necessarily live here, but these are the folks staying in our hotels, eating at our restaurants. We’re in the fourth year in a row where there is a reduced investment interest in the oil patch and that is driven by a number of things including the fact that our pipelines are full,” Viersen said, noting from his understanding of the issue, no matter which direction Alberta is trying to send its product, it isn’t getting to market effectively.
“We’re also having issues with the railways and getting our grain to market, maybe not particularly around here because people do have options, but on a national scale, it has been a bit of a challenge. That’s why we [Opposition] are calling on the government to do what the Conservative government did in 2013, to implement freight minimums and to institute penalties for those organizations that aren’t able to keep up with demand.”
Viersen also told chamber members the last eight months in Ottawa have been spent dealing with marijuana legislation.
“Our legislation is going to decriminalize [marijuana] but it will be up to the municipalities to decide whether it is in the community or not, whether it can be sold in a store close to a school or not,” Viersen said, adding the federal government is changing the threshold of what constitutes a criminal offence and noted it will still be prohibited to anyone under 18.
With respect to workplace usage, Viersen likened it to being drunk on the job.
“You can’t do that. It is against the law. Why would anyone think it is OK to be high at work?” he said.
Canada is heading into uncharted territory.
“A lot of people have expressed concern that with decriminalization will come rampant usage. It is something the Opposition is concerned with as well because the research obtained from Colorado indicates there was a 40 per cent uptick in impaired driving deaths due to legalization. That’s a significant number and we don’t want that to happen here,” Viersen said, noting elsewhere in the world, other countries such as the Netherlands have had marijuana legalized for a long time but there are strict rules in place governing its sale and possession.
“We’re in a unique situation here in Canada however because when this is legalized, we [Canada] will be in violation of at least seven different international treaties. With respect to climate change agreements, our governments were adamant about our response but when it comes to marijuana, they don’t seem to care whether we are in violation or not.”
On a question from Town of Barrhead Coun. Dausen Kluin regarding the timeline for the federal government’s regulations on the Cannabis Act and how that will impact communities looking at keeping it away from schools, Viersen said legislation is now before the Senate.
“We are anticipating a date in November, but we don’t have anything concrete yet. The provinces are working on their own legislation, but there is nothing stopping municipalities from doing the same,” Viersen said, adding it is up to the residents to voice their opinion.
Viersen said the greatest threat to the area, in terms of economics, is the provincial plan to implement a protected caribou range.
“It will impact our forestry, farming and fracking industries significantly though neither the town, nor the county of Barrhead will be impacted directly. All in all, we’re talking about two million hectares of land that would be included within this protected range and if the province doesn’t come up with an acceptable plan, the federal government has said that it will take over and sterilize the landscape, allowing absolutely no activity, or development in the affected area,” Viersen said, adding the legislation tacked on to the proposal, the Species At Risk Act (SARA), has, in his opinion, had virtually no impact on the recovery of the species it is intended to save.
There are discussions being had however, Viersen said.
“I sat down with the federal minister recently and asked her what she thought of the proposal. The long and short of it is that she doesn’t like the plan but that’s all I could get out of her. The good news is that we’re still talking about it. Movement was intended to occur in December but that hasn’t happened yet.”
When it comes to rural crime, Viersen said he is pleased to be a part of a rural crime task force that includes 13 other Conservative members of Parliament that represent rural Alberta.
“We put this rural crime task force together and had a sit-down meeting right here in Barrhead. We traveled across the province and sent out a survey that 300 people responded to,” Viersen said, adding the results will be published in early April.
He noted it was interesting that since its formation, the province has allocated $10 million towards combating the problem.
“This includes the hiring of roughly 34 new RCMP officers for the province and a handful of Crown prosecutors. The justice system itself is being gummed up by cases that aren’t making it through the courts fast enough,” Viersen said.
The majority of residents affected by rural crime only report the first instance.
“That’s what we’re hearing. There’s a real feeling, among rural residents, that reporting a crime to the police doesn’t matter because nothing will be done about it,” Viersen said, adding what people don’t understand is that all of the reports are combined into data points that the province uses to determine where officers are stationed.
“Small communties like Barrhead don’t pay for their policing. It is run through the province. If no one is making calls or filing reports, the province doesn’t know how dire the situation is and knowing that, you can’t help but realize why we aren’t getting more officers sent to help us with the issue.
“If we could get more people to report the crimes committed against them, especially in these rural areas where our vehicles are being stolen, where our gas and our equipment is being pilfered, we might be able to get a handle on this problem. But everyone has to do their part.”
