WESTLOCK – The federal carbon tax, along with rural crime, the justice system and the RCMP policing contract in Alberta were the main talking points during Peace River-Westlock MP Arnold Viersen’s first visit to a Westlock County council meeting “in four or five years.”
Viersen, who opened the 20-minute back-and-forth with council Oct. 11 saying he’s excited by the leadership of recently-installed Conservative Party head Pierre Poilievre, then derided the coming Jan. 1, 2023, $15 per tonne increase to the carbon tax and said it’s the Conservative’s pledge to get rid of it as “it’s a dramatic drain on our economy and a dramatic drain on our cost of living.” He also went on to say that the party continues to push for more pipelines to be built in light of “Russia holding Europe ransom essentially on their natural gas.”
“We just recently had European leaders in Canada pleading with us to get our LNG (export facility) up and running … I remember before I got elected, Canada was kind of positioned to be the first movers on LNG. The Australians have eaten our lunch on that and we still don’t have LNG up and running,” said Viersen.
“That’s one of our new messages going forward, let’s get freedom energy, Canadian energy, around the world. And also to make sure that we’re energy independent. Why should we be bringing in $10 billion worth of energy from around the world when we have the second largest energy reserves in the world and a big chunk of that is right here in Alberta.”
Viersen point blank called the Liberal government “soft on crime” and claimed violent crime has seen a “dramatic increase” over the last handful of years. Reeve Christine Wiese, who gave credit to the local RCMP “who are doing their job” said the problem with rural crime lays with the justice system which “is just a mess” while Coun. Sherri Provencal agreed saying “it’s broken, it’s totally broken.”
“There’s a demoralization in the police because they do not feel they’re getting the political backup. Liberals are reducing sentencing for major crimes like human trafficking. And if you’re caught with an illegal firearm, they’re reducing the sentence for that, but if you fail to fill out the paperwork correctly for a legal firearm, they’re changing the laws to make it harder,” Viersen claimed.
“The federal government needs to provide political support to the RCMP … they’re demoralized. They do all the work on the ground only to have it evaporate when it gets to the court system.”
Coun. Isaac Skuban, noting the Conservatives are ahead in the polls and look poised to earn a majority in the next federal election, asked if the county should be “advocating for legislative changes so the Conservatives can campaign on those.”
“We are going to get tough on crime and try to end the revolving door and maybe look at different prison models. The crime issue is something we take seriously. We know who the bad guys are, but it’s lazy governments that go after folks who are already obeying the law,” he replied.
Viersen then went on to say that he’s heard the RCMP “may want to get out of contract policing” noting that provincial police forces are already in place in Ontario and Quebec, while two-thirds of B.C. residents are protected by municipal police forces. The provincial UCP government has been touting a provincial police force for the last handful of years, with justice minister Tyler Shandro saying in August a provincial police force is the best option to help rural communities and increase Indigenous protection.
“I’ve been hearing a bit of chatter about whether Ottawa wants to continue with it, but it may be precipitated by the Alberta discussion as well, because if Alberta pulls out of contract policing the whole system falls apart,” said Viersen. “Whether we want it or not, I think changes in policing are coming our way … whether it’s the provincial government, for sovereignty reasons, or whether the federal government decides to take their resources in a different direction.”
