The Member of Parliament for Provencher is back to Ottawa this week as the House of Commons resumed sitting on Monday.

Ted Falk says he had the opportunity to attend many community festivals and events this summer and says constituents all have the same concern right now. 

"The cost of living is something that's top of mind for everybody; the price of groceries, the cost of housing, the price of gas, everything," notes Falk. "We can trace it all back to the Liberal's carbon tax and the ever-increasing tax burden that they are putting on Canadians."

As Parliamentarians return to the House, Falk says the Conservatives are looking forward to holding the Liberal/ NDP coalition accountable for the situation that has Canadians complaining. 

With regard to housing, Falk says there are two main issues. First of all, he says the cost of housing has gone up by 150 per cent in some parts of Canada in the last year. He notes this is making things unaffordable and out of reach for most Canadians. 

But he says there is also a shortage of housing. And Falk notes part of that shortage is for lower-income people who are finding it difficult to even find places to rent due to rental costs doubling in most areas of Canada during the last eight years under the Liberal government.

"So that's a real issue, whether you are looking to purchase a home and be a homeowner or whether you are just looking to rent something, those costs have increased significantly and it's a real, real issue for Canadians right across the country," adds Falk.

The Provencher MP says another very important issue that the Conservatives will be bringing up this fall has to do with crime. He notes violent crime is on the rise in Canada. Falk says the Conservatives predicted and have even debated in the House of Commons that the Liberal approach to jail and bail reform is not working. 

"Putting criminals back out on the street the same day that they get arrested is not a solution that works," he notes. 

Falk says that under the previous Harper government, there was a significant drop in the tendency of convicted criminals to reoffend. He notes criminals did time for the crimes they committed, rather than being arrested one day and released the next. 

"That is something that as Conservatives we're going to be addressing again because communities are tired of the ongoing crime," he says. 

Meanwhile, Falk says the Conservatives had a great convention in Quebec City last week. He notes more than 3,000 Conservatives showed up. It also gave an opportunity for Leader Pierre Poilievre to speak about his vision for Canada. Falk says one of Poilievre's priorities as Prime Minister would be to axe the carbon tax. He notes when you combine the carbon tax with the Clean Fuel Standard, the cost of gas will rise by 61 cents per litre.  

"There is no reason why Canadians should be paying the prices that they are and mostly that's due to the taxes that the Liberals are imposing," he adds. "We're going to be addressing that."

Falk explains that these taxes on our energy sources impact the cost of everything. He notes everything needs to be manufactured and shipped and if you are tacking on an increased cost of fuel on each of these different procedures, it has quite the collective impact on prices once it hits the retail shelf.

 

In response to Canada's Online News Act and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) removing access to local news from their platforms, PembinaValleyOnline encourages you to get your news directly from your trusted source by bookmarking this page and downloading the PembinaValleyOnline app.