Just a few weeks after Deputy Prime Minister and Peace Country local Chrystia Freeland paid a visit to the Grande Prairie area, Grande Prairie-Mackenzie MP Chris Warkentin shared his thoughts regarding what he calls the Liberal government’s “disconnection” from Canada’s west.
The longtime Tory MP says the issues concerning Grande Prairie residents are eerily similar to those being felt nationwide. He says the federal price on carbon has emptied the pockets of Canadians and is a topic brought up to him “time and time again.”
“You know, what’s remarkable is over the last number of years, I’ve learned time and time again that the challenges that folks in Grande Prairie are facing are the same challenges that the vast majority of Canadians from coast to coast are facing,” he says. “The inability to afford the essentials is one of the common themes that we’ve heard in every part of this country.”
“People from across the country feel that this government has been disconnected from their reality.”
This comes less than one month after Freeland’s Peace Country visit when she toured the Glacier Natural Gas Plant to view its new carbon capture technology, which she and several project leaders maintain was only possible thanks to the $200 million federal investment in Calgary-based cleantech company Entropy Incorporated.
During her visit, Freeland insisted that projects such as the carbon capture technology featured at the Glacier Natural Gas Plant are “cementing Alberta’s future” in a reduced carbon world. The DPM also suggested that while Ottawa is far away from the Peace Country, the work being done does not go unnoticed.
“I think this is quite literally the future of Alberta’s economy and of Canada’s economy,” she says.
Despite her words, Warkentin calls her statement “nonsensical,” saying the current government has “chased billions of dollars investment out of Canada,” and has caused numerous project cancellations due to “additional red tape.”
“When Freeland talks about Canadians or a burden, feeling a significant distance from the policymakers in Ottawa, I believe that the vast majority of Canadians have now become disconnected from Ottawa because the decision makers, the Liberals, the Liberal cabinet has been completely disconnected from the realities that most Canadians are facing,” he says. “The additional taxes, they’ve taken the money to jurisdictions that don’t have this type of red tape, places like the United States, places even in Europe that have better investment climates than Canada.”
Warkentin and his conservative colleagues have not been quiet in Ottawa regarding the carbon tax, with party leader Pierre Poillievre calling for his opposition to bring common sense back to the table, while the Liberals maintain that their controversial price on carbon has led to numerous project advancements in the Peace Country and beyond.
