Canadian MPs returned for their first full week of work in Ottawa yesterday as the first session of the newly elected Liberal government gets underway. Grande Prairie-Mackenzie MP Chris Warkentin, who is stepping into his new role as the Agriculture and Agri-food critic for the Conservatives, says his greatest concern with last Friday’s throne speech was the fact that Alberta’s rising unemployment and energy sector crisis was not mentioned at all.
“I’m hopeful that this doesn’t mean that the government is going to ignore these industries, hopefully we can press the new Liberal government to actively engage the industries that really, truly drive the economy and build our local communities, but right now there doesn’t seem to be much of a commitment to these industries who work in them.”
Warkentin says he was also concerned that there was no mention of the agriculture industry, something he says is a first for a throne speech during his nearly 10 years as an MP.