Pages tagged "Federal Priorities"
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Posted by Leonard Quist · May 18, 2020 4:56 PM
Your voice in Ottawa
When speaking in Ottawa, I focus on two main areas – the priorities of my constituency and the responsibilities associated with my Shadow Minister role. My Shadow Minister role is the particular policy area that I am assigned by our leader, who divides up roles in order to ensure that we have different members of our Conservative team looking at every issue facing the country.
For my constituency, top priorities are the energy sector, pipelines, jobs and opportunity, taxation, and immigration. In particular, my constituency benefits most directly from the "downstream" part of the energy sector. We have Canada's Industrial Heartland, where workers convert extracted energy products into usable fuels and manufactured goods. I advocate for our Industrial Heartland, as well as for the Energy Sector in general – especially for the construction of pipelines. Pipelines are the cleanest and safest way to transport fuel that everyone needs and continues to use. If we do not make use of Canada's energy resources, then we will be dependent on other countries, with lower environmental standards and that often do not share our values.
I currently serve as the Shadow Minister for International Development and Human Rights. International Development and Human Rights are deeply connected. Advancing justice and Human Rights for the world’s poorest and most vulnerable contributes significantly to economic development and improving global security, in addition to being the right thing to do for its own sake.
On the International Development file, I am working to push the government to implement a more effective International Development policy, working to enable people to lift themselves out of poverty by removing the barriers that hinder their success and working to ensure that Canadian dollars do not fund activities that are contrary to our values. Conservatives are also working to remove red tape that hurts private organizations working in International Development, such as onerous direction and control regulations.
As a long-time Human Rights advocate, I seek to advance and defend global respect for immutable human dignity and for all human life. Conservatives are committed to advancing justice, Human Rights, and democracy, here in Canada and around the world. In particular, I have worked to highlight the actions of the government of China, specifically its abuse of Human Rights within and beyond its borders. Canada must do more to respond to the aggressive actions of the Chinese Communist Party.
In addition to these areas, I have been active in debates about foreign affairs, about immigration, and about the need to recognize and defend human dignity.