Maguire was in town on January 10 at the Sawmill. He said he was in the area and had an opportunity to visit a couple of communities and the people in them. It has been a busy time and he finally had a chance to talk to people about their concerns.
“This is an opportunity to get caught up with the issues people here find important,” Maguire explained. “I like to get updates from the people and be able to take them back to Ottawa.”
One of the items he has been working on is illegal immigration. Over the past year, the Canadian border in certain places has become somewhat porous, as refugees from other countries have been flooding across from the United States looking for asylum. One of these areas where it has become acute is Emerson. Maguire has visited with people there, but said the situation is even worse in Quebec. There were about 1,000 illegal border-hoppers in Manitoba in 2017, but Maguire said there were 12,000 through one crossing in Quebec between July and November.
All of this is disconcerting. Maguire said they no longer get good updates on numbers, and he is concerned on a number of levels. For one, asylum seekers are supposed to do two sets of questions upon arrival. One set comes in a meeting within a couple of weeks. The next group comes in 10-16 weeks. The problem is that no agency seems to be able to keep track of them in the between time. He recognizes that these people have gone through difficult times in their own countries, but said they are to seek asylum in the first country they enter and that is the United States.
“If the US has rejected them, then the question is why? We know a lot of them are rejected. And if we don’t know where they all are, that is dangerous.”
Maguire is not opposed to refugees or immigrants, recognizing they are an important addition to the communities and workforce. But some, like Yazidi women who have gone through great trauma under ISIS, are not getting the help they need, and perhaps those crossing illegally are taking up precious resources. He also feels the best way to bring in newcomers is like what has happened in Boissevain and other communities where they are privately sponsored.
“There are great volunteers out there,” he said.” “No one can help integrate people into the community better than the people in the community.”
However, at the end of the day, it is the government’s responsibility to keep the Canadian people safe and to make sure immigration is done properly.
Maguire has also held constituency meetings in regard to the upcoming legalization of marijuana. His Conservative Party voted against the Liberal proposal for various reasons. For one, they wanted to stick with decriminalization rather that full legalization. As well, Maguire said in his meetings he found no matter what side of the issue people fall, they felt the government was moving too quickly, as implementation is only six months away.
He added there is serious opposition from police services, chiefs and medical associations. In part, this is due to studies that show marijuana use has a detrimental affect on the brains of young people under 25, as they are still developing. There are difficulties with testing for marijuana by police on roadsides, as the equipment is not widely available. In American states like Colorado and Washington where legalization has occurred, they have found enforcement problems. Where will the money come from for enforcement and administration? Provinces did get a deal where they would get a majority of the GST, but Maguire said they should have received more as they and the municipalities will bear the brunt of the costs. In the end, there are more questions than answers.
“I think it is just naïve to think you can keep it out of the schools, the hands of young people, the gangs,” Maguire stated. “All of that is a big concern. It is a stepping stone drug. They have amounts you can have, but it says nothing about the concentration. I think the government jumped the gun on this, and that is why we voted against it.”
As often is the case, the Tories are concerned about the rising deficit run by Trudeau’s Liberals. Maguire said the Conservatives left him a $1.9 billion surplus, but the new prime minister won the election on a promise to run a $10 billion deficit. Although revenue is coming in, Maguire said, spending is getting out of control, and money promised for infrastructure has yet to get to projects. The American economy is growing faster than Canada’s, and more has to be done to keep up.
As for our southern neighbours, President Trump has opened up the NAFTA can of worms. Maguire said the government cannot be held responsible for starting this situation and he is disappointed as he felt the free trade agreement was good for Canada, the US and Mexico. We did particularly well in agriculture and oil, but as the US is finding more domestic oil sources, this could change. Maguire said we have to be careful in negotiating NAFTA to protect our interests. For one, the US has consistently lost to Canada on trade disputes that have gone to international panels, so the Americans want those issues to be settled in their own courts. Obviously, we need to keep that from happening. As well, we have to work, as Maguire has, to keep country of origin labeling out of the deal. At the same time, we must work with the other countries that were involved in the Trans Pacific Partnership to keep trade flowing.
“Trade is so important to us in Manitoba. We have to make sure we promote trade.”
On the international front, Maguire said the Trudeau Liberals are showing they are very different from the Harper Conservatives. Last month, the US formally recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and said they would move their embassy there. In response, the United Nations voted overwhelmingly to condemn the move, despite the fact it said nothing about final borders or precluded sharing of part of the city with a future Palestinian state. Canada abstained from the motion, but Maguire felt that was not a strong enough response. Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and everyone knows it, he said, even if part of it can be shared. The Conservatives have always been strong supporters of the Jewish State, and the MP feels Trudeau is simply trying to curry favour in order to get a Security Council seat. Instead of abstaining, Canada should have voted against the motion condemning the American move.
The Conservatives have a new leader in Andrew Scheer, who might not be too well known with the public, but Maguire feels is a great addition. The former Speaker of the House is not yet forty, but has experience “on the ground”. Maguire feels he will resonate with Canadians as he moves forward, getting more out in the country in a more low key fashion than the current PM.
“The party is as united as I have seen it. We have a retreat before we go back to Parliament at the end of January, and we have enough issues to work on.”
by PAUL RAYNER, Recorder staff