M.P. Bob Zimmer’s Report – January 1st, 2012
Sunday, January 1, 2012 @ 3:45 AM
“A Look Back On 2011”
2011 has been an extremely busy but productive and rewarding year! After much hard work and time spent meeting with thousands of residents throughout the riding, I am honoured and humbled to be representing you as your Member of Parliament in Ottawa.
Thank you once again for putting your trust in me. I appreciate that you exercised your democratic right to stand up for the values and concerns of Canadians, and I am working every day to defend your interests in Ottawa.
Walking into the House of Commons and taking my seat for the first time this past spring, I was not only struck by the historical significance of the room that I was in, but also the immense responsibility you have entrusted in me. It was a moment I will truly never forget.
On May 2, Canadians chose a strong, stable, national Conservative majority Government focused on delivering results for families, seniors, and businesses.
Our first budget as a majority government has ensured that we will continue to guide Canada’s economic recovery, while also identifying savings and eliminating the deficit. At the same time, we are directing our attention to several other key issues and fulfilling longstanding promises we have made to Canadians.
The recent session of Parliament ended on a historic note, with the Marketing Freedom for Western Grain Farmers Act receiving Royal Assent and becoming law. With the passing of this legislation, Western Canadian wheat and barley farmers now have right to decide whether to sell their product in an open market, or through the Canadian Wheat Board without the fear of going to jail.
Our Government has also remained committed to ensuring criminals are held fully accountable for their actions and that the safety and security of law-abiding Canadians and victims comes first in Canada’s justice system. To that end, our Safe Streets and Communities legislationhas passed in the House of Commons and is quickly making its way through the Senate. This Bill contains measures that will protect our children from sexual predators, crack down on organized crime and protect the rights of victims.
At the same time, we are working to ensure that law-abiding citizens are not treated like criminals. That is why we have introduced legislation that will scrap the wasteful and ineffective long-gun registry and its data once and for all. Finally, our local hunters, farmers and sport shooters will no longer be treated like criminals for simply owning a rifle or shotgun.
These are just a few examples of what our majority Conservative Government has been able to accomplish over these past few months. While I will always look back on 2011 with a great sense of pride, there is still much more work to be done.
In the New Year, I will continue to meet with local community leaders, stakeholders, and individual constituents, listening to their concerns and ideas. If you would like to get in touch with me, please feel free to contact my office in Fort St. John at 250-787-1194, Prince George at 250-561-7982, or Ottawa at 613-947-4524.
Comments
“Our Government has also remained committed to ensuring criminals are held fully accountable for their actions and that the safety and security of law-abiding Canadians and victims comes first in Canadaâs justice system.”
Please tell me how a guy can get 16 impaired driving convictions and then get a 17th?
Or how can another get his 11th and 12th in one week and still be allowed to drive? This is not justice. They should be behind bars. Period! And I mean Iron Bars.
Or how can an Emcee Dusty show up at one of our local bars with a semi auto hand gun and not be locked up for 20 years?
Please explain to me how the Liberals and the NDP continue to argue and block legislation to actually deal with the types of people Give More is referring to?
The Conservatives have a majority now, so you tell me why anyone would blame the failure of the type of legilsation you are talking about, Chester, on the NDP and Liberals.
Are you referring to the normal process for the Senate to review and pass the bill mentioned above as well, or are you referring to another bill that has not yet passed the house?
BTW, speaking of the Senate, I would like to ask when the Conservatives will be able to change the way the Senate is selected. It is taking as long as the gun registry fiasco.
Remember, this is the federal parliament we are talking about. Slows as molasses in the last decade.
Just imagine the cries of “dictatorship” if the Conservatives DID move to deal with crime without giving the Liberals and NDP a chance to fully debate those issues in the House and Senate.
If they used the majority they now have the way that a great many Canadians were concerned they WOULD use it, if ever they got one, and ran roughshod over the Opposition.
Look back a little, Gus, to when the Liberals had a majority, or could command one in the House. Look at some of the things they ‘imposed’, often using closure to choke off further debate.
That’s the way that ‘rag on a stick’ we now call a national flag was brought in by them. They didn’t let the Opposition just ‘talk themselves out’, as WAC Bennett used to do in the BC Legislature, keeping the place open 24 hours a day, if need be. The NDP Opposition in BC back then complained it was “legislation by exhaustion”, but THEY were the ones that wanted to keep talking, and they WERE elected to have their say.
All in all, the Conservatives have acted pretty responsibly with their majority so far. There is no doubt that a substantial number of Canadians ARE concerned about crime, and the kind of things GiveMore refered to.
Maybe more jails, and harsher punishments are the answer, or maybe they’re not. But just how do you deal with repeat offenders like that, and get them to act responsibly? That’s what we have a Parliament for, so these things can be debated, and suggestions offered and alternatives explored.
As for the Senate, the Conservative’s antecedent, the Reform Party, wanted to make it “elected, effective, and equal”. I think Harper would like to do that, but his Party can’t really take Canadians where they don’t yet want to go.
All he can do is play by the rules as they currently exist, and that’s exactly what he’s done. Same as Trudeau did, only he ‘packed’ the Senate without any expressed desire of yielding his authority as PM to do so.
If WE don’t like that, then it is up to US to demand it be changed. For it really involves more than just the Federal government, the Provinces would have to agree to any changes, too. And none of that will happen unless people demand that it does.
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