MP Falk ready for change in government

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This article was published 04/01/2024 (485 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When Provencher MP Ted Falk was sworn in as a member of parliament for the first time on Nov. 25, 2013, he didn’t anticipate still holding that position many years later.

In fact, in a pre-Christmas interview at his Steinbach constituency office, Falk told The Carillon he initially saw himself as a temporary fit.

“I hadn’t anticipated being an MP for 10 years,” he said. “I thought I’d fill a little bit of a gap that Vic Toews left 10 years ago and yet at this point I feel quite committed to going through another election.”

Falk said he’d like to be a member of the government once again, to help fix the things he said are broken.

“There is a tremendous amount of work to be done and I’d like to be a part of bringing healing to our nation,” he said. “I think part of what Trudeau’s game plan has been from the beginning is to divide and I think we have a very divided Canada today on a lot of issues.”

And while being an MP involves many types of work, it’s helping people at the local level that remains the highlight of the job.

He said they can assist people with CRA, immigration issues or citizenship concerns.

“To be able to help people has been very rewarding,” he said.

The political climate over the past year has been positive for Falk as well.

Mid-December polling showed that the Conservatives were leading the Liberals by 10 points with 37 percent popular support. That number has been as high as 17 points higher than the Liberals in past weeks.

Seat projections were an election to be held today, have the Conservatives winning at least 166 seats to the Liberals 53 with 76 too close to call.

A Nanos November poll showed that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s support is the lowest it’s ever been while the Conservatives are polling the highest they have in the last decade.

“We’re all very excited and pleased with our leader Pierre (Poilievre),” he said of his colleagues. “We like Pierre’s messaging and it’s very focused.”

Falk said their emphasis on dealing with the cost of living has struck a chord with his constituents and Canadians in general.

“The excitement in caucus is high,” he said. “We’d like an election tomorrow.”

Falk points to the late October interview where Poilievre was eating an apple in an orchard while chiding a reporter for an unclear question. That video went viral where it attracted both criticism and kudos for his behaviour.

Falk said it showed Poilievre was a “down to earth guy” who asked the reporter “real questions”.

“He’s an incredibly smart man,” Falk said. “He can think on his feet better than most people.”

While Poilievre’s star has been rising, Trudeau’s been falling flat, as evidence by falling poll numbers.

Falk said he thinks Trudeau has simply misread Canadians.

“He’s got a lot of ideology that he’s attached himself to,” he said, adding Canadians feel they’ve been pushed too far.

“He does actually want to censor you. He does want to take away your freedoms. He does want to take away your guns and he means he wants to take away every gun and the farming/hunting community doesn’t appreciate that,” he said.

It’s the latest gun control legislation that Falk has a problem with.

The Liberal government introduced the new legislation on the heels of the Nova Scotia shooting rampage where 22 people died.

But Falk said the shooter acquired his guns illegally, so using that case to crack down on hunters simply doesn’t make sense.

“Most gun crimes are committed by people that don’t own their firearms legally,” he said. “(New regulations) still won’t keep the guns out of the hands of criminals. That’s the problem.”

Carbon tax

The issue of the carbon tax has also taken centre stage this year after the Liberals approved a carve-out on home heating oil. He also pressured senators to amend legislation in senate that would have allowed farmers a break on barn heating and grain drying, forcing it to come back to the House of Commons where it’s expected to be defeated.

Falk said a Conservative government will get rid of the carbon tax and said despite Canadians losing the carbon tax rebate, they would be better off.

“Even the parliamentary budget officer has done a study and said that 80 percent of Canadians do not get more back than what they pay,” he said, explaining the Liberals are misleading Canadians by suggesting the carbon taxes only cost them money at the pump and for heating their homes.

“The real cost of carbon taxes is on all the goods and services,” he said.

Unlike the GST which has input credits so only the end user pays the tax, the carbon tax is a multiplier tax according to Falk, applied to everything at every step of the process.

“The increase to the cost of goods that consumers use is way more than that little carbon tax refund that you’re getting back,” he said.

Inflation

While carbon tax is a contributor to inflation, so is reckless spending according to Falk.

He said the spring budget had $43 billion in new spending and the fall economic outlook showed an additional $21 billion in new spending.

“We’re going to be paying more interest on our debt than we spend on health care and twice as much as we spend on our military,” he said.

Getting answers as to how money was spent during COVID is also important to Falk.

He said there are many examples of misspending including $2 billion that went to a small pharmaceutical company and $54 million spent on the ArriveCan App.

Meanwhile it’s ordinary people who pay the price and Falk said food bank usage and homelessness is increasing.

He also questioned the harm reduction strategies the Liberals support when it comes to drugs.

“We think the focus should rather be on helping individuals that are caught up in the world of drugs and provide the necessary resources for them to help and not encourage continual use of drugs,” he said.

Crime

A focus on crime is needed now more than ever according to Falk who said that’s the subject of many of the concerns brought forward by his constituents.

“I think our law enforcement people are doing a very good job with the resources they have,” he said. “I really believe where the problem is is in the judiciary. I don’t think people are experiencing the consequences that they should for the crimes that they commit.”

He added that first-time offenders who’ve made a mistake and are remorseful are not those he’s talking about here.

Rather it’s repeat offenders he feels are getting too many chances and should face stiffer penalties.

MAID

Medical Assistance in Dying continues to attract Falk’s focus, who supported MP Ed Fast’s private member’s bill to remove the option for those with mental health issues.

“Our party believes that’s wrong, especially in incidents where mental health is treatable,” he said. “It’s something we believe there should be treatment for and we’ve heard testimony at committee where there’s instances where people that are experiencing a mental health crisis, they’re being offered MAID right off the bat.”

“That’s just wrong,” he added. “Let’s try and help these people.”

When MAID was brought in eight years ago, it was for people for whom death was foreseeable and imminent.

“We’ve seen it applied a lot broader than that and we warned about it at the time and we were told ‘No, you’re just fear mongering,’” he said.

While there’s many other issues that Falk said were of concern and needed to be addressed, he said his goals as an MP remain consistent.

“I’ve always said that part of my motivation is to defend traditional family values, to make sure we’re good stewards of our finances and to protect the freedoms and rights of all Canadians,” he said. “When I see movement or progress in any one of those areas, I’m encouraged.”