WEYBURN - The southeast area had a first-time visitor recently from Ontario, MP Scott Aitchison, and he had some important points to make while speaking to local leaders in his brief stop in Weyburn.
Aitchison is running for the leadership of the federal Conservative Party, and while he’s not one of the touted “front-runners” in the race, he is still out meeting people and finding out their concerns and issues.
While not everyone is a Conservative or is willing to follow in their direction for policies, the MP for Parry Sound-Muskoka had some valid points to say that any Canadian of any political stripe should be able to agree with.
Boiling his thoughts and comments down to their basic form, he said we all need to listen to each other and understand each other across Canada.
As a candidate to lead a federal party, he also said the federal government needs to stop meddling in the affairs of the provinces, and the government (no matter who is leading it) needs to be doing, not just talking.
Many of the problems that exist in Canada are due to the fact that we aren’t listening to each other. People in Eastern Canada are not listening or caring about the issues of Western Canada – and vice-versa.
Considering that we are in an era of electronic media and can hear and see people from literally anywhere on any topic, this is an astounding thing to say, but it’s true.
The Ontario MP pointed out some facts he’s learned about the oil industry here in the West that no one in Toronto knows about – and this is precisely part of the issue of needing to listen and understand. Ontarians should not be content to listen to one party demonizing the people and industries of the West just to gain their favour and votes.
By the same token, residents in the West need to learn and know what’s important to those voters in the GTO and other Eastern regions. We are all Canadians, and we all live with the same issues, more or less, in trying to make a living, raise our families, and contribute to our local communities and charities.
In regard to the provinces and the federal government, when Confederation was formed, the provinces are at an equal level to the federal government, with their own responsibilities and issues to look after. The federal government needs to look after their own house, and not be interfering in matters that belong to the provinces.
On the issue of doing and not just talking, Aitchison said it all in this quote: “They do photo ops for funding announcements, but you don’t see photo ops for ribbon-cuttings.”
This was specifically about housing, but it pertains to many, many areas in the government’s purview. We need governments to be acting, whether it’s creating affordable housing or taking care of our finances.
