BC flooding: 'No time for partisan politics,' says Fraser Valley MP asked about O'Toole's leadership | CTV News - CTV News Vancouver | Canada News Media
A Conservative member of Parliament from British Columbia’s flood-ravaged Fraser Valley expressed frustration with the questions he received from reporters as he was on his way to a caucus meeting in Ottawa Wednesday.
As he approached the gathered media members, Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon MP Brad Vis was asked whether he supports Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole’s decision to expel Saskatchewan Sen. Denise Batters from the party’s caucus after Batters started a petition calling for a review of O’Toole’s leadership.
The B.C. MP didn’t answer that question, launching instead into a lengthy explanation of the dire situation unfolding in his home riding.
“Why aren’t you asking me about Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon and the devastating flooding that’s taking place in Chilliwack, Hope, Abbotsford, the Okanagan?” Vis said, before thanking federal Minister of Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair for meeting with MPs from the affected region to discuss the situation.
“All of the major roadways in British Columbia are destroyed,” Vis continued. “We don’t have rail infrastructure right now. Our country is facing an unprecedented situation in B.C. and all hands need to be on deck right now … This is not a partisan thing. This is a Team Canada thing.”
A follow-up question about Batters received a similar response.
“There’s no time for partisan politics,” Vis said. “Right now, there’s only time to support British Columbia and get people safe. That should be your only question right now. Keeping British Columbia safe. The people need our help. They don’t want to hear about a senator. They want to hear about what we’re doing here today to help our province and to help our country.”
The MP summarized some of the devastation that has occurred in the province, including the destruction of road and rail lines connecting the Lower Mainland to the rest of Canada through the B.C. Interior.
Vis also shared that he has family members who live in the Sumas Prairie area of Abbotsford, which was ordered to evacuate due to flooding and the possible failure of a pump station that was holding back water from the Fraser River.
The next question was about the situation in B.C., but Vis didn’t answer it directly, either.
“Do you attribute this to climate change?” A reporter asked.
“Right now, we need to focus on the safety of British Columbia,” the MP reiterated, before bringing in his colleague Ed Fast, who represents Abbotsford in Parliament, to speak to what can be done to prevent similar disasters in the future.
“There’s a lot of work that has to be done going forward,” Fast said. “These are long-term fixes that won’t be resolved overnight. What we want to do right now is make sure that people are safe … We want to make sure that British Columbians have some hope that down the road, life can return to normal, but this is a huge, multi-billion dollar challenge that is facing our country, facing our province.”
Speaking with reporters ahead of a meeting of the Conservative caucus in Ottawa, Brad Vis (the MP for Mission–Matsqui–Fraser Canyon) and Ed Fast (the MP for Abbotsford) draw attention to the dire situation in southwest British Columbia, which has been ravaged by floods.#cdnpolipic.twitter.com/GQ43gAh4E9
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
