ATHABASCA - With a speech from the throne and a new session of Parliament getting underway in Ottawa Sept. 23, Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition has a new leader and a new shadow cabinet to try to keep the governing Liberals honest — and that shadow cabinet includes Lakeland MP Shannon Stubbs as shadow minister of public safety and emergency preparedness.
Newly-crowned Conservative Party of Canada leader Erin O’Toole, who was elected by party members Aug. 24, chose Stubbs to take on the role Sept. 8, and the twice-elected MP has been preparing for her new responsibilities ever since, although it’s not her first shadow cabinet position.
“I’ve sort of gone from one frying pan into another,” said Stubbs in a telephone interview Sept. 18, referring to her position as shadow minister for natural resources under former leader Andrew Scheer.
“I was just really grateful to be able to serve in that role because of my pre-elected background,” she said, pointing out her experience working in the oil sands and working with the provincial government to promote Albertan energy solutions before entering politics.
“Often people get elected and end up in portfolios that they don’t necessarily have a background in, so I was grateful to be in that role both (because of my background), and because the issues are so important to the people I represent and to Alberta,” she said.
That’s very similar to her new role in the public safety and emergency preparedness portfolio as issues like rural crime and gun ownership are top of mind for many of her constituents.
Her previous work on Private Members Motion M-167, which called for action on rural crime, saw her meet with communities, rural crime watches and law enforcement across the country to make Canadians aware of the high rates of crime in rural areas and the lack of resources for police on the front-line.
“It was certainly the biggest highlight of the last term, securing unanimous support in the House of Commons, but then to my dismay, months later, they … missed the deadline and I had to appeal to the Speaker, and he had to command the committee to report, and frankly, they limited the time, which limited the witnesses, which limited the evidence, and ultimately they issued a report that made no concrete recommendations for action at all.”
Stubbs said she has recently spoken to Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair, and he was complimentary of her work on the motion and its goals. She noted the federal government is now completing its own analysis and discussion on the topic “because the status quo clearly isn’t working.”
“The reports now are pervasive, they’ve been escalating over the last couple of years, but they’re pervasive now, in terms of the real problems of recruitment and retention and burnout of RCMP officers in rural areas,” said Stubbs.
Another high priority for Stubbs and many of her constituents is the issue of guns, and the federal government’s recent legislation to outlaw many makes and models used by recreational shooters and hunters. It was also a topic that came up when she spoke to minister Blair.
“I asked him specifically if there will be a debate … after they started prohibiting and banning firearms, which include firearms that Bill Blair has argued are not on (the list),” she said. “He said there will be a debate, but I don’t know yet what that’s going to look like, but I anticipate there will be accompanying legislation of some sort, so we will have that debate about how you actually achieve public safety outcomes with evidence.”
Stubbs wants to know if the Liberal government is targeting the right people and if the money they are prepared to spend is worth it.
“Is it actually going to keep people safe?”
With a minority government in power, and a throne speech on the way, the possibility of a fall election is not out of the realm of possibility. The Liberals must get either the Conservatives, Bloc Quebecois, or NDP to vote along with them to avoid another election, just a year after the last one.
Stubbs says she and her team on the ground in Lakeland are ready and prepared for such an outcome, but many of those she represents are balking at the idea of an election for now.
“I hear loud and clear from the vast majority of my constituents that they want to change the government and they want to give Prime Minister Trudeau the boot, but they don’t necessarily want an election right now,” she said. “But we will be ready for an election at any time here in Lakeland, so we’ll see what the prime minister does.”
