Innisfail Chamber: Candidate Forum Questions

1. How would your party deal with COVID so businesses can remain open through the fourth and subsequent waves?

a. Health care is within provincial jurisdiction. However, it is important for elected MPs to advocate for their constituents on all matters that are brought to their attention. Government needs to remove itself from our daily decision making process. Government should disseminate information and allow Canadians to make decisions based on their own risk tolerance. If businesses want to remain open and there are individuals who are willing to patronize these businesses, then nothing further needs to be discussed. Alberta Health Services should focus on early treatment options to relieve pressure on the health care system and enable Albertans to live their lives.

2. What is your stance on the power that has been given to each provincial health authority?

a. Premiers and MLAs (or MPPs depending on your province) were elected by their respective constituents based on the platforms they ran on. These individuals are responsible for protecting the rights of their constituents in conjunction with our laws. Public health officials are not democratically elected and should be advising Canadians based on data that is available to them. COVID is not the only issue impacting Canadians. Blanket lockdowns and restrictions do not take this into account. If elected, I would give doctors and scientists a national platform to provide information that contradicts the lockdown narrative and help bring hope back to Canada.

3. What is your stance on mandatory vaccine and vaccine passports?

a. I am against both. If the state is able to dictate what you put into your body, you have lost the most important and fundamental God-given right, your bodily autonomy.

b. Individuals who have received two shots can still transmit COVID (CDC Director - Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, July 30, 2021). As such, vaccine passports provide no medical benefit, are ripe with legal and ethical concerns and only serve to divide Canadians.

4. These continual mandates have had devastating effects on both the economy as well as the personal relationships amongst people. What is your solution to this?

a. Personal responsibility. Government should disseminate all available information and allow Canadians to make decisions based on their own risk assessment. Health care resources should be used to provide early treatment, not hire additional compliance officials.

5. Western Canada needs constitutional change for equal representation? What are you going to do about it?

a. Given the political landscape in Canada, both federally and provincially, it is unlikely that Western Canada would be able to secure constitutional change for equal representation at this time. This does not mean however, that this is not an important goal to pursue. We need to work to secure market access, provincial rights, property rights, self-governance and fair representation. I believe this work starts with electing MPs (and MLAs) who stand up for the interests of their individual constituents and do not tow the party line.

6. How will you represent the west as a party across Canada? Do you have a party whip?

a. As a member of a smaller federal party, I am not beholden to the party and there is no party whip. As can be seen from my website, I have been advocating for constituents since May 2020 and I am happy to address issues, regardless of which level of government they pertain to.

7. What do you plan on doing to ensure our rights and freedoms are not conditional based on our medical history?

a. Being able to participate in society based on your uptake of an experimental medical treatment is abhorrent. As mentioned, I am against vaccine passports in any form. If they were not necessary for other communicable diseases we have encountered, why are they necessary now? I will use my platform to advocate for early treatment options. I will work with other elected leaders and the private sector to promote freedom for all.

8. Have you personally received 2 Covid-19 vaccines?

a. When in history has it been appropriate or necessary to ask strangers for their personal medical information? We lived with communicable diseases every day prior to COVID, why has society thrown out individual rights in response to this pandemic?

9. How do you intend to stand up for Western Canada in Ottawa instead of always catering to the east?

a. I am not beholden to a political party. I will advocate for the interests of the constituents of Red Deer-Mountain View in a unique way. I will use the press conference rooms on Parliament Hill to bring in tax, economic, health care, oil and gas, Charter Rights and other experts to address the issues that matter the most. This will ensure national media coverage through CPAC (Cable Public Affairs Channel) and that issues that matter to the West get the attention they deserve which is often lost in Parliament.

10. What is your stance on equalization payments?

a. If a business owner or employee in your community makes poor decisions that result in lost income, is it justifiably for the government to take some of your paycheque to make them whole? Similarly, equalization payments enable provincial governments to avoid responsibility for poor decision making. I would advocate for the elimination of the equalization formula and for provincial autonomy.

11. Can you please explain the difference between provincial and federal responsibilities?

a. In short, the federal government is responsible for national defense, foreign affairs, employment insurance, banking, federal taxes, the post office, fisheries, shipping/railways/telephones/pipelines, Indigenous rights and criminal law.

b. Provincial government is responsible for hospitals, prisons, education and property and civil rights.

c. Unfortunately, through the Canada Health Transfer and Canada Social Transfer systems (among others), the federal government uses tax dollars collected from the provinces as a means to interfere in the affairs of the province.

d. I would advocate for a drastic decentralization of federal government powers. These would be limited to a federal court system, national defense and a scaled down RCMP. This would allow provinces to become more competitive which would lead to better outcomes for constituents.

12. Do you believe it is reasonable to triage patients in ICU for who gets a bed or not? What fixes is there when ICUs become overwhelmed?

a. In a country as wealthy as Canada, it is frustrating to me that the need to triage patients would be necessary. We need serious health care reforms as Canadians are not getting good value for their tax dollars within the health care system. We need to accept the fact that our health care system is neither free nor good. What are the solutions to this issue? Ending the Canada Health Act would allow provinces the ability to try new private delivery methods. I would also advocate for early treatment options as these have been proven to reduce the strain on the health care system and save lives.

13. What do you consider a military assault weapon?

a. “Assault weapon” is not a legally defined term in Canada’s firearms legislation. The US Department of Justice has used the following description: “in general, assault weapons are semiautomatic firearms with a large magazine (in Canada – 10 cartridges for semi-automatic handguns and 5 for other centre-fire semi-automatic firearms) of ammunition that were designed and configured for rapid fire.”

b. The Liberal government’s Order in Council ban on firearms used by hunters, sport shooters and even on certain paintball guns, based on their appearance, must be reversed. Firearms rights should be enshrined in the Constitution. Legislation should be passed to protect Canadians right to legally defend themselves and their property.

14. Canada has a negative carbon footprint. In view of that, are you in favour of the carbon tax imposed on Canadians?

a. No, I am not in favour of a carbon tax, levy or any other program that would take money from Canadians in the name of fighting climate change. If Canada wants to help reduce global emissions, we should be selling our liquefied natural gas and clean technology to China and India. Canada fails in protecting the environment when we purposely kneecap our oil and gas industry and its ability to provide innovative solutions for the world and improve the standard of living for all Canadians.

15. What is your stance on carbon tax?

a. As noted I question #14, I am firmly against a carbon tax in any form or name.

16. Do you support the $10/day child care initiative? If so why? If not why?

a. For those reading these questions, how many of you have children? If you don’t have children, do you want to pay for the child care of any other family? Should it be the responsibility of the parents to provide for their own children?

b. Instead of advocating for $10/day child care or tax credits as proposed by other parties, I would advocate for drastically reducing the size and scope of the federal government. Canadians are best suited to make decisions for their personal situation and they can best accomplish this when they are able to retain more of their own paycheque. A lower overall tax burden would allow families to make decisions with their money that best suits the needs of their children. More competition in the market, would drive prices of child care down while providing better quality service.

17. What is your parties stand on Bills C48, C69 and C96 and if elected how are you going to represent Alberta interests?

a. I am firmly against Bill C-48 (tanker ban), Bill C-69 (no more pipelines) and Bill C-96 (Quebec’s desire to amend the Constitution Act – ‘Quebecers form a nation’ and ‘French shall be the only official language of Quebec’). On my website I have outlined a plan to get Western Canadian oil to eastern markets via a pipeline route that could be built given the current regulatory environment. The pipeline would use existing infrastructure from Fort McMurray, AB on route to Cromer, MB and then require construction of a pipeline from Comer to Churchill, MB. For more info, please visit my webpage at https://www.jaredpilon.com/policies.

18. Please talk about pipelines. How do we move forward?

a. Please refer to my reply noted in question #17 above.

19. What about relations with Indigenous people?

a. The federal government needs to end it paternalistic relationship with Indigenous communities. Instead, a new relationship should be built on open dialogue and with the intent of empowering communities to take ownership of local governance, property rights, revenue gathering and resource management. Additionally, increasing the opportunities for the communities to opt out of any or all provisions of the Indian Act as they choose will greatly empower individual communities across the country. The Trudeau government’s attack on the oil and gas industry over the past 6 years has resulted in many Indigenous communities being unable to take control over their future, thus perpetuating poverty on reserve. This needs to ends now.

20. What is the Great Reset?

a. The Great Reset is a socialist/communist agenda put forward by Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum. The Great Reset agenda consists of three components. 1. Steer market towards fairer outcomes through increased government regulation and intervention in the market. 2. Ensure investments advance shared goals such as equality and sustainability. This would be achieved through massive spending on “green” infrastructure. 3. Harness the power of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital and biological spheres) in order to address health and social challenges. Further information can be found at this link https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/06/now-is-the-time-for-a-great-reset/. Klaus Schwab may not be able to propose legislation in Canada but the influence of the World Economic Forum and supranational organizations on the elected officials in Canada is real. Canada is a sovereign nation. Our elected officials should respect and defend Canadians on the national stage and not bend to the demands of these influential and powerful groups.