WATCH: Incumbent MP candidate Shannon Stubbs for Lakeland visits St. Paul

Shannon Stubbs visits Xtreme Oilfield Technology in St. Paul, along with Town and County representatives.

READ:

Michael Menzies: Number one. I know it’s quite a busy schedule these days.  

Shannon Stubbs: We’re going and going nonstop. I’ll admit, right before we came on here, I just had to ask you how many days were left because all my days are running together, so I guess it’s 18 days left.  

Michael Menzies: But that’s the nature of a Canadian election, too, is how short, compact and a sprint these campaigns truly are, right?  

Shannon Stubbs: That’s a good point. Another thing I would say maybe, perhaps uncharitably is that Mark Carney, the leader of the liberals, he called this election with the shortest possible time frame by law that a federal election can happen under. Now, I would say that’s because he’s got a lot to hide, and he doesn’t want Canadians really finding out, all about his tax dodging, his hidden assets and all these things that he won’t actually answer questions about, but he could have extended that campaign out to 50 some days, since he’s a new kid on the block, so that Canadians could actually get a sense of who he is and what he’s all about. 

Shannon Stubbs: He’s picked the shortest possible timeline. But all I know and what I really focus on are the factors that we can control. I’ve never taken for granted representing the people of Lakeland. I work my butt off. I’ve actually doorknocked in communities every summer since I was elected in 2015, because that’s a commitment that I made, and usually me and my teams will do no fewer than 10 to 15,000 doors across the constituency in these short periods alone.  

Michael Menzies: There’s a lot of kilometers to cover in your constituency. You’re in St. Paul today and just at a meeting with some of the brass here from Xtreme Oilfield and some town councillors and the county representatives as well. And in fact, we’re standing in front of a natural gas powered truck, a first of its kind in North America. So, these are the types of meetings that you also have to fit in on the campaign trail, right?  

Shannon Stubbs: These are my favorite kinds of meetings. I was just saying to the guys, and believe you me, I say this kind of thing in Ottawa all the time too. I’d rather be here having meetings like this and truthfully, being inspired and kept hopeful that the whole world isn’t falling off its axis, which sometimes I wonder when I get stuck in Ottawa over a couple of weeks because of a lack of direct flights. It’s meetings like this. It’s people like at Xtreme Oilfield who are, in my opinion, the very best of what it means to be Canadian. And they are exactly the people that make me so proud to be an Albertan and to represent the people and businesses and communities of Lakeland.  

Michael Menzies: Let’s get into some of the campaign topics. There’s a lot of talk about tariffs these days and these change just about every day. That has really launched to the forefront here, I think, of what is on voters’ minds. Do you think that’s the number one issue right now?  

Shannon Stubbs: I hear that this is on voters’ minds. I would say the media is doing overtime to also make these external threats and what’s going on in the US administration a top priority in this election campaign. But the liberals are doing that, I think, deliberately so that Canadians will forget that actually the reason that Canadians are facing unaffordable housing, are facing skyrocketing prices of essentials, are no longer able to feed themselves, record lines at food banks. 

Shannon Stubbs: And that Canada as a country has become poorer and weaker over the last ten years is a consequence of the liberals policy agenda of their tax hikes, of their reckless spending that have been backed by all the other parties in the House of Commons, except for conservatives. That is actually what this election should be all about. What Canadians have to do is focus on what we can control, and what we can control is the decisions that we make in our own country, and in my view, Canadians cannot forget and must not fall for what the liberals are trying to do now, which is disavow every single thing they’ve actually imposed on the country in the last ten years, including specifically by Mark Carney, who’s been the economic advisor for Justin Trudeau for the last half decade. 

Michael Menzies: We’ve heard about that, and we’ve seen that at the top during the campaign is about looking at the past. Obviously, when you’ve had a government then succeed and the Liberal Party under Trudeau and now Carney has been in power since 2015. With that said, as we get now into the polling and the nuts and bolts of it, two and a half weeks away, are there particular Conservative policies that you’d like to highlight? Maybe not just running away from the Liberal Party, but also what would bring a voter to the Conservative Party, if they’re unsure?  

Shannon Stubbs: I think this election really is about the future of Canada. And it’s particularly about whether or not there will be a prosperous future with jobs, sustainable programs, affordable housing for younger generations, for Canadians who are in their 20s, in their 30s and younger, who, because of the last ten years of liberal policies. They can’t even imagine buying a home in the near future or looking at ever decreasing job prospects and are wondering how they’re going to make a life, be able to afford the basics, and also more to be able to capture their dreams. 

Shannon Stubbs: So for ten years, and especially under Pierre Poilievre, Conservatives have focused on making life more affordable for Canadians right across the board. As we’ve consistently said, we will axe that consumer carbon tax for all, for everyone, for good. But what’s really important here is we’ve also said we’re going to get rid of. The competitiveness with the United States should be top of mind right now. What’s happened over the last ten years is something that has never happened in Canadian history before, which is that investment, Canadian investment in the US has increased, rather than the other way around, which was always the case federally, because of these various anti-development anti-energy policies and taxes that the United States don’t have. 

Shannon Stubbs: That is what has actually led to half a trillion of investment projects, workers, businesses, tech and talent leaving Canada and going into the United States. This is why we are campaigning on things like, we’ll get rid of the carbon tax for all, but we’ll also get rid of the industrial carbon tax, which harms steel makers, people in manufacturing it harms, textiles it harms – right across the board. Absolutely. It takes a hit at all the core sectors in Canada’s economy. We’re going to crunch the budget so that we can offer a 15 per cent reduction of personal income taxes to help Canadians actually get ahead. A lot of people have been asking me this question about seniors. We’re going to protect that retirement age at 65 for GIS, OAS and CPP. But we’ve also put forward measures where seniors who are forced to work, can keep $10,000 more in their RRSPs for savings than they ever could before.  

Michael Menzies: What about the Online News act? The dissemination of information on social media platforms has become, not allowed, in response to, at that time, liberal policies. I haven’t heard, personally as being involved in it, enough chatter about it. Is there a plan? 

Shannon Stubbs: I really thank you for asking that question because I think that Canadians who are wondering about this issue, they need to take your word for it, not just the word of conservatives. We were the only party in the House of Commons that opposed the liberals two different censorship bills that block the ability for independent media, for social media to share Canadian news. What kind of regimes do censorship bills and blocking and blocking news from citizens happen under? We want to reverse that. We were the only party who opposed that legislation, and we will repeal it. It is a travesty to me when the reality of online efforts, like you guys and other independent media sources, what you really represent is the ability for people to access information at greater rates personally than any other time in human history. That’s the real democratization of information advocacy. I think the kind of thing that can unite citizens. But when you’ve got a government that is bringing in censorship laws to make it harder for people like you guys to do your work. That’s wrong, and we will reverse it.  

Michael Menzies: A couple things quickly, because I know we’re under the cosh. There’s been many polls, but this one, Angus Reid, talking about frustration with Albertans, how it’s rising, seemingly saying up to perhaps 30 per cent of Albertans, depending on the outcome of this next election, might vote to separate if there was a referendum. There’s a lot of what ifs in that, but it speaks toward Western alienation and frustration. What do you read into a poll like that? Is that just showing? Okay, this is the temperature that’s out there, or is there something deeper?  

Shannon Stubbs: I’ve been very forthright about this in my time as a Member of Parliament for Lakeland. I remember back when the Liberal government deliberately was leaking that they would reject the Teck Frontier Oilsands mine, which required cabinet approval, which, by the way, Pierre Poilievre has said he would greenlight if they bring it back. I said then to the parliamentary press gallery and on record at the House of Commons, that these kinds of unfair anti-development, anti-Alberta policies designed to shut down the lifeblood of our economy, which lifts the entire country, was having an impact on national unity, and that more and more Albertans felt they feel hated by their by their fellow citizens. 

Shannon Stubbs: I’m a first generation born and raised Albertan. My family is all from Atlantic Canada, not an unusual story for many of us Albertans. First of all, what I want to say is my own experience over the last ten years has been that our fellow citizens, fellow Canadians, care about us and what’s happening, especially because all over the country, the generations of their young people come here for work and for opportunities and for jobs. Now, the Conservative vision is that there should be jobs and opportunities in every region and every province. But I hear loud and clear from the people of Lakeland and from Albertans the stakes of this election and for exactly what you’re talking about. I believe that this election is the most consequential for Canada’s future.  

Michael Menzies: I know you must be in many places here on the campaign trail. Any other things you want to mention in terms of maybe signage or just along those lines here as we prepare for the 28th?  

Shannon Stubbs: We’re heading up to Bonnyville later, uh, today. And I’ve been having a little bit of fun, actually, in the last couple of weeks where I’ve really been emphasizing getting into the smaller communities and into the rural areas, which, as you know, are my roots and where I live myself. We’ve emphasized a lot of that in the last couple of weeks. But of course I’ll be getting to Lloydminster. The highest population in Lakeland. But then the vast majority of communities, as you know, are the size of St. Paul and smaller like where I’m actually from. Remember, like Jem and the Holograms. This was a big thing when I was a kid. I was just thinking the other day that I wish I was one of those, so I could be everywhere all at once. Because you’re right. 

Shannon Stubbs: The Lakeland is about 30,000km², covers 52 municipalities, nine indigenous communities, goes from Wandering River to Paradise Valley, Bruderheim to Lloydminster, everywhere in between. I’m lucky to live in about the center of it, west of Two Hills, so we’re trying to get to as many places as we possibly can throughout this period between me and all the amazing volunteers and activists who continue to join our campaign every day. We’ll focus here on earning the trust and confidence of the people of Lakeland, and I hope that I have served them well over the last ten years, and I hope that they’ll give me the the green light again to go ahead and keep fighting for our our people, our communities, our businesses and our region. Because, as I said in 2015, Lakeland makes an outsized contribution to the entire country. A strong Alberta means a strong Canada. That’s still what’s at stake today. So that’s what I’ll keep fighting for.