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Member of the panel of chairs for the legislative committees

Blaine Calkins

  • Member of Parliament
  • Member of the panel of chairs for the legislative committees
  • Conservative
  • Red Deer—Lacombe
  • Alberta
  • Voting Attendance: 67%
  • Expenses Last Quarter: $146,499.79

  • Government Page
Context: House Hansard - 308 - May/3/24
Mr. Blaine Calkins (Red Deer—Lacombe, CPC)
  • May/3/24 11:02:14 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, with more Canadians using food banks than ever before and many on the brink of financial ruin, the next election cannot come soon enough, yet this Prime Minister has insisted on pushing policies that Canadians know are wacko. Handing out needles to prisoners while they are in jail is wacko. Insisting that the budget will balance itself is wacko. Thinking that vitamins and supplements need to be regulated the same as prescription drugs is wacko. Letting repeat offenders out on bail so they can reoffend over and over is wacko. Turning a blind eye to foreign interference in our elections is wacko. Letting people smoke meth next to kids in our parks and playgrounds is wacko. After nine years of wacko policies, it is time for Canadians to switch to a blue solo cup, because the red one's messed up and the orange one is bad luck. Let us bring it home.
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Context: House Hansard - 304 - Apr/29/24
Mr. Blaine Calkins
  • Apr/29/24 7:34:22 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, my friend and colleague from Peterborough—Kawartha is exactly right. Generally speaking, when we see something being changed in a manner like this, we ask, “Who benefits?” Who benefits from this? Health Canada would actually have the ability to charge whatever fees it wanted in order to regulate the industry. Can members imagine the power to actually generate revenue in such a way? Who knows what pressures they are getting from other outside actors. Lots of people have speculated about who they think is putting pressure on Health Canada to do this. As I outlined in my speech, Health Canada has lots of power. If it needs a little more resources to do inspections post the products' getting to the shelf, or if they need a little more help at the border, those are reasonable conversations we could have. This industry is $3 billion a year in Canada. This is how much Canadians rely on these products for their own health. It is the health care prevention that keeps people out of the hospital and out of our health care system. This is the beauty of it. It is something that gives people the ability to make personal health choices. They have the freedom to make those choices for themselves. If Health Canada needs more money to do something, this industry generates $150 million in GST revenue every year. There are plenty of resources if they need a few more people to do something. They can simply go talk to the finance minister, rather than taking the underhanded approach of going—
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