Member of Parliament for Red Deer-Lacombe Blaine Calkins is echoing Premier Jason Kenney's sentiment about how Justin Trudeau's recent Throne Speech shuns Alberta and the industries that make our province and the entire country prosper.

Calkins said it's a frustrating time for the energy sector, who he says the Prime Minister is completely neglecting, while also expecting hard-working middle-class Canadians to pay for all of these pandemic inspired social programs.

He said that Trudeau is trying to "using the pandemic to pitch a massive shift towards socialism".

“What’s more alarming in the new Speech from the Throne was the massive new federal program announcement. National pharmacare, national daycare, and of course, moving the CERB benefit into the EI program with no requirement to have earned any hours, this is going to make it very very difficult for those who continue to pay taxes to support the programs that this Prime Minister has announced.”

He says when Trudeau said the federal government is borrowing money so Canadians don't have to, he doesn't seem to have any idea on how we are going to pay that money back and said this isn't a time to cast aside some of the strongest parts of our economy. 

“He (Trudeau) says the government is borrowing money so that Canadians don’t have to. Well, I’ve got news for the Prime Minister. The tax base that the Government of Canada gets its resources from IS the taxpayer. It is Canadians. So by massively increasing the federal debt at a time when Canadians have taken on more personal debt, our province has taken on more debt, our businesses have taken on more debt, and no real plan for economic growth other than trying to make a “green economy” which has not taken off in any way, shape or form anywhere around the world. This is a very high-risk situation for the Canadian economy to be in.”

Green economy not feasible 

Calkins said a green driven economy led by things like solar and wind energy just aren't feasible in our country.

Factors like lower sunlight hours, the size of our country compared to its population, and the amount of infrastructure that would still need to be built would make a transition like that nearly impossible without incredible financial hardships that would be felt for a long time.

“A net-zero future is basically devastating to the oil and gas sector in western Canada. No one believes that in a country like Canada, where we have one of the coldest climates, we’re the second-largest geopolitical landmass with only 36 or so million people to support all of the infrastructure. Moving away from coal, oil, and natural gas is going to solve all of our transportation, heating, and economic supports that we need, it’s not viable. Nobody else in the world is suggesting that this is even possible. So for the Prime Minister to double down on this is devastating news for the economies of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and Northern BC.”

He says if the federal Liberals were serious about helping Canadians out of any financial hardships caused by the pandemic, he would have focused more on the energy and the agriculture sectors, which makes up a large percentage of Alberta's tax payers, and getting our economy back on track.

“The Prime Minister was careless in his words when he said that it doesn’t cost anything because interest rates are low. We know that a couple percentage increase in interest rates going from 2 to 5 per cent, will add $30-50 billion dollars just in debt servicing payments alone. That’s more than we pay right now for old age security. So that’s what’s at risk when you start borrowing this kind of money, is you put at risk the very social safety net that Canadians have come to rely on.”