July Community News

I hope that you are having a wonderful summer so far and spending time with family and friends. We had spectacular weather for Stampede and mostly good weather since that certainly helps us spend lots of time outside while we can, with the exception of that awful hail storm from the other day. All of the summer festivals and other gatherings give me the opportunity to spend time talking to constituents about the issues that matter to you. I hear consistently about affordability, taxes, mortgage/rent payments, all important issues that myself and my Conservative colleagues have been focused on. I will be spending the balance of the summer continuing to meet constituents, knocking on doors and getting out to community events. I hope to see you out there and hear about your concerns. In your service,

Jasraj Singh Hallan Member of Parliament Calgary Forest Lawn

Thank You! Thank you to the thousands of people who attended the Calgary Forest Lawn Pancake Breakfast this year, it was a spectacular success. With an attendance of about 16,000, that makes this one of the largest breakfasts in the city. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith both handed out pancakes to thousands and spoke to the crowd. We also had many special guests and many of my colleagues flipping pancakes and out talking to guests. It was so exciting that I already can’t wait for next year!

Attention Dog OwnersThe United States Government has chosen to impose new rules on people wanting to take a dog into the United States from Canada.  You can find out more about the new U.S. rules at the special Centre for Disease Control (CDC) webpage.  If the dog does not meet the CDC’s requirements, the dog may not be allowed to enter the U.S.  The CDC will address these situations on a case-by-case basis. You will have to contact the CDC at (800) 232-4636 or cdcanimalimports@cdc.gov and request an official, written derogation for your situation. It is at the CDC’s discretion to issue a derogation. These new rules are NOT being administered by the Government of Canada and my office is unable to assist with any issues you may encounter when you try to take your dog(s) to the United States.

From The Mailbox Here is a list of issues I received correspondence on from the community during the past month.  Here goes … housing/rental costs, capital gains tax hike, inflation, forest management, mortgage costs, disability supports, pensions, rental costs, government spending, oil and gas emissions, passport design, Israel/Gaza situation, drug decriminalization, grocery costs, natural health products, carbon tax, universal basic income, salmon farming,election interference, protesting, interest rates, online privacy/freedom, natural gas ban, family farms, pornography, cost-of-living, Canada Dental Benefit, pharmacare, foreign aid, excess packaging, illegal residents in Canada, sports funding, vaping rules, infrastructure funding, surgery delays, co-op housing, autism, municipal issues, grizzly bears, senior abuse, nursing salaries, monarchy, tax fraud, wild salmon, medical assistance in dying, Canada Pension Plan, balanced budgets, animal testing, shingles, censorship, immigration rules, orca whales, government ethics, EVs from China, airline salaries, deportations, vehicle theft, bail laws, work from home rules, military support, work permit delays, Ukraine, arms sales, disability benefits, small business help, CBC funding and antisemitism.  Due to the volume of mail and the variety of issues, we appreciate your patience in awaiting a response.

Canadians Spending More On Taxes Than Basic Necessities Despite Justin Trudeau’s inflationary policies raising the price of everything, nothing has gone up more than the taxes he’s piling on Canadian families. In 2023, the average family earned an income of $109,235 and paid total taxes equaling $46,988 (43.0%). We are now spending more of our income on taxes (43.0%) than we do on basic necessities such as food, shelter, and clothing combined (35.6%).Canadian families are paying more than $10,000 more in taxes than they were nine years ago. The carbon tax adds to the pain and Justin Trudeau is promising to quadruple it by 2030.This spring, Justin Trudeau introduced his newest job-killing tax hike that will impose further taxes on health care, homebuilding, small businesses, and farmers. That is why within 60 days becoming Prime Minister, Pierre Poilievre will name a Tax Reform Task Force of entrepreneurs, inventors, farmers and workers to design a Bring it Home Tax Cut that will: Allow workers to bring home more of each dollar they earn to reward work. Bring home production and paycheques, by making Canada the best place to invest, hire and make things. Bring home fairness by reducing the share of taxes paid by the poor and middle class while cutting tax-funded corporate welfare and cracking down on overseas tax havens. Cut the paperwork and bureaucracy in the tax system by at least 20%. We will be a country where hard work earns powerful paycheques and pensions that buy affordable food, gas and homes in safe neighbourhoods.

Trudeau’s Drug Diversion Strategy Has Failed After nine years of Justin Trudeau, Canadian communities have become havens for drugs, death and disorder. The Liberal Government’s failed experiment of taxpayer-funded hard drugs has flooded our communities with dangerous opioids, causing drug deaths to increase by 184 percent since 2015. The complete failure of Trudeau’s taxpayer-funded hard drugs program was confirmed after the Waterloo Regional Police Service and Niagara Regional Police Service revealed to the National Post that hydromorphone seizures had exploded by 1,090% and 1,577% respectively. In Waterloo, only 508 hydromorphone pills were seized in 2019. But in 2023, just three years after Trudeau’s taxpayer-funded hard drug program became widely available, the number of hydromorphone pills seized skyrocketed to 5,538 pills. This deeply troubling trend is also apparent in Niagara where only 291 hydromorphone pills were seized in 2019. In 2023, the number of sized hydromorphone pills also exploded, reaching 4,590 pills. This follows a press conference from the Chief of the London Police Service who confirmed what Common Sense Conservatives have been saying for years: “diverted safe supply is being resold into our community, it’s being trafficked into other communities, and it is being used as currency in exchange for fentanyl, fueling the drug trade.” And this is happening across the country. In British Columbia, the Vancouver Police Department said that around 50 percent of all hydromorphone seizures were diverted from Trudeau’s taxpayer-funded hard drugs program.Justin Trudeau and the Liberals always claim they support “the science” but they don’t want to know how many of their government-provided opioids are seized by police. The Liberals even rejected the Province of Alberta’s request to trace the source of harmful opioids being released into our communities. Some police forces are now releasing numbers revealing widespread drug diversion on their own, but Canadians still deserve to understand the scale of this Trudeau Government disaster. That’s why Common Sense Conservatives are calling on Justin Trudeau’s Addiction Minister, Ya’ara Saks, to release all the hard drug diversion statistics from police services across the country and to implement proposed plans to allow police to trace the source of these taxpayer-funded drugs. Trudeau’s experiment has failed and its time for the NDP-Liberals to admit it.

Grants & Funding  My office fields many calls about whether how to access funding from the federal government. You can find grants and funding by using this handy online tool provided by the Government of Canada.  Funding is available in many categories and is continually adjusted as the federal government’s policy priorities change.  Click here.

Which Benefits Are You Eligible For? The Benefits Finder tool allows you to determine what benefits you may be entitled to by answering a few easy questions.  After completing the quick multiple-choice questions, your possible benefits are short-listed and additional information is provided.  Many federal-provincial programs are also incorporated into the search results. Link here.

Canada Job Bank If you need help getting back to work, try accessing the jobs being listed on the government website, visit www.jobbank.gc.ca to see the latest opportunities.  Hundreds of jobs are listed that are in our community and they offer Canadians with a wide variety of work experiences.

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