Jason Kenney, MP for Calgary Southeast, speaks at one of two town hall meetings he held Saturday
MP Jason Kenney held two town hall meetings Saturday to take the pulse of his constituents. Judging by the questions, voters’ blood pressure is up over immigration issues, which dominated the questions. Mr. Kenney, who is the federal minister for citizenship, immigration and multiculturalism, told the crowd at the afternoon session that he plans to introduce significant reforms in the near future.
Mr. Kenney began the meeting with an overview of issues facing his department and the federal government in general. He reviewed measures taken by the Stephen Harper Conservatives since the economic meltdown last year, including massive spending on infrastructure. Infrastructure construction not only puts people back to work during periods of a soft economy, he said, but helps to maintain the productivity and competitiveness of the Canadian economy.
He also outlined the initiatives undertaken by the federal government to “get tough” on crime. Funding had been provided for 2,000 new RCMP officers and money provided to the provinces to hire an additional 2,500 officers. An area he singled out for attention in the coming year is human trafficking, an issue that will benefit from the additional law enforcement resources, he noted.
On the immigration front, Mr. Kenney said his priority as a minister was helping new arrivals integrate better into Canadian society. Canada, and Alberta in particular, is still experiencing labour shortages despite the slow down that are being met by immigrants. These are jobs that, for the most part, Canadians are not interested in doing, such as working in fast food restaurants. He described a meeting with the owner of two Subway restaurants in southeast Calgary who broke down in tears because he couldn’t find enough employees.
While Mr. Kenney fielded a wide range of questions, immigration was uppermost on the minds of his constituents. The most common questions were about Canada’s seeming inability to keep out criminals and to deport immigrants convicted of criminal activities in Canada. Mr. Kenney told the audience that the issue was high on his priority list and would be addressed on an a number of fronts, including reforming the refugee claimants system and changes to the justice system that will speed up the removal of criminals.
The first town hall was held at the Sam Livingston School in Bonaventure and approximately 80 people attended. The afternoon meeting took place at the Cardinal Newman School in McKenzie Lake. Mr. Kenney said he decided to hold two meetings intead of the customary single get-together because it was easier for citizens, especially seniors, to attend.
SE Calgary News will run excerpts from the meeting throughout the coming week.
JASON KENNEY, SATURDAY TOWN HALL MEETING
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Hi. I would be VERY interested to know the name of the Subway owner referred to in the article about the town hall with Jason Kenney, or the address of the stores in question. I have been trying to secure a job with Subway for the last two months and have had no luck whatsoever. I f anyone knows who he is, please tell him to email me!! Thank you.