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| Melissa Mathieson |
On November 6 of this year Macleod electoral district Member of Parliament Ted Menzies announced he was immediately retiring from public office. Since that announcement several people have declared themselves as candidates for the Conservative Party of Canada nomination to replace Menzies prior to the upcoming byelection, which must be held within six months of his resignation. Melissa Mathieson is one of those nomination candidates.Toni Lucas
Melissa Mathieson is a 24 year old resident of High River who is currently seeking the Conservative Party of Canada nomination in the Macleod riding, which includes Pincher Creek. I spoke with her via telephone in advance of the forum planned for Wednesday February 26, 7:00 pm at the Heritage Inn. "I absolutely will be there," she said.
"I finished my degree at the University of Calgary in Political Science, and it's always been something I've been passionate about," Mathieson said when asked why she was running for office. "My experience has been a bit different than the other candidates. I spent over a decade working within the riding and working with local representatives from our riding, and I spent about three years in Ottawa, working there for the Prime Ministers Office, and the Department of Finance for both Minister Menzies and Minister Flaherty at the time. I've recently moved back to Alberta to work in Oil and Gas Public Policy. "
Mathieson brings a lot more to the table than one would normally expect from a 24 year old. "I work for the School of Public Policy, which is here at the University of Calgary. Essentially, they have a program called the Extractive Resource Governance Policy Program. I work for that program, I'm a research assistant, and I work with oil and gas public policy, and regulations policy."
Mathieson outlined some of her policy positions.
"I've been travelling the riding quite a bit. It's a really vast riding, so the issues are different, wherever you go. But there's been quite a few common themes, and for me running for election, I wanted to make it very clear what my policy priority issues are, and where I stand on the issues. So I have been very diligent about releasing policy priorities onto my website every couple of weeks. I will mention a couple of them."
"One would be a common sense firearms policy. Right now the government has done a lot with firearms policy. They abolished the long gun registry. I was in Ottawa when that happened, and for me, it sparked my interest in firearms policy, and how broken the system is right now. How many changes could be made to make the people's in Macleod's life easier. Owning a firearm in Macleod is often a way of life for many people. For hunters, for sports shooters, for farmers, they own firearms, it's a way of daily life, and the system treats them like criminals. There's a lot of work that can be done in that area."
"There are more MP's that represent cities than rural. It's funny, because I was in Ottawa and for a lot of MP's firearms are not even an issue. They don't even really understand why it would be an issue. If we are going to elect someone from this riding I think it is one of the top issues from what I've been hearing, because we need someone to speak loudly to it. It's just common sense policy that stops treating law-abiding firearms owners as criminals. Abolishing the long gun registry is a great start, but there are so many more issues. My policy talks to a couple specifically."
"I'm talking to firearms owners all across this riding, and they understand that you need responsible firearms ownership, but along with that, the government should not be treating you like a criminal the day your licence expires."
"Another area I'm really interested in is country-of-origin labeling, and the dispute that's going on right now between the United States and Canada. I think whoever is elected for this riding had better show up in Ottawa, and be pushing hard on this issue, to make sure this dispute gets resolved sooner rather than later. It's hurting our cattle and beef producers."
"Right now the way it's set up is not beneficial to either Americans or Canadians. It needs to be resolved, and it needs to be resolved quickly."
"Similar with that would be trade in general. I think our next trade agreement could be opening free trade with South Korea. It would be hugely beneficial to the cattle producers. I think that many cattle producers would have expected that to have gone through and there have been many issues with that trade agreement. It's time for our government to step up and get that deal done."
"Another issue that's pressing is the transporting of grain. Our government has already committed 1.5 million to help the industry study what they can do to make sure that they can actually transport grain, and transport as much as we need to transport when we need to transport it. The government has committed to this. I think our government needs to be strong on this issue, and rural MPs need to be strong on this issue and hold the rail lines to account. I think there's definitely room for improvement there. It's an issue that's frustrating for many people in the riding, because we're having such a good year, but they can't move it."
Mathieson believes her relative youth is an asset. "It's a huge benefit. We need to keep drawing young people, and make sure that renewal happens. Obviously, I have the energy to work days, nights, and weekends, but also for the party in general, we need a mix of both. Obviously with youth comes a different perspective, different ideas of the challenges we face. Right now, this party is facing the likes of Justin Trudeau, in order to remain competitive. He believes that he has the youth vote on lock-down, and that he understands and speaks to youth issues better than any other party, and I don't think that's correct."
I asked her to tell me some of the things she's been hearing from constituents throughout the riding. "People, you meet them and they want health care reform, or they want their garbage picked up on time, but there are very few federal issues that hit people day to day," she replied. "When I go through the riding, the biggest issues are agriculture issues. They're huge in this riding."
"What we talked about before, country-of-origin labeling, and trade in general. Those are things that can be fixed, and have a huge impact on this riding. Another thing that comes up quite often is flood mitigation, and what they federal government can do to help. To make sure not just High River but all the communities in this riding are strong and prepared for anything that may happen. "
"People are looking for someone accessible and accountable."
I asked Mathieson what her thoughts were on big industry and environmental stewardship in Alberta. She said she has talked with people from eastern Canada,and found that a number of them equated Alberta with "dirty oil".
"Canadians, our own population, didn't understand the sector in Alberta, and how Alberta operated, and how important the oil and gas industry was, and how focused they are on environmental protection. I don't think there is anyone that knows this better than the people in Macleod. So many of the people in this riding live off the land and make their well being off the land. Environmental stewardship is a huge issue for this riding. By no means would they be ignoring any kind of environmental regulations or environmental stewardship."
"When it comes to regulation, it's the same as firearms. It's making them common sense, it's making them understandable, and it's making them so that industry can still operate and provide jobs."
Forum:
A public candidates forum will be held Wednesday February 26, from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm at Pincher Creek's Heritage Inn (919 Waterton Avenue). Voting, which is limited to registered Conservative Party of Canada members, will be held Thursday March 6 from 11:00 am to 8:00 pm at the same location.
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