SPRING 2021 NEWSLETTER CONTACT BOB OTTAWA OFFICE 811 Justice Building Ottawa ON K1A 0A6 Dear Constituents, me on how government can best work on your Tel. 613-992-0250 behalf in these current circumstances. It has been a difficult year, one in which the Fax. 613-992-0251 fallout from the pandemic has posed a crisis for To that end, I am asking every household to many and people have turned to their federal complete the survey included with this publica- CONSTITUENCY OFFICE representatives to help navigate the hardships tion and return it to me with your views and presented by the new reality. I am proud of my suggestions for the way forward as we contem- Calgary AB T2W 4X9 staff who have been working alongside me eve- plate next steps towards reopening the econo- Tel. 403-253-7990 ry day to connect constituents with the supports my. Fax. 403-253-8203 and services they need in these trying times. SOCIAL MEDIA I value your input and thank you for taking As your Member of Parliament, it helps me time to correspond. If my office can assist you /Bob Benzen greatly to hear directly from constituents about with a federal matter, we are here to help as @BobBenzen the challenges they face and the expectations best we can during these BobBenzen they have for their federal government. That is difficult times. E-MAIL / ONLINE why I am writing to you today, to invite you to Best regards, [email protected] identify needs and to share your thoughts with BobBenzenMP.ca Revelations on this issue seem to arise near daily, from the recent resignation of a senior female military commander in protest of, he always important work of the federal Standing Committee on and in response to, the allegations T National Defence has taken on added urgency in past weeks as of sexual misconduct among senior members complete a study on sexual misconduct and harassment in the leadership, to the news that the Canadian Armed Forces, in light of recent allegations of the same made Prime Minister was aware of against Chiefs of Defence Staff. serious allegations against the Witnesses testifying before our committee have focused on the need for former Chief of the Defence Staff a culture change in the Forces that begins with its leadership. Members for three years after the fact. have heard troubling accounts of the Liberal Minister of National Defence’s We must deal head on with the own lack of action when confronted with evidence of misconduct within problems being uncovered within the chain of command — from the former military ombudsman in our Armed Forces. It will take a lot particular. of work to fix. We must strive for The study continues as of this writing, and I would not presuppose its an Armed Forces where men and outcome, but it is my hope the contributions by members of all parties on women may serve their country this committee result in meaningful recommendations that lead to equally and without fear of harass- systemic changes in policy and accountability as it relates to the leadership ment or retribution in their work- of the Armed Forces, including the Minister of Defence. place as they protect Canadians. Tools at hand to reopen our economy ith businesses at risk in Alberta and elsewhere. in Calgary Heritage Continued lockdowns causing and across the coun- W ongoing societal and eco- try, the federal Liberals must nomic destruction can not present a budget – their first always be the government’s in two years – that includes answer to an ongoing public measures directed to safely health crisis. It is time we re- reopening our economy and place these models with tools restoring the massive amount we already have at our dis- of jobs that have been lost M.P. Bob Benzen posal to protect Canadians, since the start of the pandem- speaking in Parliament among them better vaccine ic. rollout programs; pre- and The federal Liberals have left post-arrival rapid testing; and Canada with the lowest vac- at-home quarantine mea- cination rate, the biggest defi- sures, to name a few. cit, and one of the highest Conservatives continue to call unemployment rates in the on the government to do so, G7. This is not how it should and to enact an evidence- be. based plan that protects Ca- Our recovery from the biggest nadians in the pandemic economic crisis since the while restoring their ability to Great Depression will require pursue a livelihood. measures that allow Canadi- ans to get back to work in Conservatives in Parliament every sector. This is no time will continue to work for to “reimagine” the national time to support all the tradi- Canadians back to work, and those left behind by Justin economy, as the Liberals have tional pillars of our economy especially the stricken energy, Trudeau and focus on getting proposed to do. Rather, it is that have the potential to get aviation and tourism sectors Canadians working again. Albertans’ rapid test a Covid game-changer accines and rapid testing. times for diagnoses by mak- V The reopening of our ing them available within economy and an end to the hours rather than days, and societal lockdowns that have contribute to returning us to devastated entire sectors de- a semblance of normalcy. pend on easy, nation-wide One of the lessons learned access to both. from this pandemic is that A Calgary-based biotech- Canada must develop our nology company, CardiAI, own domestic capability to holds one of the two keys, produce personal protection having developed the world’s equipment, vaccines, rapid most advanced PCR diagnos- testing, and other necessities tic test that can provide re- rather than continuing to be sults in a matter of minutes at the mercy of international rather than days. companies and other coun- tries that will serve their own It is a homegrown scientific national needs ahead of ours. success story, with potential to be a Covid game-changer And here we have a Calgary MP Bob Benzen recently toured CardiAI’s Calgary facility. From left to as well as to provide econom- company that has done world right are: Dr. Raman Koul, Research and Development Head; MP Ben- ic opportunity for manufac- -class research, has an inno- zen; MP Tom Kmiec; Brian Milloy, Co-Founder, President and CEO of Levvel Inc.; Patrick Kirkwood, Vice-President of Sales, Marketing and turing and jobs in the bio- vative product to supply for Investor Relations; Dr. Anmol Kapoor, Founder and CEO of CardiAI; MP tech industry in Alberta. worldwide consumption, and Jasraj Singh Hallan. wants to keep its manufactur- I have been working with the ing in Alberta. Success stories company to push Health Can- research, meanwhile, contin- show promise with symptoms like this help diversify our ada for an expedited review, ues apace. related to Covid, to determine economy while improving our whether they prevent the clin- and I am happy to report pro- The company has received domestic public health securi- ical progression of COVID-19. gress on getting this im- regulatory approval to begin ty. portant product over the bu- recruiting symptomatic Covid Contact CardiAI Inc. directly if reaucratic hurdles. Getting This is the kind of innovation patients for clinical trials. The you are interested in partici- this product into mass devel- that we need to promote objective of this study is to pating in the company’s clini- opment will reduce waiting more of in Canada. CardiAI’s evaluate medications that cal trials. Liberals striking out on crime prevention iolent crime is a serious them in any way, volved in repeat firearms of- problem. It requires seri- seriously infringing fences? We need tough penal- ous solutions. Unfortu- on their property OPINION ties, imposed with certainty, to V nately, Canadians will not get rights. BOB BENZEN, MP dissuade criminals from using weapons. Finally, the drug them from our current govern- The second pillar Calgary Heritage ment. In less than a year, the of Bill C-21 was a trade that fuels so much gang Trudeau government has taken provision to allow violence must be made unprof- three swings at violent crime cities to ban handguns, which spent processing useless pa- itable through stricter border and missed every time. Their are already subject to very perwork is a dollar that cannot controls to reduce supply and “solutions” will cost billions and strict controls. Since municipal- be spent reducing violent easier access to rehabilitation may increase Canadians’ expo- ities are under provincial juris- crime. programs to reduce demand. sure to violent crime. diction, this measure is sure to Second, we need better data The real tragedy is that contin- On May 1, 2020, Prime Minis- face years of constitutional and analysis. It is shocking that uing with the government’s ter Justin Trudeau acted by or- challenges by provinces that neither the government nor failed approaches wastes time der-in-council to ban some oppose this intrusion into their the RCMP can provide even and money that could be spent 1,500 types of firearms. He re- jurisdiction. If it does survive basic data required to develop making Canadians safer. ferred to them as “assault- these challenges, it will set up sensible policies. The only good news is that style” firearms, a made-up term an administrative nightmare of Third, we need closer scrutiny bills C-21 and C-22 will proba- designed for maximum emo- thousands of different sets of of those with a proven track bly not make it through Parlia- tional impact. Most were, in rules.