Question of the Week for Albas

Dear editor: Apparently chastened by the near loss of his “safe seat” to Liberal candidate Karley Scott in the 2015 election, Conservative MP Dan Albas pledged to be less partisan.

So, I am wondering why his weekly columns are invariably rants against the federal Liberals. There is nary a statement reflecting what his own party would do to address Canada’s current issues.

Perhaps Mr. Albas just wants us all to forget that while his party was in charge of Canada’s laws and finances from 2006 to 2015, the Conservative government increased the federal debt by $150 billion.

A few other unforgettable moves by Dan Albas and the Conservatives include:

• Eliminating federal agencies’ payroll staff in 2013 as a transition to the disastrous Phoenix pay system initiated by the Conservatives;

• Awarding a $211-million contract to an offshore company for a complicated, dysfunctional, inefficient “shared travel booking system” for government employees;

• Accruing a consecutive string of massive deficits;

• Dismantling Paul Martin’s national daycare program which had taken years to assemble with agreement of the provinces;

• Passing a draconian omnibus crime bill (parts of which must now be repealed because they are unconstitutional);

• Repealing environmental protection legislation (ideology trumping science); • Closing veterans’ offices; • Larding Canada’s Senate with partisan Conservatives; and

• Reducing funds for research and innovation.

Did Dan Albas ever vote against his party on any of the above matters while Stephen Harper was busy leading the Conservatives to a landslide defeat? That’s my question of the week. Loraine Stephanson

Penticton