BLOCK AND RITZ SHOW
Sask. MPs take spots in shadow cabinet
Several Saskatchewan MPs are part of the Conservative party’s new shadow cabinet.
Interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose announced Friday that Carleton Trail-Eagle Creek MP Kelly Block will serve as the Conservative critic for transport.
Former minister of agriculture Gerry Ritz will serve as the Conservative critic for international trade.
“I believe the team we have assembled will be the strongest Official Opposition this country has ever seen,” Ambrose said Friday.
Ambrose also took the opportunity to question Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s plan to bring 25,000 new Syrian refugees into the country by the end of the year.
“Today, I am asking Prime Minister Trudeau to be open and transparent on how he will safely and responsibly settle 25,000 Syrians in less than six weeks, which is over 500 people per day,” Ambrose said.
Block was first elected in 2008 in the Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar riding. She was re-elected in the newly formed Carleton Trail-Eagle Creek riding last month.
Ritz, who was agriculture minister since 2007 in Stephen Harper’s government, was re-elected in his Battlefords-Lloydminster.
Other Saskatchewan MPs received critical portfolios as well.
David Anderson (Cypress HillsGrasslands) will serve as the human rights and religious freedoms critic; Brad Trost (Saskatoon-University) will serve as the critic for Canada/ U.S. relations and Kevin Waugh (Saskatoon- Grasswood) was named deputy critic for Canadian heritage and national historic sites.
Regina-Wascana’s Ralph Goodale is the only Saskatchewan MP to hold a cabinet position in Trudeau’s Liberal government.