A Q&A with West Nova MP Chris d'Entremont
Saltwire Network recently sat down with West Nova MP Chris d’Entremont. Here’s a Q&A with d’Entremont, who is also Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons.
QUESTION: What do you see as some important issues in the riding? ANSWER:
“The wharves are extremely important. I recently wrote a letter to the Minister of Finance, with a copy to the Minister of DFO, that Small Craft Harbours has been underfunded for many years. I would say current and previous governments have not understood the size of the fishery in southwest Nova Scotia and have not invested correctly in that.”
“We're competing with other wharves and other districts in other parts of the country. When the government says, we're going to put $300 million extra into that program, that's a drop in the bucket of what we need. Even in southwest Nova Scotia, the wharves we have from Lower East Pubnico to Harbourville require, probably, $700-$800 million of deferred maintenance, along with new projects like breakwaters or decks.”
“And because of inflation, a project that originally would have been like a $10 million project is turning into a $40 million project many years later… We can't have guys on wharves that have been condemned, which is happening in a number of locations. They have invested quite a bit financially into their boats. You can't have them being banged around.”
Q: Can you point to an industry that you see needing support? A:
“Agriculture is a definite issue. For instance, the grape farmers and vineyards are having some trouble with the cold we've been having. We're trying to identify what's going on there. We want to make sure that the farm programs, they can access them. If they have no grapes this year, that's going to be a big hit to that industry.”
“Climate change has changed the way many farmers do their thing. We may also need drought help — whether it's trying to find water for them or having programs so they're able to adapt. Farmers are very smart folks and can adapt to things. But sometimes that equipment requires some support and we want to make sure that's available.”
Q: You’ve referred to the Criminal Code and victim’s rights, can you expand? A:
“We've gone through the (Yarmouth) Colton Cook (murder) court case. His mom was in here the other day and we were talking about things that aren't there for victims. How do we make sure that the system is there for parents and family members as they're experiencing this for the first time? … I'm looking forward to working with the family to see if there are things from a Criminal Code perspective, but also from the justice system, and the RCMP, to help those families.”
D’Entremont also says more discussion is needed on things such as sentences, bail releases, court release conditions, breaches of probation, etc.
“There are people that continue to re-offend,” he says, including violent crimes. He feels a national discussion of why offenders are back on the streets when they shouldn’t be, or sooner than they should be, is warranted.
Q: Sometimes people don’t know where responsibilities fall when it comes to the different levels of government — municipal, provincial and federal. How challenging is that for both sides? A:
“I would say the No. 1 issue that I get calls on would be healthcare. And yet I have no bearing on healthcare, except for this national discussion that's going about how much the feds are going to be paying the provinces to provide that service. Yet, doctor recruitment is also based on immigration in a lot of cases, so we can help out in immigration files.”
“But it does complicate things. If people come to you, either as an MP or an MLA or a mayor or councillor … and they're told, ‘well, that's not our responsibility,’ they feel as if people are passing the buck.”
That, he says, is not a good thing to have happen.
Q: Something that isn’t a federal responsibility is the Nova Scotia-to-Maine international ferry service. In the Marine Atlantic-MV Bluenose years, the feds were involved. Do you think the federal government should have a role in this service? A:
“We need to go back to the nineties when (the Marine Atlantic-run service) was cancelled by a Liberal government. No other government since that time has wanted to touch it. I don't quite know why. I’ve reached out a couple of times now with the federal minister to see if we were interested in starting a discussion… I think maybe in this particular case, since the payer at the moment is the province, that they've got to reach out to their federal partners.”
He notes the federal government does invest funds in some other ferry services.
“For the time being, though, there's a requirement for some more work at the terminal. There's been phase one of the redevelopment of the ferry terminal, but that funding is dried up and has been used up. So we need to see what the next part is.”
Q: The province is carrying out a broad analysis of the ferry service. Do you support the ferry service? A:
“It’s 100 per cent needed in southwestern Nova Scotia. It's needed across the province. I think what the economic statement will show is that it's not just our area that benefits from this, that it's widespread and as far as Cape Breton. We need to look at it as an investment, not just as a payment.”
Q: How do you think
the COVID pandemic has changed us as a society? A:
“I think it did allow us to adopt a different way of doing work, whether it be virtually or other. I think that has created some benefits to how we work, but that's only good for people that can work from a computer. Not everybody can. You can't cut fish on a computer.”
“I think a benefit is that we were doing things that we needed to, to understand what an illness is and how to stay safe, clean our hands, wear a mask, avoid other people when we're sick. That's all basic stuff. But it reinforced it.”
“The negative side is there is a division that was created… a tremendous division in Canada over the last couple of years. We need to figure out how to work through that.”
“And it seems like one of the real detriments has been places not being able to staff their businesses. That's another issue that I can't quite figure out. Prior to COVID it seems like all businesses had all the workers they needed. Maybe people did go to more of a home life, working from a computer, but not everybody. So where did all these people go?”
Q: When do you foresee a federal election happening? A:
“I still see NDP support for the government through the spring into the summer. Maybe a little bit of a breakup in the fall and we’ll probably see an election by next year sometime.”