Nicholson still busy in opposition role
He may no longer be a senior member of the federal government, but Rob Nicholson says he’s as busy as ever in Ottawa.
The veteran Niagara Falls Conservative MP sits on various committees for his party, including planning and priority, and chairman of justice and social affairs.
He also meets regularly with caucus members on different issues.
“The biggest difference is I’m not doing a lot of travelling. I used to joke with my staff that I don’t mind being in Iraq on Wednesday, but I want to be in Niagara on Saturday.”
Nicholson was one of former prime minister Stephen Harper’s go-to politicians during the Tories’ nearly 10 years in power between 2006 and 2015.
During that period, he served at different times as minister of foreign affairs, national defence, justice and attorney general.
Nicholson would often say he appreciated the level of responsibility Harper had given him.
While defence minister, Canada joined the fight against ISIS.
Nicholson travelled around the world to speak with global dignitaries and was also involved in the effort to provide more funding and support to respond to the Ebola outbreak in Africa.
During the 2015 federal election, Justin Trudeau’s Liberals rose to power, winning a majority government, although Nicholson retained his seat as an MP representing the Niagara Falls riding.
Although he’s no longer in government, Nicholson has been active during the last two years in the nation’s capital.
Earlier this year, a private member’s bill he introduced calling for a national dementia strategy, which received bi-partisan support, became law.
“It was a very moving experience for me,” said Nicholson, whose father died from Alzheimer’s disease in 1997.
“I met recently with the minister (in charge of the portfolio) and she’s going to be holding a national conference to work out our strategy with respect to Alzheimer’s in the new year.”
Nicholson said his Bill C-233, which he brought forward last year, called on the provinces and all stakeholders to develop a plan to co-operate in finding a cure and dealing with the challenges of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
“When it comes to research and planning out best practices, sometimes there’s not as much communication as there might be between, for instance, different provinces, as well as co-ordinating the search and information internationally,” he said.
“The idea is to have the Government of Canada take a leadership role in this, and coordinate whatever information there is about Alzheimer’s — as to how to treat it, how to prevent it, how to deal with it, and assist people who have it at the international level, but to also bring the provinces together, so that each province is not reinventing the same wheel.”
Nicholson said he was also pleased to be “out front” to protect members of the clergy and religious services earlier this year.
He said the government introduced a bill intended to “clean up” the Criminal Code which, among other things, would get rid of sections “that were no longer relevant.”
“I discovered that one of the sections, and they didn’t talk about this, was removing the special protection that religious services and members of the clergy have. I made a big deal about it.”
Nicholson said he asked members of the government to talk to their constituents to see if they agreed that “the disruption of a religious service is the same as any kind of noise or disruption in any other place.”
“I wrote to all the religious institutions here in Niagara, and the feedback I got was tremendous. I had literally thousands of emails and petitions.”
Nicholson said when he brought the issue up to the government, he was told “it would still be mischief if you cause a (disruption).”
“I said, it’s not the same as mischief if you disrupt somebody’s religious service. I said if you attack a member of the clergy, it’s not the same as getting into a fist fight in a bar.”
Despite the government’s assurance it would still be illegal, Nicholson said he pushed for the special protections to remain, “particularly when we see more and more instances of people’s right to practice their religion being threatened.”
“They backed down, and the bill got passed about a month ago, but there’s still special protection for both members of the clergy, and for religious services.”
The 21-year federal politician said he still enjoys working with constituents who bring issues to his office.
“I’ve been very fortunate to enjoy wherever I have found myself, quite frankly, in life,” he said.
“I enjoyed the years I spent at regional council, and I enjoyed practicing law and being a member of parliament for this area. I still reflect on the fact that what a privilege this is, and how somebody who wanted to become a member of parliament at the age of 11 (got to accomplish that goal).”