HURON -BRUCE — Though he won’t be in the House of Commons until March, the Huron-Bruce Member of Parliament won’t be using it as an extra long holiday.
Ben Lobb said he’ll be active throughout the riding until Parliament resumes in the spring.
“You can do just as good of a job representing your riding in your riding,” he told the Times-Advocate in a telephone interview Thursday.
“It’s allowed me to schedule meetings with constituents...There’s a great amount of work I can do here that I can’t do going back and forth to Ottawa on a weekly basis,” he said.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper prorogued Parliament in late December, causing the usual winter hiatus to stretch until March instead of until late-January.
“I fully support the prime minister’s decision,” Lobb said.
The first-term MP explained that prorogation will allow the Conservatives the chance to “rebalance” the Liberal-heavy Senate by appointing five new senators, but more importantly, he said, to prepare and present the 2010 budget.
That will include the second phase of Canada’s Economic Action Plan. Lobb described the first phase as a success, with the real estate market considerably stronger on this side of the border, Canadian banks doing well, and jobless rates continue to decrease in Canada.
“The media was predicting a depression, and we were able to come out without too many scrapes,” he said.
However, in Huron-Bruce, the economy and jobs are still number one issues.
He said he’ll be spending his extended time in the riding in meetings with employers and individuals, as well as compiling a list of items for his meeting with Finance Minister Jim Flaherty later this month.
Though the prorogation has been a contentious issue nation-wide, Lobb said his office has not received overwhelming feedback from constituents.
He said as of Wednesday last week, his offices received 30 pieces of correspondence opposing prorogation. He compared that to the mail he got about Bill C-38 – a bill introduced by the Bloc Quebecois party to allow euthanasia in Canada – when he read over 800 letters from Huron-Bruce constituents.
“So it’s a pretty small percentage,” Lobb said, adding there have been people in favour of prorogation as well.
Lobb stressed that as a backbench MP, he and his staff are focused on issues in Huron-Bruce, not so much Canada-wide issues.
He did say however, that suggestions that the prime minister pulled the plug to thwart the Afghanistan torture investigation are unfounded. He said the evidence and documents will still be there when parliament resumes in March.
“It’s not going away,” Lobb said, adding that the committee can pick up where they left off.
As for pieces of legislation waiting for Senate approval, he said that if all the parties agree, they can go right back to the Senate instead of starting from square-one.
Still on the table are the Conservatives’ long gun registry bill and anti-drug crime bill, as well as the consumer safety bill.
This marks the prime minister’s third prorogation, with two in a year’s time.