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Rookie MP talks about first year in Ottawa

Canada’s assisted dying legislation just might be the most significant piece of legislation Arnold Viersen will ever be a part of, no matter how long he serves as a Member of Parliament.
Arnold Viersen tells the audience of mostly party faithful about his private member ‘s motion that will be debated this week in the House of Commons.
Arnold Viersen tells the audience of mostly party faithful about his private member ‘s motion that will be debated this week in the House of Commons.

Canada’s assisted dying legislation just might be the most significant piece of legislation Arnold Viersen will ever be a part of, no matter how long he serves as a Member of Parliament.

That is what the rookie MP told the mostly partisan crowd during a Peace River–Westlock Conservative constituency fundraiser and membership drive meeting at the Barrhead Royal Canadian Legion on Monday, Nov. 7.

“I doubt there will ever again in my career another piece of legislation that will have that big of an impact on Canadian society,” he said. “We went from a 1,500-year-old law that human life isn’t to be taken in any circumstance, to where it is now where a person must meet a series of circumstances to allow the government to sanction taking a life.”

The piece of legislation Viersen is referring to is Bill C-14, which outlines the requirements patients must meet to be eligible to receive medical assistance in dying — the law passed in June.

The bill came in response to the Supreme Court of Canada’s (SOC) unanimous ruling in February 2015 that struck down the ban on physician-assisted death. As part of the ruling, SOC gave the then Conservative government 12 months to prepare before the ruling came into effect — the Liberal government, following their election win, asked for and received a four-month extension.

Viersen, who was an opponent of the law, said he became heavily involved during the committee process and brought forward a number of amendments.

“I didn’t see how it should be part of the health care system. It is patient assisted dying and they made it part of health care when it should be outside of the health care system,” he said, adding a doctor didn’t necessarily have to be involved in the process. “So I put forward a series of 44 amendments that changed the law so it wasn’t doctors and it wasn’t health care.”

The Liberals subsequently defeated all of the amendments, Viersen said.

The most important amendment would have seen the government institute a licensing system that would allow people outside the health care system to help in a person’s death.

“Much the same, as we do here in Alberta when we kill gophers, we have to get a licence,” he said. “Health care is there to help people live. This is helping people die. It should be a totally different system.”

Another issue Viersen has been involved in, as deputy critic for rural affairs, is actively campaigning against the government’s plan to bring in a carbon tax.

He said the part of his job that has taken up a lot of his time, is his role of deputy critic of rural affairs, adding one of the biggest tasks is to help members, including those in his own caucus, understand the reality of living in a rural area.

“Typically, rural Canadians live further from town, so we drive more, have more out buildings, so there is more heating costs, et cetera, so a carbon tax will have a much larger impact on our residents than those in the city,” Viersen said, adding his party is also actively campaigning for the approval of oil pipelines, most notably the Energy East’s project.

In addition to his work in Ottawa, Viersen noted a lot of his time is spent dealing with, and learning about, the issues in his constituency.

Not an easy feat, he added, considering the vastness of the area.

“It is about half the size of Norway and it is very different from one place to another. Barrhead and Fairview are similar towns, but Whitecourt doesn’t have much in common with Vermilion. So you have to try to balance the interests from all these areas,” he said. “As a result I am fortunate to be able to see and talk to people from a wide variety of industries and gain a unique perspective of the riding.”

One of the things Viersen said he was most excited about is his private member’s bill, or in this case, a motion.

Every MP who is not part of the official government, notably the Prime Minister and his cabinet, is put into a random draw for the opportunity to bring forward a private member’s bill. Viersen drew number 37, meaning his bill or motion would be the 37th private member’s bill to be debated in the House of Commons.

“Which caused me to panic a bit. Here I am just elected and now I have an opportunity to make a law, convince my colleagues in the house, but I hadn’t a clue on what I wanted to do it on,” he said.

The answer came in the mail, from a number of people, inside and outside of the riding about Jian Ghomeshi, a former CBC host, who was charged with four counts of sexual assault and one count of overcoming resistance by choking. Ghomeshi was acquitted of the charges. Then there was the case of Rehtaeh Parsons, a 17-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted at a party and as a consequence died in hospital after attempting to commit suicide. “So I thought what is causing these types of things?” Viersen asked, adding using the correspondence along with additional research, he decided to put forward a motion to ask the HOC’s health committee to study the effects of online sexual violence on men, women and children.

Viersen ended his presentation saying it was an exciting time to be part of the Conservative Party of Canada.

“We are currently in the middle of a leadership race and so is the NDP. They have no one signed to run and we have 12 people who are all trying to be leader of our party,” he said. “I guess that speaks to the fact that our leader could become the actual Prime Minister of Canada after the next election.”

Viersen added, although any of the leadership hopefuls would be a good choice, he will be supporting Andrew Sheer, MP for Regina Qu’ Appelle.

“I think he is someone who I will be able to work with well and has demonstrated the ability to bring the entire party together,” he said. “As you can see from the wide range of candidates who have put their names forward, our party encompasses a wide spectrum of people, from ultra-libertarian to social conservatives. I think Andrew brings a good mix of all those qualities and is well respected in caucus.”


Barry Kerton

About the Author: Barry Kerton

Barry Kerton is the managing editor of the Barrhead Leader, joining the paper in 2014. He covers news, municipal politics and sports.
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