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Conservative MP Kerry Diotte says anti-pipeline bill, carbon tax will hurt hard working Canadians

Born and raised in Sault Ste. Marie, Diotte talks industry, carbon tax and suing a student newspaper that described him as racist
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Edmonton Griesbach MP Kerry Diotte is visiting his hometown of Sault Ste. Marie Friday and Saturday, where the former journalist will be joining local Conservative Party candidate Sonny Spina during a handful of events. James Hopkin/SooToday

Edmonton Griesbach MP Kerry Diotte is back in his hometown of Sault Ste. Marie, where he hopes to get some feedback from people on energy-related issues leading up to this year’s federal election.

Diotte is making a handful of public stops in the Sault with local conservative candidate Sonny Spina during his two-day visit.

“One of the things that I’m struck by is how important the energy industry is to Sault Ste. Marie, because obviously, you’re in the steel business,” Diotte told SooToday at White Pines Collegiate and Vocational School Friday, where Spina was taking part in the DU283 duathlon Friday morning. “So as conservatives, we’ve got a real problem with Bill C-48 and Bill C-69.”

Diotte says that C-48 would shut down tanker traffic and hamper shipping, while Bill C-69 - known in conservative circles as the ‘no pipeline bill’ - would stall the oil and gas industry if passed.

“There’s so many onerous regulations in it, it would practically shut down,” he said. “Industry observers say you’d never see another pipeline built in this country, and again, that gets back to bad news for this city, and bad news for my city of Edmonton as well.”

Diotte is also opposed to a carbon tax plan of any sort, making mention of the fact that the Alberta government had scrapped its consumer carbon tax as of midnight Thursday.

The province cancelled its tax at the gas pumps and home heating fuels, setting up a clash with Ottawa over the imposition of a federal carbon tax.   

“I think Canadians are just not buying the idea that a tax can solve the world’s problems somehow. We all understand that there’s a problem with climate change, but by slapping a tax on hard working Canadians, it’s not solving any problems,” said Diotte. “You still have to drive to work, you still have to heat your home. It’s making life more expensive for everybody. It’s a tax plan, it’s not a climate plan, and it’s starting to really resonate with people.”

Meanwhile, Diotte says that with some hard work, the Conservative Party could very well form a majority government following this year’s federal election.

“I know that a lot of people have lost faith in Justin Trudeau - [he] came in with so much promise, and promise to do things differently and sunny ways and all of that,” said Diotte. “And now, it’s just been a disaster - a series of disasters - whether it’s SNC Lavalin, whether it’s the higher taxes on Canadians.”

“He’s been an unmitigated disaster, and I think Canadians are starting to realize that, and even liberals in the back rooms are starting to worry that he’s not the champion that they thought. In fact, he’s quite detrimental to the party. He’s just not resonating with people,” he continued. “I really do think that people are ready for a change, and the polls are showing that - that we will be forming government with hard work. You never take anything for granted.”

A few weeks ago, Diotte settled a lawsuit that he had launched against The Gateway, the student newspaper of the University of Alberta, for two stories in November 2018 that had described the Member of Parliament as racist, and for alleging that he had supported white nationalist and former Rebel Media reporter Faith Goldy in her bid to become mayor of Toronto.

The Gateway ended up issuing a retraction and apology over the incident.

“You can’t just make up things and say things about people that are not true,” he said.

In 2017, Diotte tweeted a photo of himself with Goldy, who was canned by far-right media outlet Rebel Media after appearing on The Daily Stormer, a Neo-Nazi podcast.  

Diotte says that he’s only met Goldy a couple of times in passing, and the claims made by the University of Alberta student newspaper that he supported her are “absolutely not true.”  

“Faith Goldy has her opinions, and you know they’re not obviously popular in all circles and so forth,” he said. “She basically came to a situation where she was, in many circles, sort of crossed a line, and is basically no longer with Rebel Media.”

Diotte feels a real sense of nostalgia coming back home to the Sault.

As a journalist, he started out as a freelancer for the Ottawa Journal before moving back home to Sault Ste. Marie to work in a number of different roles - from writing to editing to presenting on-air - for Huron Broadcasting in 1980.

“It’s always great to come back, because especially this time of year - when you do get summer here - it is one of the most beautiful places in the country,” said Diotte. “We always had a cottage, and I remember working at the TV station and you could go in any practical direction and get to a lake and sit around a campfire.”

“It’s a really magical place, it really is.”

- with files from Global News


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James Hopkin

About the Author: James Hopkin

James Hopkin is a reporter for SooToday in Sault Ste. Marie
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