Justin Wright, MLA Cypress-Medicine Hat, speaks to residents during a casual open house and coffee Thursday evening at his constituency office.--NEWS PHOTO BRENDAN MILLER
bmiller@medicinehatnews.com
Justin Wright, MLA for Cypress-Medicine Hat, held an informal open house for members of the public at his constituency office Thursday evening, where he listened to concerns raised by residents and answered some ‘hard-ball’ questions around potential tariffs and increased border security.
Wright was asked if he feels provincial spending to increase border security is being done to appease Trump’s administration, replying that since he was elected in 2023 general election, he has heard concerns around Canada/U.S border security from his southern counterparts.
“I can tell you when I was in Oregon, from a perspective of the most commonly talked about … their biggest concern was around fentanyl.”
Wright said Americans he spoke with are concerned with the amount of the lethal drug crossing the border and believes a recent FBI investigation will shed light on how much fentanyl is coming into the U.S. from Canada. Reports from Canada say less than 1 per cent of the fentanyl in the U.S. is coming from north of the border.
“In my honest opinion, I just don’t think it was a focus with a threat behind it” said Wright. “And now there’s a threat behind it, there is a response to respond to the actual concern, not the threat.”
The MLA says increased border spending will deter drug trafficking as well as terrorism suspects from entering America, but will have the same effect with firearms and illegal cigarettes entering Canada.
“The challenge we have is we’ve got to take responsibility for what we can control,” he said.
Additionally, Wright said the UCP government believes it should continue in diplomatic trade discussions with senators and policy makers in the United States and work together to avoid a potential 25 per cent tariff that could have significant impacts on both sides of the border.
After speaking with Premier Danielle Smith, who was recently in Washington, D.C. lobbing to U.S. lawmakers with fellow premieres, Wright says trade negotiations between provinces and federal bodies have been well received by advisers to the U.S. president.
“There’s a lot of good that’s coming,” said Wright. “A lot of good that’s come from diplomatic efforts and a lot in regards to controlling what we can control.”
Wright paraphrased the term, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” to describe provincial policies that provide Alberta leverage in trade negotiations.
“When we really own and address and say we’ve done our diligence, diplomatically, from a law enforcement perspective, we go from there.”
Wright also spoke candidly about breaking down inter-provincial trade barriers and says all provinces need to work together to open free trade across the country.
“Everybody should be saying it doesn’t matter about party lines, it doesn’t matter about political ideology, let’s make Canada trade better within Canada,” said Wright. “We need to get rid of the beer blocking, we need to get rid of the manufacturing block.
“We need to make sure that we’re working together and break down these trade barriers. I look at the folks in Nova Scotia, they’re incredibly pro (free trade), and I look at some of the other provinces and they’re like, ‘no, we need to do everything we can to protect,’ however the way you protect is open it up so you sell more.”
For more than two hours Wright also answered questions regarding surgery wait times, new education funding and the local situation with the Mustard Seed.
“What I love about these conversations, these coffees with the MLA are just designed to be a conversation where we can use action items for them (those in attendance) to really be able to get the pulse of where things are at with folks.
“There are topics that tend to hog up a lot of time, and then there’s other topics that you may not have heard had you not held these meetings, so I look forward to any time we can host these.”
Wright will be joined by Smith, MLA for Brooks-Medicine Hat, for the next town hall discussion planned for March 4 at Medicine Hat College. The town hall is sponsored and organized by the local constituency associations.
The town hall will be moderated and constituents will have the opportunity to pre-submit questions, or ask questions in person during the open mic portion of the town hall.
