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BY ROB MOORE

GUEST OPINION

The holidays are a time to gather with family and friends, to reflect on our many blessings and all that has been accomplished in the past year.

Canada’s Conservatives, under the leadership of Andrew Scheer, have been hard at work sharing our positive vision to put people before government. We are strong, united and ready to take on Justin Trudeau’s Liberals in 2019.

For Prime Minister Trudeau, 2018 can be summed up with just a single word: ‘failure.’ Throughout the year, he demonstrated to Canadians his inability to get things done on the issues that matter most to them. A Liberal government that began with a great deal of ‘hope and hard work’ three years ago has given way to exhaustion and incompetence. They’re out of ideas, out of energy, and almost out of time.

Canada is facing a national economic crisis. Thousands of jobs have been lost in our energy sector because of Mr. Trudeau’s failure to build pipelines, and there are thousands more on the line due to Canada’s lack of pipeline capacity. These impacts workers in Atlantic Canada and across the country, who just want to be able to provide for their families.

The reality is that before Mr. Trudeau became prime minister, there were three private companies willing to invest more than $30 billion to build three, nation-building pipelines that would have created tens of thousands of jobs and generated billions of dollars in economic activity. Mr. Trudeau killed Northern Gateway and Energy East, put the Trans Mountain Expansion on life-support, and introduced legislation that will block all future pipeline projects.

Conservatives are proud of Canada’s energy sector and the wealth and prosperity it brings to all Canadians. Unlike Atlantic Canada’s 32 Liberal Members of Parliament, my colleagues and I understand the importance of getting a West to East pipeline built and are prepared to champion energy projects and fight for jobs in our region.

The Liberals haven’t delivered the ‘real results’ they promised and Atlantic Canadians are tired of being taken for granted.

First the Liberals appointed a Minister for ACOA from Toronto, then they tried to take away our seat on the Supreme Court and most recently they moved the Fisheries and Oceans portfolio to the west coast. Who at the cabinet table is standing up for our region? If recent decisions are any indication, the answer is no one.

Mr. Trudeau’s failed economic policies are making it harder for families and businesses in Atlantic Canada. The Liberals’ never-ending tax hikes mean more people are just getting by, instead of getting ahead. Their job-killing carbon tax won’t reduce emissions, but it will increase the cost of gasoline, home heating and electricity. Worse still, while families and local businesses will be expected to pay the full cost of this new tax, the Prime Minister cut a special side deal with the biggest emitters that will let them pollute for free. That’s not right.

In the last election, Mr. Trudeau promised Canadians that he would balance the budget by 2019. But the reality is that he has failed spectacularly; this year’s deficit is more than $20 billion and the Liberals have no plan to return to balance.

Every year that Mr.Trudeau runs deficits, he is borrowing money from future generations. Today’s deficits are tomorrow’s taxes. Canadians know that it’s wrong to leave their children with unpaid bills, but that is exactly what the Prime Minister is doing.

The good news is that in 2019 Canadians will be going to the polls and will have an opportunity to elect a Conservative government that will get Canada back on track. Mr. Scheer will lower taxes, put people first, and make Canadians proud on the world stage once again.

- Rob Moore is the ex-MP for Fundy Royal in N.B. and the Conservative shadow critic for Atlantic Canada