Q & A with MP Viersen

In today’s political climate, politicians are not known for addressing the concerns of their constituents. Arnold Viersen is the exception. On Tuesday, January 15, 2019, he arranged a meet and greet discussion to explain his platform and discuss any apprehension that community members might have. Viersen was thorough with his explanations and provided insight to his platform.

“Although the outcomes might be similar, the major differences between Conservatives and Liberals are the mindsets and how they go about resolving the same issue. A   Liberal government will say, “we need to fund this project,” and will try to find the money later whereas a Conservative government will figure out how to obtain the money before spending it. You could have the same outcome but the way each party goes about the issue is quite different,” Viersen explained. While discussing the Carbon Tax, he explained that the goal is to remove it. Viersen believes the Carbon Tax is doing more harm than good for the economy.

“I believe the Liberal Government is too involved in the wrong places, that main priorities of the government should be border control, immigration, military, justice, and safety,” Viersen said. He brought light to many of his ideas, the most important of which revolves working against violence and sexually explicit material online. He also outlined how new legislation is going to make it more difficult for people to stumble upon undesirable content.

“The government already works alongside THORN and donates money to the foundation. This new legislation is more to protect people against violent and sexual content. The average age that children search pornography specifically is age eleven with the age of subjection lowering.” Viersen said. Monitoring screen time is a proactive way of ensuring your child is protected and not subjected to pornography. A significant issue is that there are now videos on YouTube, that is advertised toward children with adult content. Screening videos that your children could potentially be subjected to and flagging inappropriate content is a small step that you can take at home to protect your children.

Transparency in an elected leader is often hard to come by; however, Arnold Viersen provided honest and open responses to each question asked whether about asylum, economical, or moral stances. When questioned about the Yellow Vest Protests, he had this to say, “People are wondering if the protests are making a difference. Know that they are. They forced the prime minister to acknowledge the movement. Keep protesting, keep standing your ground. The government is here to represent and speak for the people, make it listen.”

Stay tuned for the upcoming provincial and federal election. If you seek change, vote. If you are content with the way the government is running, vote. Your opinions in the elected representatives running your country matter.