Terence Young, a seasoned politician, is the Conservative Candidate in Oakville. The former member of the House of Commons and Legislative Assembly of Ontario is chasing after a second term in Ottawa, after being knocked out by Liberal MP John Oliver in 2015.
I asked Terrence whether his former experience in government has given him a leg up in his campaign. “Oh yes, very much so,” he says. During his tenure with the Harper government, he opened 1300 files into cases with the federal government, ranging from tax matters to veterans affairs. “People remember I worked hard for them,” he remarks.
I question Young about his environmental platform and his party’s plan to repeal the carbon tax. “The Carbon Tax doesn’t do anything to reduce carbon levels. It is proven to be a failure, ” he says, adding how it increases the cost of living for all Canadians.
“We have a 55 point plan,” he says. His party would implement a home renovation tax credit, and switch to liquified natural gas as fuel for home heating. “We have the best technology in the world made in Canada to cluster greenhouse gases underground and seal them in,” he adds. He describes how they would sell these technologies to the world’s largest polluters.
Young tells me under the Harper government they settled 55 land claims. He mentions how the Liberals have spent 55 million dollars on the Investigation into Missing Indigenous women and have learned nothing new. He says he is still trying to find where the value is.
The Harper government put two billion dollars on the table for education on native reserves, he explains the Indigenous Assembly turned it down because they did not want to be held accountable for the money. Young emphasizes the importance of offering the Indigenous community money and resources, but in an appropriate way that is responsible for everybody.
The Conservative party has promised to balance the budget in five years. Young explains they would cut foreign aid to countries that don’t share Canada’s core beliefs or who are wealthy already, like China and Italy. “We are not going to put money into big infrastructure projects such as a pipeline and we are not going to give millions and millions of dollars to corporations who are already quite wealthy like the Liberals do.”
Mr. Young points out his party’s plan to implement a universal tax cut, bringing down the tax rate gradually, for people of all wealth levels, though he emphasizes the tax cut would benefit those making lower-income, the most.
According to Mr. Young, his experience is what differentiates him from the other candidates in Oakville. “I have eleven years of experience in two governments. I wasn’t in opposition, arguing to get things done, I was inside making things work,” he remarks.