Kevin Waugh, Conservative Party of Canada

Personal details. Name, age, hometown

Kevin Waugh, 63, Saskatoon.

Tell us about yourself

I am a people person and I’m energized by meeting people and hearing their stories. I’m motivated by a challenge and I love to work hard and play hard.

What’s a little-known fact about you?

I am sentimental.

Why should voters hire you?

I’ve been serving my community proudly in various roles over my career and as the federal representative, I’ve been able to take their voices to Ottawa. I hear from people on the doorsteps that people can see how hard I work on their behalf. I can say that every day I walk into the House of Commons in Ottawa or attend a local event as the Member of Parliament, I am honoured and I never take that privilege for granted.

Who should we call for a reference?

I work for the constituents of Saskatoon-Grasswood — they are my boss. I receive their feedback daily and I consider their criticisms or suggestions to be my best advice.

What is your greatest strength? What is your greatest weakness?

Listening without pre-judging or becoming defensive. My granddaughter.

Where do you stand on:

Gun laws? A Conservative government will tackle gun violence.

• End Automatic Bail for gang members.
• Identify Gangs in the Criminal Code.
• Revoke parole for gang members.
• Create tougher sentences for ordering gang crime.
• Create new sentences for violent gang crime.
• Ensure that possessing a smuggled firearm means prison time.
• Create a CBSA Firearms Smuggling Task Force.
• Ensure firearms don’t fall into the hands of dangerous individuals.
• Provide new funding to fight gangs.
• Create a police infrastructure grant program.
• Ensure better information sharing to solve gang crimes.
• Create stronger background checks for gun licences.
• Provide more support to keep young people from joining gangs.
• Make prison time meaningful.
• New penalties for selling guns to prohibited users.

The need for more pipelines? When Conservatives form government, we hope TransCanada will try once more to advance Energy East as a nation-building project that creates thousands of Canadian jobs, and helps export Canadian oil to Canadian provinces and around the world.

Western alienation? I believe alienation rears its head when people become frustrated with Ottawa. I support a strong, united Canada.

China? What should our approach be with some of our markets blocked? On China, we need a total reset in our relations. Canada should engage with the Chinese government but engage in a way that seeks to advance our values and our interests. We should engage in a way that recognizes how our values and our interests are in many respects incompatible with those of the Chinese government.

A Conservative government would reduce our reliance on China as a trading partner and look to strengthen our trading relationships with many of the like-minded democracies in the Indo-Pacific region who are in desperate need of secure access to energy exports.

We will end Canada’s $256-million investment in the Chinese-controlled Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and launch a formal complaint at the World Trade Organization if their trade blockades persist.

We will not allow Chinese state-owned enterprises, solely focused on the political interests of Beijing, unfettered access to the Canadian market.

Are we facing a climate change crisis? Is carbon tax the answer? A Conservative government will scrap the ineffective, job-killing and tax-grabbing carbon tax. We will implement “a real plan to protect our environment,” which will reduce global emissions without imposing a carbon tax.

Conservatives have a proud legacy when it comes to protecting Canada’s natural environment and improving Canada’s environmental performance: We created the national parks system, negotiated the Canada-U.S. acid rain treaty, brought in the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, etc.

Our former Conservative government managed to grow the economy while experiencing falling greenhouse gas emissions. In 2007, GHG emissions stood at 744 megatons. By 2015, GHG emissions were at 722 megatons.

The Paris targets are conservative targets and our plan will give Canada the best chance at reaching them.

The first part of our real plan to protect our environment is to drive towards combating climate change through green technology, not taxes.

We will set emissions standards for major emitters that will result in lower GHG and drive Canadian businesses to the highest standards of green technology.

Companies that emit more than is permitted under the green investment standards will be required to invest in research, development and adoption of emissions-reducing technology related to their industry. These companies will be required to invest a set amount for every tonne of greenhouse gas that they emit above the limit.

Our plan will expand the mandatory application of the major emitters policy from facilities emitting 50 kilotonnes of CO2 to facilities emitting 40 kilotonnes of CO2 per year. Therefore, our plan will be mandatory for more major emitters than Trudeau’s plan.

We will create the two-year Green Homes Tax Credit (GHTC), which will allow Canadians to be eligible for a 20-per-cent refundable credit on their income tax for green improvements to their homes of over $1,000 and up to $20,000. This will allow Canadians to save up to $3,800 on their green renovations in each year.

We will introduce the Green Patent Credit for green innovators and entrepreneurs. This will lower the tax rate from 15 per cent to five per cent on income generated through the patent of a green technology.

Our second policy principle — a cleaner and greener natural environment — focuses squarely on protecting our air, land, water, and wildlife.

We will reinforce protections against invasive species and pests that are threatening our natural environment.

We will protect our waterways against wastewater dumping. For example, the Liberals allowed the city of Montreal to dump eight billion litres of raw sewage into the St. Lawrence River.

We will place an emphasis on protecting and expanding our wetlands. We will reinstate the funding for wetlands, watersheds, and fisheries conservation that was cancelled by the Liberals.

We will take real action to reduce plastic waste by harmonizing recycling standards across provinces and working with industry to cut down on excessive packaging.

The third principle of our climate plan is taking the climate change fight global.

We will take real action to address the problem of carbon leakage. If you shut down Canada’s entire economy for a year, China would replace all our emissions within three weeks.

First, we will use Canadian energy products to displace dirtier foreign energy sources. For example, we will export our liquefied natural gas (LNG) to countries like China that are trying to move away from burning coal.

Second, we will export Canadian clean products to displace higher-emissions products. For example, our aluminum production is the most efficient and least carbon intensive in the entire world. By exporting our aluminum to countries like China, we can support our economy while also increasing the carbon efficiency of the global supply.

Third, the green technology that we develop in Canada will be exported to the world to lower emissions globally. For example, if China fitted just its top 100 coal plants with Canadian carbon capture and storage technology, it would reduce emissions by more than 300 megatonnes of CO2 per year — nearly half of what Canada’s entire economy produces.

These are only just a few of the 55 concrete steps which we have laid out to fight climate change in our real plan to protect our environment.

It’s a day off and you can do anything you want. What would it be?

Take in a baseball game.

Who inspires you?

Lou Holtz.

What is your hidden talent?

Pep talks.

What do you wish you could do but can’t?

Be a Major League Baseball player.

Who are the three people, dead or alive, that you’d love to have dinner with?

John Diefenbaker, Lou Holtz and Bobby Orr.

How do you take your coffee?

With cream.

What’s the one album you’d take with you on a desert island? What embarrassing song do you admit to on your playlist?

Album: Too many to choose from. Song: We Built This City by Starship.

What is your guilty pleasure?

Baseball diamond, sunshine, hot dog and a beer — and I don’t feel guilty about it.

What is the last book you read?

Tragedy in the Commons, Former MPs speak out about Canada’s Failing Democracy.

What is your favourite TV show? What are you binge watching?

Major League Baseball, followed by any baseball.

What is your all-time favourite movie?

Field of Dreams.