It must be quite an adjustment for Conservative MP Mel Arnold.
Not long ago, he was operating his marine and RV business, volunteering for the BC Wildlife Federation, including a stint as president, and sitting on the city’s Environmental Advisory Committee. But he’d never held elected office at the municipal, provincial or federal level, before throwing his hat in to become retiring Conservative MP Colin Mayes’ successor.
Suddenly, you have an office on Parliament Hill and a desk in the House of Commons. Suddenly, you represent roughly 121,000 residents of the North Okanagan-Shuswap on the biggest political stage this country has to offer.
And here’s how he’s been using it.
This is a transcript of a question raised by our MP during a Feb. 19 House of Commons debate on Canada’s Contribution to the Effort to Combat ISIL.
Arnold: Mr. Speaker, last week when I was travelling from my home riding to Ottawa, I happened to listen to a radio interview of the mayor of Cold Lake in northern Alberta, where our fighter pilots are trained.
It was interesting to hear his somewhat reserved comments that he was glad that the fighter pilots were returning home, and they are always happy to return home to their families.
Their families have lost a sense of meaning; the fighter pilots are no longer going to be doing the job for which they had been trained. They had trained to fight when there was a fight that needed to be taken. I sensed the whole community was feeling some sort of loss because of the responsibility that was being taken away from these fighter pilots.
I often wonder now what incentive there is for new pilots who are entering the training system. How is the government going to incite new recruits into becoming fighter pilots, some of the best in the world, if they are never going to be given the chance to fly missions like this in Iraq and Syria?
That’s what you are concerned about, Mr. Arnold?
Your concern is our fighter pilots do not have enough incentive or opportunity to put their training to good use by bombing live targets?
You wonder how we will “incite” people to train to be fighter pilots when they aren’t going to be lured by the possibility of killing or maiming people with their missiles in Syria and Iraq?
Really?
That’s your question?
So without a war, our fighter pilots will be less prepared and suffer from low morale. Pardon me if I don’t jump up and start a petition drive on behalf of the bored fighter pilots of Canada.
I’d just like to remind your constituents that despite being new to the job, you still draw $163,700 in salary from the taxpayers of this country.
I wonder how much that question cost us?