If you're going to effectively represent your constituency in Ottawa, you have to know what people in it are thinking.  

That's the philosophy Banff-Airdrie MP Blake Richards employs when he meets with members of his constituency.  Three of those meetings were held recently in Airdrie, Cochrane, and Crossfield.

Richards explains the motivation behind the meetings.  "We bring in people from the community, maybe it's business owners, maybe it's people from the community when I've been knocking on doors, who've shown an interest in having a broader conversation.  People who have sent me an email, written me a letter, or I've met at a community event and they've expressed an interest in having a conversation on policy issues.  It's something I do quite often is pull together, for a breakfast or a lunch, maybe eight or 10 or a dozen people from the community.  It's much like when I knock on doors or when I'm at community events, it's an opportunity, maybe at a little bit deeper level, just to hear what's on people's minds."

Richards says when he represents the area in Ottawa, he wants to know what people's viewpoints are so that he can do it well and meetings like the ones just conducted give him that opportunity.  In the case of the meeting in Airdrie, a group from the Chamber of Commerce were on hand to talk about trade with Richards.  He says the perspective of business people who have the chance to hear from their customers on a regular basis, is invaluable.

"They speak to many customers over the course of a week.  I'm able to draw from what they're hearing from people in the community.  It's just a great opportunity for me to be able to take those viewpoints and be able to bring them forward.  My job is to represent the community and the people in it.  The best way to do that is to listen and to hear what's on people's mind and what they expect to see happen at the government level.  That's the core of my job."

Richards says there were a lot of great conversations at the meetings, but the majority of participants expressed fear over the state of the economy and uncertainty over Canada's regulatory processes.

"The uncertainty over business to be able to be competitive with the United States and other countries.  It seems like taxes are increasing and regulation is being increased as well.  We're finding that our competitors are moving in the opposite direction, lower taxes and less regulation.  There was a real concern expressed over that.  I think that was at the core of most discussions.  It boiled down to our ability to be competitive and therefore create opportunities for Canadians across our economy is really the top issue on people's minds right now."

The meetings took place prior to the Federal Court of Appeals turning over the Trudeau government's approval of the TransMountain Pipeline expansion, so that issue wasn't talked about.  

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