The House of Commons in Ottawa resumes sitting tomorrow (September 17) and Banff-Airdrie MP Blake Richards is expecting sparks to fly.

Richards says, although a lot of things need to be talked about, pipelines and trade are at the top of the Conservative's agenda.  

"First of all, I'd say we're waiting to see what the government plans to do with their agenda but from our perspective as an opposition there's certainly been a number that obviously have our attention very significantly.  First and foremost amongst those is the (TransMountain) pipeline and the ability to get oil to tidewater.  We're seeing a variety of problems here, whether it be increased red tape and regulation in terms of the regulatory process themselves or whether it be increased carbon tax or otherwise.  That has been something that the government has really failed on and we're going to be pushing them very hard to improve and that we can actually see this come to fruition."

The other major issue hits very close to Richards and his new role as Shadow Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion.  That is the trade barriers that are facing this country.

"We've got to be looking at trade issues.  NAFTA, there's significant concern there about where do we stand in this regard right now.  I mean,we've got to find a way to make this work for Canadian businesses."

But Richards says the issue of trade between Canada, the U.S., and Mexico isn't the only one that concerns him and his Conservative counterparts.

"When we're looking beyond the U.S. market to other markets, we've got the Trans-Pacific Partnership that we've signed onto but it has to be ratified by this government.  We tried to force them to get it done over the summer because it's really quite critical that that be done quickly but, for whatever reason, they're dragging their feet on that."

The fall sitting of the House of Commons is scheduled to last from tomorrow through December 14th when they break for Christmas.  

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