Fantino ‘diametrically opposed’ to Justin Trudeau’s platform

Yorkregion.com
Aug. 20, 2015
By Adam Martin-Robbins

Vaughan-Woodbridge Conservative candidate Julian Fantino has been taking jabs at the Liberals, especially party leader Justin Trudeau, since the federal election campaign kicked off.
But he denies it’s because he’s concerned the Grits will take back the riding.

“I vehemently disagree with his outlook on the economy, on the threat of terrorism, on the liberalization of drugs. We are certainly not in sync. We are diametrically opposed,” the 73-year-old incumbent said in an interview Monday night following an official kick-off event at his newly opened campaign office.

During the past two weeks, Fantino’s team has sent out a flurry of news releases, many of which contain swipes at Trudeau and the Liberal platform.

In the releases, Fantino slams Trudeau’s proposal to legalize marijuana, his pledge to end the combat mission against ISIS and plans to replace the Universal Child Care Benefit and scrap the Tories’ near doubling of the tax-free savings account contribution limits, among other things.

The shots continued during Fantino’s campaign launch Monday night as he addressed a crowd of more than 100 gathered at the former Longo’s supermarket at Weston Road and Langstaff Road.

Although he didn’t mention Trudeau by name, Fantino talked at length about how, unlike some “others”, he’s against legalizing marijuana.

Fantino also talked extensively about his belief that Canadian troops need to fight ISIS overseas to prevent Canada from becoming the battleground.

Fantino insists it’s not because he’s worried the Liberals have a shot at winning in the new, much smaller riding severed off from the one held for more than two decades by Maurizio Bevilacqua, the former Grit MP turned Vaughan mayor.

“Forty years in law enforcement have given me, I think, the credentials to speak with some authority with these issues and not speak hypothetically about stuff,” said the former police chief. “I’ve seen what drugs do. I know about the threat of terrorism from first-hand experience. You know, these are real issues ... I’m speaking about the kinds of things that I believe Canadians care deeply about and the same about what local citizens, here in Vaughan, are concerned about.”

Fantino asserted he’s not concerned that his opponent, Liberal candidate Francesco Sorbara, will likely reap a benefit from the fact he shares a last name with longtime former Liberal MPP Greg Sorbara, although they are not closely related.

“I take nothing for granted, I never have, but there’s a big difference between me and any other candidate. I have the credentials; I have the track record; I have the experience and I have the proof that by sending me back to Ottawa, I can continue to deliver for the people of Vaughan,” he said. “I don’t have to rely on name recognition; I just rely on what I do."

Sorbara responded by saying he’s got a “great” campaign team and is running on a platform that “contains measures that will help the majority of families in Vaughan-Woodbridge” unlike the Tory platform, which, he says, benefits “the wealthiest of Canadians.”

And, Sorbara added, he’s happy to let Fantino discuss his record in office, especially his troubled tenure at the helm of Veterans Affairs.

“If Mr. Fantino would like to talk about his track record as minister of Veterans Affairs, I think that is a fair track record to talk about and it speaks for itself,” the 43-year-old first-time candidate said.

Since capturing the local seat in a November 2010 byelection, Fantino has held four different cabinet posts.

In 2011, shortly after a landslide victory in the general election, Fantino was appointed minister of state for seniors. A few months later, however, he was plucked from there and appointed associate minister of national defence, in charge of procurement.

In that role, Fantino drew criticism for bumbling responses to questions about the ballooning price tag for the proposed purchase of F-35 fighter jets.

Following that, in July 2012, he was appointed minister of international cooperation where he drew criticism for, among other things, remarks about a decision to halt aid funding for earthquake-ravaged Haiti due what he said was frustration at the “widespread corruption” and “lack of progress rebuilding the country.”

Fantino was shuffled to Veterans Affairs in July 2013 where he soon found himself in a standoff with Canada’s injured war veterans over their disability pensions.

Tensions heightened when he announced the government was shuttering several Veterans Affairs offices across the country.

When a group of veterans travelled to Ottawa to press him about the issue, Fantino arrived more than an hour late to the meeting then left abruptly following a few fiery exchanges.

Months later Fantino was spotted by the media in Ottawa reportedly snubbing the spouse of a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder.

She’d come to confront him about why his ministry boosted its advertising budget by $4 million for ad campaign about its efforts to help vets transition into civilian life, while many veterans and their families were struggling to get the help they needed.

Then came revelations that his department allowed more than $1 billion of its budget to lapse and return to the federal treasury since 2006.

Amid calls for him to resign from cabinet, Fantino was shuffled back to his former post as associate minister of defence in January.

Asked about these controversies, Fantino said he’s “very proud” of the work he did at Veterans Affairs, saying “a lot of that was misinterpreted, misrepresented.”

“Controversies are inspired by many different agendas,” he said.

As for his remarks about Haiti, Fantino said the country “needed to be held accountable for the billion dollars that Canadian taxpayers contributed to their issues to help them in their time of need.”

Fantino also noted that although he was shuffled out of three different portfolios, he was never demoted.

“If the prime minister felt I was a lame duck, he probably would have dispatched me to the backbenches, but that didn’t happen,” he said. “I’m quite proud of my contribution in government and I’m very, very honoured that I’ve been able to serve in these portfolios, which were not easy portfolios.”