Yorkton-Melville MP Gary Breitkreuz says that the past year was a good one for the government, and the country as a whole.
The big plus for the country was the economy, with a global recession leaving the nation relatively unscathed. Breitkreuz says that the plan to go towards balanced budgets is on pace
"This past year shows that we've managed things pretty good as far as the budget and the federal government is concerned. Most countries have had a difficult time coming through it, but Canada is number one in the world economically, so that says a lot about how we handled things."
He also says that the general operation has gone smoothly as well, with the large omnibus bills passing without incident. Gun control bills were also revisited, and Breitkreuz says he managed to prevent restrictions which he says would have made importation of firearms "virtually impossible."
The big news for the federal government, and for this region specifically, is the trade deal with the European Union. Breitkreuz says that the potential benefits for this area are wide-ranging.
"At this point we just don't realize how important that will be for this constituency. Agriculture will benefit greatly as the years go by, with access to another 500 million people we should be very competitive... The Europeans have traditionally put up a lot of barriers to us exporting into the area, this takes a lot of those barriers away... It is an agreement that in my opinion is more important than the agreement with the US, and look what that agreement has done to boost Canada's economy."
He says that while that is the big deal, there are also many much smaller deals with smaller countries that add up to a wide range of new markets for the Yorkton-Melville constituency.
Another thing that Breitkreuz believes will pay dividends in this area is a permanent gas tax refund, which funds grants to infrastructure automatically. He says that the grants have gone unnoticed, but he says that it has been a program that benefits the region.
"There's not a lot of fanfare, not a lot of politics, it's just money they can count on to benefit the region."
When it comes to the senate expenses scandal, Breitkreuz believes that it was a small issue blown out of proportion, and that in the next year he hopes to move on to more important issues.
"The focus on that has distracted from some of the other important things in Canada. We should be having debates on what the best way to move forward is, what should we be doing, but the opposition drives the agenda... It makes for interesting television, but the distraction it provides from the main issues is a distraction for us," Brietkreuz says.
"You'll always have people who bend the rules and do something they shouldn't, it's very difficult to control every single person that's in Ottawa, but look at the large number of people who continue to do a really good job that go unnoticed... If the RCMP finish their inquiry that should probably put this whole thing to rest."
For the coming year, Breitkreuz says that the country needs to stay the course, keep the house in order and keep on the path to a balanced budget. He says that he is worried when he sees what is happening south of the border with increased spending without increased revenue, and he says Canada can't go down the same path.
"If government lives within its means, and keeps taxes low, it boosts the economy."
Breitkreuz concludes by saying it was a good year for him personally as well, as he celebrated 20 years in parliament.
