For Chatham-Kent—Leamington’s member of parliament, 2022 brought on changes to both his party and his role therein.
Dave Epp, speaking during a wide-ranging end-of-year interview, said he hasn’t seen the Conservative Party more united than now since he became active in federal politics in 2018.
“As I was very transparent with, I did not support Pierre Poilievre in the leadership (race).” he said. “I certainly do now. He has been a little bit different than what I expected, but he has certainly united our party. I’ve never seen it as united.”
Epp, who has been the riding’s MP since 2019, put his support behind Jean Charest, who placed a distant second in the leadership race.
Prior to Poilievre becoming leader, Epp had served as the party’s deputy shadow minister for agriculture. He lost that role once Poilievre named his new cabinet this year.
Epp said the party used the term “elevated” to describe his new appointment to the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development.
He said he expected to lose the deputy shadow minister position and originally didn’t see his new role the same way as the party, but has since been convinced otherwise.
“I understood that I picked a different leader and thought that was – use whatever word you want – punishment or whatever it is,” Epp said.
However, he said he realized foreign affairs is one of the major House of Commons committees, ranking with finance, health and public safety.
“Since Thanksgiving, I have been focused a bit on drinking from the firehose again on the numerous conflict situations around the world, of which Canada has either an indirect or direct interest,” he said.
The major conflicts include Ukraine and Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, Haiti and the uprising in Iran, he said.
Although he no longer has an official title related to agriculture, Epp said the party has kept him on specific issues. The main one is the grocer code of conduct, but he also works on issues related to the Temporary Foreign Worker program and the 35 per cent tariff on fertilizer imported from Russia and Belarus.
He is also involved with issues related to the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.
Epp said several people have been bringing issues related to inflation to his constituency offices.
“I see what people are going through. Inflation is hitting them in almost everything they purchase,” he said.
“Of course, the consequence of that … is the rising interest rates. It goes back to the more the government spends, the more that things cost.”
Epp noted his party supported many of the early COVID-19 relief programs for Canadians in 2020 and supported the doubling of the GST rebate this year. He also acknowledged there are factors other than government spending that have contributed to high inflation around the world.
However, he pointed to a recent auditor general report, which found $4.6 billion in overpayments through these programs and another $27.4 billion in payments that needs to be investigated further.
The Conservative Party, including Epp, also did not support the Liberal and NDP agreement to expand dental coverage this year. The first phase includes two payments of up to $650 per child for families earning less than $90,000 if the child is under 12 and does not have access to private dental insurance.
Epp was first elected less than five months before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. He said 2022 was his “most enjoyable year” in office so far because of more opportunities to network both within his own party and across the aisle.
“The fact that receptions and other industry meetings are being held in Ottawa gives that opportunity to build relationships with colleagues independently of stripe and then you become more effective in the communities or more effective in reaching out on issues,” he said.
Walking across the floor of the House of Commons to speak with a minister or deputy minister on a specific file became a more regular occurrence this year with the return of in-person parliamentary sessions, he said.
“For myself, it’s been far more enjoyable to do that,” Epp said. “That’s the job I thought I was signing up for back in the 2019 election. It also takes more effort and I’m certainly glad to put that forward.”