Bow River constituents re-elected Martin Shields for MP on Sept. 20.
“Of course, you’re running to win, but with those ballots, you just never take anything for granted. It’s a huge relief, but very humbling on the other hand. There are a lot of people that voted for the conservative party, and it’s humbling when you start to see the numbers and know you’ve won. Now I have more work to do,” Shields said.
Adding, “We have tremendous people in this riding, it’s a great riding and it’s an honour to serve and to be the representative for the federal government.”
Going forward, Shields will continue to have open communication with constituents, from in-person meetings, social media, newsletters, and emails.
“I represent all of the constituents, and I try to work for all of them. I try to communicate with all of the different communities, we try to communicate as much as we can, and when constituents contact us, we try to make sure we stay in communication as much as we can,” Shields said.
Shields will continue advocacy work for the agriculture and irrigation sectors in Bow River.
“Four of the largest irrigation districts in the country are in this riding, we have the largest meatpacking plant, we have a huge cattle industry, and agriculture, and irrigation in this part of the riding are huge,” Shields said.
“The natural gas, the oil, and the resource sector is also something that I work on, we have great resources, the natural gas prices are increasing significantly this year. I’ll continue supporting the pipelines, and supporting the resource sector,” he said.
Another issue Shields is working on is increasing broadband throughout every community in Bow River to every farm gate.
“We have very high-tech agriculture industries; we have high tech small businesses, and they need high-speed internet. With everyone working from home some have learned they either didn’t have access to enough broadband or to the speed,” Shields said.
Adding, “That’s something that I’ve worked on for years and we need to continue to fight for broadband to the last farm gate.”
Throughout his campaign, Shields heard from many constituents that they want a change in government.
“The biggest concern we heard was they wanted a change in government, they wanted the liberals gone. That I heard more than anything was that we need a change in government, and there is a lot of frustration,” Shields said.
