Greg McLean

Greg was elected the Member of Parliament for Calgary Centre on October 21, 2019. His Member of Parliament website is GregMcLeanMP.ca. The constituency office remains open during an election to assist constituents needing help or information respecting government matters.

Work in Parliament
In Parliament, Greg serves as the Conservative Shadow Minister for Natural Resources & Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor) under Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole. Prior to leading the Conservative Natural Resources portfolio, Greg served as the Deputy Shadow Minister for National Revenue (tax policy issues). Greg is the Vice-Chair of the Standing Committee on Natural Resources; he previously served on the Justice and Human Rights Committee.

Professional Career
Before being elected as MP for Calgary Centre in 2019, Greg worked as a financial professional for 20 years. His work put him in close contact with Alberta’s vital oil and gas sector and with technology start-ups, giving him a first-hand understanding of what it takes for hard-working Calgarians to invest, risk, build, and succeed. It’s the entrepreneurial spirit that drives our province and helps make our city great. Greg works hard to use his financial background to bring on-the-ground expertise in finance, business and resource development to Parliament. As a new MP, Greg has spent time working with his colleagues refining policy on resource development, including the significant strides the industry has taken toward sustainable development, and the many reasons that Canadians should prefer Canadian oil over environmentally and ethically inferior imports.

Personal
Greg has a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from the University of Alberta, and an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario.

Together, Greg and his wife Ruth Pogue have a combined family of four sons. Greg is a big music fan, and enjoys skiing, hiking, biking, and everything else Calgary and the Rocky Mountains has to offer.

I am extremely concerned about the deep pit of deficits and debt that Canada is facing, and the clear intention of the current government to continue running up those deficits and debts without regard to the fact that our children, and very likely their children, are going to have to pay that money back - with interest. It is highly irresponsible of my generation to spend so carelessly and just expect our kids to pick up the tab.

As an Albertan, I am also extremely concerned at the hostility this Liberal government shows to my province and the goals of its citizens for a prosperous, responsible future. The Conservative Party is the only major federal party that has presented a plan for Alberta's economic prosperity: a plan that takes account of our world's need to reduce GHG emissions and to protect our land and water, and yet advances sensible, practical and effective solutions to both environmental imperatives and the prosperity of our citizens.

Never in the history of Canada has so much been spent to achieve so little. The tragedy isn’t just the money wasted, it’s that so much could have been achieved if the Liberal government budgeted properly and cared about the details.

All this borrowing has to be paid back with interest by Canadian taxpayers. Whenever Justin Trudeau says deficits are okay, Canadians should understand higher taxes are coming their way.

Spending to protect Canadians in the pandemic was the right thing to do, and I supported it, although I would have preferred to see it shoveled out the door with better planning and some reflection after the early days of emergency spending were behind us. We can’t pass unsustainable debt on to future generations. Once the recovery starts, we will need to get spending under control. Conservatives will:

Wind down emergency COVID support programs in a responsible way as Canadians are vaccinated and the economy re-opens;

Ensure that stimulus measures are targeted and time-limited to avoid creating a structural deficit;

Get the economy growing again after years of slow growth under the Liberals, so that we have the revenue to pay for the government services that Canadians rely on;

Implement a sensible plan for Alberta's economic recovery that includes research into 21st century industries based on high technology research and development, an LNG export strategy to help the world reduce its dependence on burning coal, partnership with Indigenous Peoples to work together on resource and infrastructure projects, and introduction of tax incentives for the development of Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage technology that will help us capture waste carbon and turn it into useful products.

As noted above, getting control of the deficit and debt is a high priority for me as I do not wish to look my kids in the eye and tell them how much money they are going to have to spend because their parents refused to be fiscally responsible.

Also as noted above, I want to see an economy for both Alberta and Canada that takes account of our global environmental responsibilities but also prioritizes economic growth, prosperity for all citizens, and a good quality of life.