Jackson embraces role change from MLA to MP

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This article was published 13/06/2025 (286 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Newly elected Brandon-Souris MP Grant Jackson said the first weeks on the job have been an exciting adjustment.

“I had a lot to learn,” said Jackson, who has only represented the riding for a month and a half. “There’s been a lot on the go.”

The 28-year-old Conservative MP said there was a quick turnaround from the April election to the start of Parliament’s session, along with setting up his constituency office.

The main switch from being an MLA (Spruce Woods) to an MP, he said, is that everything is bigger.

“The constituency is much larger, the amounts of money that government is spending is much larger,” he said in a sit-down interview with the Sun on Friday.

“Going from a Conservative caucus of 21 or 22 MLAs, we sit around a boardroom and it feels like a big family supper. There’s 144 (federal Conservative members). It’s much different. Our caucus is very large.”

Jackson said he has so far enjoyed his time as an MP, and that it’s an honour to represent the area he grew up in and to advocate for it.

He is Manitoba’s caucus chair, which is the central voice for Manitoba Conservative MPs, and a member of the procedure and House affairs committee. He said being part of the committee has been nice so he can get right to work, although the committee has only met twice, and both of those times were this week.

Jackson introduced an unrelated petition earlier this week, which was started to combat nuisance election ballots. Nearly 950 people have signed the petition as of Friday afternoon. Jackson plans on delivering it to the House in the fall.

The MP also said he has plans for bills he will introduce when he gets the opportunity, although he didn’t share what they would be.

Despite the Conservative party losing its fourth election in a row, this time after having a 26-point lead in some polls in January, Jackson said the party is strong.

“I mean, we got millions more votes in this election than we had in the past, we did pick up seats, we raised record fundraising levels, so I think those are all signs of a very healthy party,” he said.

“I think nationally, it was a well-organized campaign. I think we had a great platform, one of the best platforms I’ve seen in a long time. I hope we keep most of it.”

Jackson acknowledged, however, that the party still needs to do better, as it isn’t in power. He said the 26-point lead disappearing was because former prime minister Justin Trudeau stepped down, current Prime Minister Mark Carney has a “significant resumé” and U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly threatened Canada’s sovereignty.

He said the Liberals won on stability, while the Conservatives were running on change.

On the current scene, Jackson said Carney’s decision to invite Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alta., which starts Sunday, was a good one.

It’s important to invite countries like India because it is a trading partner and is the most populated country in the world, he said.

“India is one of our largest trading partners — we have to do business with them,” he said. “We obviously have some concerns about some things that have happened in the past, but you have to have those frank conversations leader to leader. He has to be at the table in order for that to happen.”

Jackson noted that Trump is in the same boat, in that a lot of people don’t want him to attend either. But, he added, the United States is a G7 nation and has the largest GDP in the world, so the American president should be there.

Jackson said international trade, creating jobs and Canada having the back of other G7 countries if Trump restarts his comments about making Canada its 51st state is what he hopes will come out of the international summit.

» alambert@brandonsun.com