Rick Dykstra - Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

Dykstra was first elected to the House of Commons in 2006, defeating Liberal incumbent Walt Lastewka by 244 votes, one of the closest races in the country. The Conservative Party won a minority government in the election, and Dykstra sat in parliament as a government backbencher and serves as a member of the Standing Committees on Justice and Finance. In 2007, he co-authored the "Dissenting Opinion of the Conservative Party of Canada" to a document entitled "Taxing Income Trusts: Reconcilable or Irreconcilable differences?" which agreed with the government's decision to implement a 31.5% tax on income trusts.

In April 2007, Dykstra and his colleague Dean Allison introduced a private member's bill proposing to eliminate the so-called faint-hope clause. In November 2007, he introduced a private member's bill seeking to end the practice of giving double-credit for time served in custody prior to sentencing.

In April 2008, Dykstra introduced a motion to have the Finance Committee study the abolishment of the penny. He later brought forward a motion to have the Justice Committee study the investigative approach of the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

On November 7, 2008, Dykstra was appointed by the Prime Minister as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. Parliamentary Secretaries are charged with coordinating government policy through the committee process, and responding to questions in the House of Commons when the Minister is on official business.

On November 11, 2009, Dykstra received criticism when he was photographed using his BlackBerry during a remembrance day ceremony in St. Catharines. Dykstra stated that he was writing a brief note about the event to be uploaded to his blog and using the device's camera to photograph the wreaths. The photograph was taken by Renate Hodges, the campaign manager for former Liberal candidate Walt Lastewka.

On September 7, 2010, the federal Ethics Commissioner, issued a report in which the Commissioner found that “Mr. Dykstra personally solicited funds from individuals with whom he had official dealings shortly before and after the fundraising event”. While the Commissioner determined that this soliciting was not in breach of the Conflict of Interest Act, the Commissioner did note that, in this case, the Act was a lesser standard than under the Conflict of Interest and Post-Employment Code for Public Office Holders which applied before the Stephen Harper government came to power.