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Vol. 14, No. 21, Wednesday, April 10, 2019 www.LamontLeader.com
Candidates in the homestretch Vote is next Tuesday, April 16 for Alberta Provincial election
No new promises at St. Michael forum BY JOHN MATHER The all-candidates meeting in St. Michael, Apr. 8, featured a full room of more than 200 interested voters who came out to hear the seven MLA hopefuls for Fort Saskatchewan Vegreville sell their message. Surprisingly, the speeches were the same ones, with a few word changes here and there, as the speeches the candidates gave at the Fort Saskatchewan forum a week earlier. Alberta Freedom Party candidate Malcolm Stinson added a new closing line to his speech, “If elected, “I will become Jason Kenney’s worst nightmare.” Alberta candidate Marvin Olsen explained to the crowd he had once been an ardent Progressive Conservative candidate, but had switched to the Alberta Party because, “I found the UCP to be too far right.” Following the three-minute opening speeches, questions were taken from both the floor and from submissions made to the forum organizers – the Lamont and District Chamber of Commerce. These ran from how would the candidates balance the budget; to dealing with mental health emergencies in rural areas; to dealing with people suffering from autism in rural areas; climate changes; and to the need for basic internet services in rural areas. To that end, the Alberta Party released a policy stating that under a government they formed, high-quality, reliable affordable, fibre-optic broadband services would be ensured for every community in Alberta With their policy books in front of them, seven candidates vying to become the next Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville MLA faced off in Fort Saskatchewan, Apr. 3. Trying to win over the hearts of voters, the candidates sparred on general topics and answered questions.
within three years. In announcing the policy, Apr 9, Alberta Party leader, Stephen Mandel said, “It is critically important for the economies of rural Alberta, that they have fibre-optic internet. Fully connecting our rural places to the global community will help ensure long-term economic sustainability. “We cannot allow our two-tier society to continue,” he added. “Advances in health care and industry require that all Albertans have the ability to have affordable and accessible broadband internet. Failing in this objective will only marginalize a large part of our community.” Currently only 12.7 per cent of Alberta communities have service that meets target speeds set by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission. The Alberta Party added it would be committed to spending $250 million over three years to achieve
For candidates’ comments, page 7, or go to: lamontleader.com or facebook.com/LamontLeader
Above: Fort Saskatchewan Vegreville Constituency NDP candidate, Jessica Littlewood, has a conversation with an attendee at the St. Michael all-candidates forum Apr. 8, while a campaign worker looks on. Left: Alberta Party candidate Marvin Olsen has a conversation with an attendee at the St. Michael all-candidates forum. their policy objective. The party had also announced, on Apr. 8, to grow the agriculture and agri-food industry by $1 billion to a total of $4.5 billion creating more than 6,000 new jobs and generating more than $100 million in new revenues for the provincial and municipal government. It would establish an Alberta Agriculture Innovation Fund as part of the Alberta Innovates Fund with annual funding of $100 million beginning in 2019-20. It would provide $2 million in support of an agritourism development fund; $2 million to create an office of certification support; and would partner with industry to develop a new export program designed to help farmers sell more raw and value added agriculture products abroad.