Submitted by Ron Orr, MLA Lacombe - Ponoka
Wildrose is back at work in the legislature, standing up for Alberta jobs, growth and economic prosperity.
The Wildrose Official Opposition caucus was sworn into the legislature on June 1. This was a very proud moment for myself, my colleagues and our families, but it was also a very proud moment for our supporters across the province, who worked tirelessly to make this day possible.
We know our job is to hold the new government to account and fight for what matters most to Alberta families, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do. Albertans trusted Wildrose to ensure the NDP doesn’t have a blank cheque, and this is a trust we take very seriously.
We’ve managed to guide the NDP into enhancing Alberta’s democracy.
Our caucus supports a proposed bill to ban corporate and union donations from Alberta provincial politics. This is a core Wildrose idea, and we’re glad to see the NDP adopt it. We think the bill could be even stronger yet, and we will be presenting our ideas in debate shortly.
While we’ve made progress on the democracy file, we have many concerns regarding early NDP spending.
The NDP just passed a ‘mini-budget’ worth $18 billion. We asked about how much revenue the province hopes to take in and how much debt it plans to borrow, but we never got an answer. The money was passed after the NDP restricted debate to only three hours. We are hoping in the coming weeks the NDP will be more open and transparent about the state of Alberta’s finances.
We’re trying to help the government make the right decisions for our energy industry, which is struggling under the weight of low oil prices right now, but we have many concerns on this file too.
The government has shown a disinterest in advocating for pipelines going in all directions outside of Alberta. They just hired one of North America’s leading anti-pipeline activists to run the Energy Ministry. And they’re pressing ahead with a royalty review that is already causing investment to leave the province in a bad re-run of 2007.
We asked the NDP some tough questions on these issues in the legislature. We don’t support their plan to bring in a royalty review for industry, especially when the province is teetering on the brink of recession. We support safe pipeline infrastructure to get Alberta’s energy products to market and we will fight for pipelines in every direction because they are undoubtedly the safest means of transporting oil.
We’ve had an extremely productive first week in the legislature, and we’re looking forward to finishing strong, but we have a lot of work ahead of us. We will continue to oppose bad NDP decision on the economy and propose positive solutions. Through hard work, determination and commitment to our core values and principles, we will be a dynamic and effective Official Opposition.
On a local note, it has been my privilege to attend many community functions and I have been able to connect with many old friends as well as new faces! Grads and community events and parades have been happening throughout Lacombe Ponoka Constituency and as the summer begins, I look forward to meeting many more of you. If you have issues or problems you wish to discuss, please feel free to contact the constituency office at 403 782 7725. Email is Lacombe.ponoka@assembly.ab.ca and the address is #101 4892 4 Street, Lacombe, AB T4L 2B4