Leela Sharon Aheer - MLA Chestermere-Rockyview

Hello, Newsy Neighbour readers! As I write this, National Volunteer week has just ended. It’s a real honour to write for a magazine that promotes the volunteer spirit, and to see Aleesha, Denise, and the rest of the team back their words with action. Remember, volunteerism is what binds a community together. If you are able, please volunteer or just take the time to help out a neighbour.

Well, the federal and provincial governments have released their new budgets and I have a question: “Why do you want to make us poorer?” We need stability for innovation to flourish, instead of chasing away potential investment and intellectual capital with rigid ideology. The very people and companies this government are causing to suffer are in fact the future, given the right support and a stable investment climate. Right now, the private sector has no incentive to stick their neck out and put their capital into funding projects that are as we speak being dismantled due to uncertainty and lack of market access. Does the government expect taxpayers to finance their ideological policies? They have pushed away the very people you need to have in the province: the investors, the ones willing to take the risks! There’s no lack of good ideas, as I saw at SAIT the other day. Students in Energy Asset Management went before a panel of “Dragons” with some great projects that showed innovative ways to make our energy industry leaner and cleaner to the benefit of all Albertans.

Are the members of the government willing to take themselves off the grid, stop using devices, ditch their ministerial Suburban’s and ride their bikes to work, and stop using any sort of fossil fuel to function at all? Lead by example! Don’t advise people hit by punitive carbon taxes to “Go buy a more fuel efficient car.”

Political stripe should never matter in projects that are in the national interest. The government, all of a sudden, has “pipe dreams”. It’s a little late in the game, and it lacks much needed understanding of the industry. We in the Wildrose have been fighting for this infrastructure for years and have kept it up from the moment we took on the privilege of representing hard working Albertans. Does the Premier truly understand why pipelines are important? It will unite us with prosperity! Does she understand the devastation their stance on our energy industry and market access has cost us not only in revenue, but in confidence, investment and talent? How short sighted and inappropriate for this government to say that passionate, reasoned advocacy is not the way to build a pipeline. Well, I guess the government’s side has no family or friends that have lost their jobs and livelihoods. It’s time to show some action for the tens of thousands of Albertans out of work. How is the government going to reconcile its ideology with Albertans’ need for jobs? Where in the government’s budget does it explain how they are going get us out of the hole they are digging? Without prosperity, how is the government going to pay back the tens of billions of debt they are running up? Let’s see the government put all the legs on the stool: resource stewardship, environmental stewardship, and sound economic policy. What is the plan? What is the goal?

As always, we love to hear from you.

Leela Sharon Aheer, MLA