The Newsy Neighbour Magazine
November Issue 109
by Rocky View MLA Leela Sharon Aheer for the Wildrose Party
Happy Halloween Newsy Neighbour Readers! We hope you had a wonderful evening
“helping” your kids eat their candy! Maybe all the sugar will keep your spirits
high as we endure the never-ending stream of government policies that are going
to impact everyday Albertans at all levels.
Halloween marks the beginning of the legislative session for fall and
winter ----oooooo----, cue the scary music, curtains up and let the show begin.
Many of you are probably aware of the 10 million dollars that the province committed in new
funds to expand programs that are already in effect to help farmers
lower their emissions and help with burden of the January 1st carbon tax. The
government hopes to “incent” farmers and producers to buy more efficient
equipment and retrofit old systems with new technology. The money for this
subsidy is coming from the Climate Change and Emissions Management Fund, which
is funded by you: indirectly through the biggest emitters in the province and
directly from you and me as we pay our share of the Carbon Tax. These two slush
funds, the Carbon Tax and the Climate Change and Emissions Management Fund, are
your tax dollars.
While I think
most of us can agree that finding efficiencies, using less, and being genuinely
invested at a personal and corporate level in protecting the environment is a
priority to all Albertans, I have major concerns about how this is going to
help our producers continue to be competitive. The livestock industry is
already facing low prices. Why are we throwing dollars into a situation where I
would assume that our meat producers would have on their own invested in this
technology as efficiency saves them dollars across the board? So how does a
subsidy because of the carbon tax, to subsidize the carbon tax, at a time when
prices are so low and we are seeing our competiveness diminish, help meat
producers? Why not simply scrap the tax and let the market guide producers’
action? What is the government looking to achieve by doing this? These
subsidies are not sustainable.
The federal
government is complaining that the tiny province of Wallonia in Belgium is
potentially stopping them from signing the EU trade deal, negotiated over 7
years by our previous federal government. Wallonia has strong trade unions,
high unemployment, is very, very vocal and holds veto power even though they
are only a province of Belgium. Most business is done on the port side, and not
in Wallonia. This is killing any hopes of free trade because the Walloons are
afraid their socialist values will be undermined. They are willing to sacrifice
the prosperity of Belgium and the greater European Union for their own narrow
interests. Sounds familiar doesn’t it? Here’s a positive suggestion from the
Wildrose: Hopefully our Prime Minister will look into his own backyard and see
that we have a few jurisdictions of our own that are holding up our own ability
to do business here in Canada and globally. Perhaps this will be the wake up
call our federal government needs to make some decisions about a little thing
called access to tidewater. It’s just a thought.
I am excited
to see the Best in Business Awards coming up again. We were so honoured to
attend last year’s event. What an amazing success, and kudos to the industrious
Newsy Neighbour team for this amazing opportunity for local businesses. Remember,
by shopping locally you support your neighbours and make your community a more
desirable place to live and raise a family. Local businesses, through their
taxes, bring you the services you need. Speaking of services and service to the
community, I would also like to say congratulations to The Hamlet of Langdon
and Langdon Community Collaborative for their efforts as they were named the
2016 recipients of the ChooseWell Healthy Community Award Winner in the
category of Building Community Capacity. A richly deserved award to the folks
who help make Langdon a special place to live.
As Remembrance
Day approaches, please give some thought to our fellow Canadians who made the
ultimate sacrifice so we may live in freedom, and for the less fortunate among
us. I know you will, it’s one of the things that makes Alberta special. This
time of year is a tough time for our food banks. My office is proud to collect
for the SE Rocky View, Chestermere, and Veterans Food Banks, and for the
“jacket racket” that helps kids stay warm. I will be at the Remembrance Day
service at the Cenotaph in Chestermere and I would love to see you there.
As always, we
love to hear from you. We are receiving a lot of email these days so if you
don’t hear back from us in a reasonable time, give the office a call.
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