By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

Dreeshen says UCP will need to deal with mountainous debt

Mar 25, 2019 | 11:43 AM

There’s a tough row to hoe ahead for the UCP if they get elected, according to Innisfail-Sylvan Lake candidate and incumbent Devin Dreeshen.

The son of MP Earl Dreeshen, he says a UCP government would need to deal promptly with a $90 billion debt left by the NDP.

“If we don’t, it’s going to burden future generations with higher taxes and interest rate costs for generations to come,” says Dreeshen, who won a by-election in his constituency last year.

“Jobs and the economy are something I hear about all the time and it’s something that with our energy sector and investment, jobs that have left Alberta is going to be a big priority for the UCP government. We are making sure we can reverse the trend and that we can start attracting investment back into our energy sector.”

He also notes the war room promised by leader Jason Kenney to fight back against what Dreeshen describes as the demonization of the energy sector.

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“We are the only party that will get rid of the carbon tax. Everybody has seen, especially over the past winter, their home heating prices go up, gas prices go up, and that was the biggest tax increase in Alberta history,” he says. “When we get rid of it, it will be the biggest tax cut in Alberta’s history.”

Dreeshen also reiterated his party’s commitment to the expansion of healthcare services in Red Deer.

He says it was disingenuous for the NDP to recently add that project back to the priority list after it was taken off when the NDP took over in 2015.

“Edmonton and Calgary are getting vastly disproportionate healthcare spending and that’s something that I think a UCP government would have a much more regional focus on because all Albertans pay the same taxes,” he says.

“I think that there is a lot of fear-mongering going on from the NDP. We would obviously be encouraging and promoting and trying to find improvements of our healthcare system.”

Dreeshen adds that his experience growing up on a farm in central Alberta is an asset to him representing the area as as MLA.