Innisfail-Sylvan Lake NDP candidate Robyn O'Brien (supplied photo)

By Troy Gillard

INNISFAIL-SYLVAN LAKE

Education, healthcare priorities for NDP’s O’Brien

Mar 30, 2019 | 11:51 AM

Education and healthcare funding are two areas of concern the NDP candidate for Innisfail-Sylvan Lake is focusing on during the provincial election campaign.

Robyn O’Brien says a lot of people are worried about the lack of expansion at Red Deer Regional Hospital.

“There has been a lot of talk around Red Deer Regional and the sort of investigation that was done by Alberta Health Services to make sure that the area’s that they were expanding in were needed and so that took a little bit of time of course,” explains O’Brien.

“The comment from the UCP was ‘If we have time and if we have the capacity and if there is money in the budget we will be doing an expansion’ and what that translates to me is that it won’t happen. What the NDP is going to keep promising is that expansion will take place and move forward, that’s something you can trust from a leader who has followed through with the previous 2,000 beds that were committed to the region and the province with her additional 2,000 that were promised on Wednesday.”

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With many years of experience in the health and non-profit sectors, O’Brien says if elected she would work to ensure central Alberta wasn’t overlooked for government funding.

“I know that health is the number one thing I’ve been hearing at the door and education is another one,” adds O’Brien, who was born and raised in the Red Deer area. “There have been a few new facility’s as well as a middle school being promised to Innisfail upcoming, and so those are the types of things that I want to see move forward. I know that connecting people with their community and making sure that we are building community in these rural areas is really important to me.”

Outside of politics O’Brien founded and is the executive director for The Art Mentorship Society of Alberta, working to advocate for mental health wellness through visual arts.

She has worked with the Canada Green Building Council, and has volunteered with numerous organizations including the Together We Bloom Society, the Edmonton Folk Music Festival and the Quarters Arts Society.

(With file from Alberta NDP website)