By Josh Hall and Troy Gillard

taking it to their doorstep

Concerned parent takes to sidewalk to get her message through to MLA

Jun 3, 2020 | 8:02 AM

The words she wrote were washed away, but the concerns Kellie Verburg has over the status of education and healthcare funding in Alberta remain.

The teacher and Lacombe resident used sidewalk chalk to bring her words to the doorstep of Lacombe-Ponoka MLA Ron Orr’s constituency office on Sunday.

“Please listen to us. We (heart) our doctors,” she wrote about healthcare. “We matter too. Speak up on our behalf,” added about education.

“He’s not very active on social media, so I’m reaching out every way I can,” she explained.

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A similar scene played out at MLA offices across the province, including Education Minister and Red Deer-North MLA’s Adriana LaGrange’s Gaetz Ave. office, as well as on the steps of the Alberta legislature.

“Minister LaGrange respects Albertans’ rights to peaceful assembly and to voice their opinions,” her press secretary Colin Aitchison says in a statement.

“So many people feel that the current government is just not listening to us,” Verburg says. “They’re just running through with their goals and agenda. They’re doing it so quickly and without consulting key stakeholders, and not paying attention to what citizens are truly asking for.”

Verburg, a teacher who’s been on leave since 2018 when her youngest daughter suffered a stroke (and has since been diagnosed with cerebral palsy and epilepsy), says issues concerning education and healthcare hit close to home.

“I no longer feel guaranteed that my daughter is going to be able to access the health care she needs in a timely manner,” she explains. “She would’ve qualified for PUF (Program Unit Funding), but it’s no longer there for her. She’s already at a disadvantage because of her health, but now with education too.”

Verburg says they are in touch with a neurologist once a month, stressing that, “A medical team is not an option, it’s a necessity. We’ve been very fortunate to have an amazing family doctor, a pediatrician in Red Deer and other support in Edmonton.”

She wrote her message at Orr’s office at about 11 a.m. Sunday. When she returned at around 5 p.m. to show her husband it had already been washed off.

“We’re getting to them,” Verburg says. “This chalk thing bothers them so much that they felt the need to wash it off. I just want him and other members to know we’re not going to back down.”

“I want to assure my constituents that neither myself nor my office staff washed away the chalk messages left on the sidewalk outside my office,” Orr said in a statement to rdnewsNOW, noting his office is rented in a building that contains other businesses.

Orr says that as a rural MLA he is committed to ensuring all Albertans have access to the province’s healthcare system.

“Our government has committed to $500 million extra this year to respond to the public health crisis and to support front-line health professionals working to keep Albertans safe and healthy. This is in addition to the $20.6 billion allocated for health care in Budget 2020.”

Orr says Alberta is the best place in Canada for physicians to work and that the government is committed to keeping it that way.

When it comes to education, Orr says, “Program Unit Funding continues to provide support to pre-Kindergarten students under the province’s new funding model, and that school divisions will continue to receive funding for each Kindergarten child with severe disabilities or severe language delays through the new Specialized Learning Support grant.”