Alberta Party leader brings optimistic outlook to Red Deer

The leader of Alberta Party visited Red Deer on Monday.

Greg Clark, the party’s lone MLA, told Red Deer and District Chamber of Commerce members his party represents the balance between an unknown right and an irresponsible left.

“Albertans are being told right now that they need to choose between caring about the economy or caring about people. I care about both and I know Albertans care about both,” Clark said. “Albertans know that it is possible to have an efficient and effective public healthcare system, education system, and balance a budget — Albertans also know it’s possible to defend minority rights and balance a budget.”

Clark said his party has a strong future and committed to fielding a full slate of candidates in the next election. In 2015, the Alberta Party ran in just 36 of 87 constituencies.

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“[The] Alberta Party is always going to talk about what’s possible in this province. We have great policies, great people, we’re going to run 87 strong local candidates and give every Albertan an opportunity to choose the Alberta Party because I think our party fits with modern Alberta values,” he says.

Chamber spokesperson Reg Warkentin believes the Alberta’s Party’s policies are very business-friendly.

“They really provide a platform that is very inviting to a lot of business and business-related issues, especially from the fiscal side. They’re just looking at ways to enhance and facilitate the growth of business for all Albertans,” he says. “From a policy standpoint, they really do provide lot of solutions for the issues currently facing us. I think the example of the Fair and Family Friendly Workplaces Act is a perfect example. We have a lot of really important pieces of legislation such as leave requirements, but we also have this issue of increasing unionization rates across the province. It’s just finding that right balance.”

Clark went on to say neither the current government, nor the opposition, are healthy options for Albertans.

“I think on the right, we know what they’re against, but we don’t know what they’re for. We don’t know how they would address the big challenges, we don’t know how they would create jobs, how they would create a sustainable healthcare or education system. There’s a lot of fear I think, rightly. It would be a big negative impact on our healthcare system, we’d see larger healthcare classes, we would not see infrastructure being built,” he opined about Jason Kenney and Brian Jean.

“On the left, you have an irresponsible government that has no sense of fiscal discipline or control. I think modern Alberta wants positive, optimistic, common-sense government that is building and creating the jobs of tomorrow without abandoning the jobs of today, while continuing to support our strong oil and gas industry and allowing it to continue to grow.”

Clark, who also met with Mayor Tara Veer and the Rotary Club of Red Deer, says he is a big believer that turning Red Deer College into a polytechnic university would be another way of stimulating economic diversification, and recognizing Red Deer’s importance to the province.

This Saturday, Clark will be in attendance at meeting in Red Deer for ‘Alberta Together,’ a group looking to create a “ viable centrist option” for the next provincial election, scheduled for 2019.

“I’m very excited about the diverse groups of people who are going to be there from all around the province. Let’s be clear, a lot of people who used to support the PC party, who don’t feel at home with Jason Kenney, are going to be there. A lot of those people have already joined the Alberta Party and I hope after next Saturday, more of them do. Former Liberals are going to be there, people who are even former Wildrose I think will be there and others who have never been involved with politics.”