By Sheldon Spackman

Alberta Advantage Party elects new leader

Feb 25, 2018 | 9:38 AM

One of Alberta’s newest political parties elected its first leader during a leadership convention at the Springbrook Multi-Plex on Saturday.

Members of the Alberta Advantage Party voted-in 61-year-old Edmonton lawyer Marilyn Burns as the party’s inaugural leader.

Burns is a mother of four who grew up in small towns in Alberta’s western corridor and ultimately on a homestead farm west of Edmonton.

Her experience includes working as a high school secretary, deli clerk, senior’s home, a nurse’s aide with handicapped children, working with youth, a piano teacher and after graduating from Athabasca University in her thirties, has now been practicing law for the past 21 years. She currently owns an orchard west of Edmonton.

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Burns says the Alberta Advantage Party formed in late July 2017 but its concept began much sooner when it appeared the unity vote between the Wildrose and Conservatives would be successful.

“Many of us who strongly believed it was a very wrong direction to go, decided to band together and start a new movement, which is really very much a continuation of the Wildrose,” explains Burns, who says the party is now waiting to receive its society status.  “We’re working to collect our eight thousand signatures to give to Elections Alberta so we can become an official party..”

As for the party’s platform, Burns says she’s confident it has the right ingredients Albertans need and are looking for.

“We’ve put recall into our constitution so that it affects every one of our internal members. Also, we want to put that in place for MLA’s so that we don’t have to wait four years to recall an MLA who isn’t doing their job.”

Secondly, Burns say if elected government her party would like to revamp Alberta’s education curriculum.

“Albertans do not believe that high school graduates are ready to face the real world with what they’re taught in school these days,” laments Burns. “We would also eliminate the mandatory gay-straight alliance club requirement and the demand by the NDP government that parents cannot know their children’s sexual behaviours in school.”

Burns says the third key point of their party’s platform is to establish greater autonomy from Ottawa.

“We have a terrible problem with rural crime in Alberta and it’s at pandemic levels,” states Burns. “The RCMP cannot manage it, so we want to elevate sheriffs in Alberta who qualify to be educated and trained just as the Edmonton Police and Calgary Police Services do, so that they can help deal with rural crime and also address the fentanyl issue and other serious drug issues that are facing Albertans right now.”

Having the province collect its own taxes and choose its own immigrants are other steps towards greater autonomy says Burns. She also says Albertans need stable electricity prices in the future and a new framework for equalization payments to Ottawa. Taking better care of seniors and establishing a more understanding relationship with the province’s aboriginal children and youth, she says, are also key priorities for the party.

“We want to extend a hand of friendship and respect to the Aboriginal and Metis folks in our province,” explains Burns. “The discrimination goes both ways. We have to face this honestly and directly with each other and get to know each other.”

With the next provincial election coming up in 2019, Burns says the party is focused on finding good candidates and offering Albertans a positive choice when they go to the polls.

“Look into us, you’ll see we’ve developed a thoughtful and I believe very important platform for the people,” says Burns. “We want to form government. We want to have a good government and we’re not doing this half-heartedly, we’re going full bore.”