By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

NDP’s Miller excited to keep fighting for Red Deerians

Mar 25, 2019 | 6:03 PM

The incumbent candidate for Red Deer-South says she’s looking forward to another term of fighting for Red Deerians.

Barb Miller was first elected in 2015 and she says she’s proud of her work in advocating for the expansion of local hospital services.

“I was able to advocate for the million dollars for the business case, and Alberta Health Services has seen the needs assessment, and the cardiac care assessment plan, and they’ve been working on a business case. The premier knows that we need a hospital expansion and that we need a catheterization lab,” says Miller.

“We can’t keep sending our cardiac patients to Edmonton or Calgary, so we have got to continue to fight for that and that’s what I intend to do. I’ve been vocal about it since day one and I’ll continue.”

Miller is also concerned about what she’s heard from constituents about over-crowded classrooms, and getting value for our resources.

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“Kids in high schools have 45 kids in their class, but only have 35 desks in the room, so many have to sit on stools. That’s atrocious, that should never happen,” she says.

“People are excited with the investment in our economy. Products that used to be burnt off can be turned into plastics that we need and that are easy to transport so that we can get full value for our product, and that’s something that Peter Lougheed had wanted many years ago was for all of our products to be upgraded and it’s finally happening.”

Her favourite part of the job, she says, is getting to meet constituents.

“I am a people person,” she states. “That is why I would go to the market on Saturdays and meet with the people and find out what their issues were and what they need help with, and then I would bring it to the ministers.”

A former president of the Red Deer and District Labour Council, and cashier at Safeway, Miller is confident heading towards April 16.

“When you hear that people enjoy living in Red Deer and that they are happy that there is a new school going in, they’re happy about university status at RDC, these kind of things give you so much energy, it’s hard to describe,” she says.

“There is still so much more to be done and I’m willing to put in the hours and fight for everyone in Red Deer and surrounding area. It’s an honour; not a job, but an honour.”