BARRHEAD - The UCP government and their MLAs are doing their best to fulfil their campaign promises.
That is what West Yellowhead MLA Martin Long and Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock MLA Glenn Van Dijken told Westlock County councillors during their Oct. 11 council meeting in Whitecourt.
The county's MLAs appeared before the council for the first time since the election.
Long said the government is doing its best to learn what the concerns of rural residents, including Woodlands County, as demonstrated by the recent visit of several cabinet ministers to the region, including Health Minister Adriana LaGrange, who toured the Whitecourt Healthcare Centre, after an announcement that the facility would receive $3 million in funding for the planning. Children and Family Services Minister Searle Turton also visited the area, and Minister of Affordability and Utilities Nathan Neudorf is planning a trip to the area soon.
Long added several other ministers who attended his annual summer golf tournament, including Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Dale Nally, Minister of Arts, Culture and Status of Women Tanya Fir, Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors Devin Dreeshen.
They also noted that Premier Danielle Smith met with local elected officials from several communities in Westlock during the 107 th Agricultural Fair.
Long updated councillors on the status of several road maintenance projects in the Whitecourt area completed over the summer.
After his office received several complaints, Long invited Dreeshen to tour the work, and he agreed that the projects needed to be redone. Although he did not go into specifics, he said the work was done on Highway 32.
Long said rural crime is another subject he hears much about from his constituents.
He noted that since the UCP came into power, they have created programs to combat rural crime. Long explicitly referred to the strides the government has made in curbing the sale of stolen scrap metal, something Woodlands County councillors have advocated for several years.
"But the reality is that there are some problems around the issue of crime that are beyond the province's control," Long said. "Over the last several months, Alberta has been standing with several provinces asking the federal government to change bail reform."
Even though he said they have limited jurisdiction and powers in this area, the province is going ahead with changes to do what they can to improve the process.
The province is “guiding prosecutors to prioritize public safety at bail hearings," Long said. "Especially when people are committing violent crimes. That has to be taken into account."
He also noted that the government eliminated the triage protocol that had previously existed in the court system.
"[We did this to] ensure all viable charges are prosecuted, instead of picking and choosing," Long said.
The province brought in the triage protocol in 2017 to prevent cases from being dismissed due to excessive delays. Prosecutors were asked to consider what resources were available when deciding whether cases were viable for trial.
To help with the backlog, Long said the province hired 16 pre-charge assessment prosecutors on top of the 50 new trial prosecutors that the government has added since 2017.
Finally, Long talked about the UCP's campaign promise to investigate leaving the Canadian Pension Plan for a provincially run plan. The report the Alberta Treasury Board commissioned by LifeWorks was recently released.
"We promised to provide [the report] to the public and then allow Albertans to decide how they want to proceed via a referendum," he said.
Glenn van Dijken
van Dijken told councillors that another one of the UCP campaign promises was to "keep the energy industry strong" and ensure sustainable jobs for future generations.
"Sometimes that means talks with other jurisdictions or conversations with the federal government and ensuring that their policies don't get in the way of those industries," he said.
van Dijken added they also campaigned on keeping Alberta the least tax province, notably their plan to lower all tax brackets under $60,000.
He also talked about some of the road construction projects in the region, saying that the Highway 661 upgrade project was completed, and work on repairs to Highway 33 is still ongoing.
"Work is still being done on some intersections, mostly in the County of Barrhead, but everything should be complete by the end of fall," van Dijken said.
However, he said, the road infrastructure at the top of his mind and many of his constituents is the 68-year-old Athabasca Bridge, just outside of Fort Assiniboine.
In early August, about three-and-a-half or four feet wide and six feet long, in the middle of the driving lane about a third way on the west end of the bridge collapsed into the river.
The repairs have been made, and it is currently in the planning stages. Alberta Transportation is currently looking for someone to oversee the design process, which will take about two years.
After that, van Dijken said comes the consultation, permitting before securing funding for the project.
"One of the things I will be focussing on is ensuring the bridge project continues in a timely matter," he said. "Like all things in government, it is important to be the squeaky wheel at times because squeaky wheels do get attention."
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com
