Hello Chestermere!
It has been such a pleasure to see many of you this week in our beautiful city at Christmas parties, concerts, festivities, and just around and about as we all finish up our shopping, decorating, baking, and fighting the crazy parking lots.
I want to take a moment and thank the Whitecappers for hosting such a lovely Christmas celebration. A social shout out to The Soundwaves, and their amazing conductor Sarah Moore. It was a pleasure to hear you, and to listen to beautiful local music. Sarah you are such a gift to this community, and we all look forward to seeing this group out performing in our city.
We attended many school concerts this week, and I can tell you there is nothing that gets you into the Christmas spirit better than a bunch of “cutie patooties” all in their elf, reindeer, Christmas tree, and flying moose costumes to help get your Christmas mojo flowing.
Thank you to Sarah Thompson School in Langdon, East Lake, Prairie Waters, Indus and Khalsa schools for such great work, and to their incredible music teachers, and parent volunteers, who transform gyms and community centres in to Santas Workshop, and the North Pole.
I also had the chance to play for the last church service at St Gabriel before Advent, and would like to thank everyone for including me in this lovely celebration.
Thank you also to the Chamber of Commerce and especially Darlene Tuck for a beautiful Christmas gathering at Lakeside Greens. It was wonderful and as always extremely insightful to sit and listen to all of you and your concerns. The top of the list was of course the impending carbon tax, the provinces new controls over our utilities specifically electricity, and the Government’s handling of the Children in Care file in the 19 months since the election. The case of little Serenity has moved all of us in the legislature. It is beyond me how it is that all of us learned about this horrific situation in the media, and that our system has failed so many children. I have so much gratitude as I look at my own grown children, and the beautiful faces of my nieces and nephews, and I know how fortunate they are to have the love and support of their families and our wonderful community.
I am very happy to report that I been given the privilege of taking on the Education and Status Of Women Shadow Ministries. I have enjoyed every moment as the Energy Shadow Minister, and the relationships and respect for our energy sector is something that will stay with me forever. I will continue to report on these issues, as well as my new portfolios, and I look forward to digging in and getting to work.
I would like to wish you all a beautiful Christmas and holiday season. Smiles and hugs are gifts we can all afford. Please spare a prayer and what help you can for the less fortunate among us. I am blessed and honoured to represent you in the Legislature and in the constituency. You are my inspiration to fight on your behalf, and the hours and hours we debated this last session was fuelled by my love of my province and the privilege of serving you. Thank you for this honour. As always we love to hear from you and remember to stay strong. You are amazing, resilient, and inspiring. Our office will be closed to walk in traffic until January 2, 2017 but email and phones will be monitored by my assistant Pete Tindall.
Have a very merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year!
