MLA Report June 9

Hello Chestermere! If you haven’t heard it already you and others from around the constituency and elsewhere raised $25,697.75 at the Alberta Strong Fundraiser. This wonderful result could only have been achieved with the support of all the constituency. Thanks.
Everyone by now is aware that the economy is in rough shape. What with the decline in oil prices and the impact of the Fort McMurray fires the average Albertan is being hit hard. Nobody is blaming the government for these things but you have to ask one simple question. Why are they bent on making things worse by bringing in the Carbon Tax? In my family as well as yours, we have a pretty good idea of how much money is coming in. You also have a pretty good idea of what is going out. You have your necessities, like food and shelter. You have the government services you depend on, like health care and education for your children. Then you have the things that make life better for you and your kids. Hockey, dancing, the family vacation. With a fixed amount of income if you have to pay more for one thing there’s less left for other things. The NDP Carbon Tax makes all the necessities of life more expensive. Just like you, school boards have fixed budgets. They will have to cut back front line services to pay the carbon tax, or raise your fees. Just like you, health care has fixed budgets. They will have to cut back front line services to pay the carbon tax. The city or county you live in will have a choice. They can cut front line services, or raise your taxes. Charities will have to pay more. Too bad for the most vulnerable in our society who will receive less. And, of course, you have a fixed budget. Just for starters, your natural gas bills are going to rise by 50%. Your school fees are going up. Your property taxes are going up. Everything you buy, and every service you use, is going to cost more. So you will have to cut back. Sorry kids, no vacation. No hockey. No dancing. You will have to pay into the Carbon Tax slush fund, staffed by a legion of bureaucrats who will decide which of the government’s friends will get your money. The government bill has over 3 billion dollars earmarked for “other”. If this tax is so great, why won’t they tell you what they will spend the money on? What are they trying to hide? We have the highest unemployment in more than 20 years and the government wants to make things worse. Do they really not understand simple economics or are they so determined to serve their socialist ideology that they just don’t care about you? For a government that professes to care about the little guy, they have a funny way of showing it. As my colleague Todd Loewen puts it: “This is a bad tax, made worse by bad timing.”
We now offer Commissioner For Oaths services at no charge in the Constituency Office. Please call ahead so we can advise if you need the services of a lawyer or notary or we can help you.