MLA Report Sept 1

Hello Chestermere! We have had an extremely full week and we have had the privilege of seeing so many of you at various events around the constituency. As I write this article I am en route to Fort McMurray for our Wildrose Caucus meet. We will be passing through an area that all of us remember seeing on the news as it became an inferno and 88 thousand or so people escaped down highway 63. I can tell you it is surreal driving this stretch of road knowing the trauma these brave souls have endured. We are truly honoured to be here. If you have not had the chance to check out our Facebook page lately you will see that we are doing the 22 days of 22 push ups to support those first responders suffering from PTSD.  Make sure you hug, high five or shake hands with one of our brave men and women that run into danger to protect us. 
We were so happy to see you at the “Life’s too Shorts” event where the sun came out long enough to warm our hands along with our hearts as we spent time together with our friends and families remembering those we have lost. From the Lifes Too Shorts Facebook Page: ” ‘Life’s too shorts,’ was tweeted by Jaydon Sommerfeld on June 5th, 2015 – 5 days before he died in a car accident. What was laughed at as an auto correct mistake will now turn into a celebration of life for our communities.” I am sure Jaydon was looking down and smiling as his friends and other volunteers made this a special day for all.
Cancer cruelly took the life of Hamza Uran, 2015 Graduate. I was honoured to attend the candlelight vigil in his memory. My condolences to his family and also to the Dickie/Stockberger family, the Mangat family, and the Marcellus family for their recent losses. Those we love leave us far too soon.
We also attended the Show and Shine and we left there all feeling like a muscle car may be in our future. I know I had a vivid dream of a particular pink mustang with white racing stripes. This is such a great event and hearing John Kittler from the Landing and Hyperactive water sports announcing the events of the day made us feel like he may have a future calling in radio. It was a great event. Earlier in the day we had the privilege of participating in the Gleichen parade and had a fabulous time with the folks in that very pretty part of the world. I would like to thank Peter Tindall for the beautiful pictures on our Facebook page, Gerard and Sheila Lucyshyn, Malkeet Aheer and Peter Tindall for taking time out of their busy schedules to come and hand out mounds of candy to the kids. We hope to see all of you at our Parade on September 10th. I’m sure we can round up a few more Skittles to share with the children of Chestermere if Pete doesn’t eat them all. 
The last fiscal update by our present government left us shaking our heads. How much does this government think they can bleed from Albertans?  So many have lost their jobs, many don’t qualify for unemployment insurance, and we see businesses closing their doors every day due to this government’s inept policies. How can the government justify the destruction of our electricity industry and the ensuing legal battle over the PPAs, or the one billion they will pay this year to service debt? 
How can we bring back the Alberta Advantage? Brian Jean posted a recent article and so I will use his article to reiterate these common sense ideas. First, get rid of the carbon tax. This is a slush fund project, has no metrics to show any change in behaviour regarding climate change, and makes us less competitive as a petroleum-producing jurisdiction. Second, instead of suing the power producers why not work with them to create a solution instead of having the tax payer shoulder these irresponsible and ideological mistakes. Thirdly the 50 percent increase to minimum wage will only hurt everyone it is intending to help. Employers will not be able to stay afloat at in this economic downturn. This needs to be introduced more slowly or stopped until the economy turns around. Finally, a hiring freeze for non-essential hires, using attrition as a way to “thin the government ranks”, and negotiating a wage freeze in the public sector. Any of these ideas could be borrowed by the present government and it would show that Albertans and not ideology are the priority.
I am going to be out in the constituency this September hoping to meet as many of you as possible. As always we love to hear from you.