Hello Chestermere! We have had a very busy week out and about in our fair city. As you may know it was Seniors Week this past week, and it was full of fun activities, bonding with dear friends, music, tea, dinners, and ceremonies throughout the city and surrounding areas. A big thank you to Holly Wood for her dedication and hard work putting all of these events together. Also thank you to Peter Tindall, for attending where I was unable. It warms my heart to have spent so much time having conversations with some amazing folks, and always the discussions are thoughtful and full of wisdom. Thank you for including me in your activities. It was truly an honour to participate. I attended quite a few graduations this past week and as always it is such a privilege to see these amazing young adults cross the stage and see and feel the energy and enthusiasm of the crowd of proud parents, family and friends as these hard working students mark this milestone. I attended the East Lake band concert this week, and what a phenomenal young group of musicians. The development since the last time I heard this group is astounding. Congratulations to Principal Ragan Johnson, Music teachers Diego Bechthold and Christine Degner, and especially to the students and their parents. It was a remarkable concert. I also attended the sports awards at Chestermere High School. Thank you to Mr. Utley for the invitation. It was inspiring to see how many truly talented and gifted athletes come through Chestermere High School, and the friendship and community is pervasive throughout the entire program. Both Brian Utley and Rob Wilson were honoured, and spectacular banners were unveiled that show cased some of these tremendous athletes with descriptive adjectives such as EXCELLENCE underneath the pictures of actual athletes from the school. Thank you also to Ms. Everson for such a wonderful evening, and for her excellent work as athletic director. We also attended a fundraiser for Big Brothers and Big Sisters in Hussar with several Chestermere musicians playing to raise money for this great cause.
This week we were shocked to find out about as posted in the Wildrose newsletter:
“A damning report concerning the Fort McMurray wildfire leaked yesterday. The NDP government tried to hide it from Albertans since March. The report says if Alberta doesn’t learn to be better prepared, that we can expect similar or worse outcomes on a more frequent basis.
If we’re not prepared, this could happen again. Last year Premier Notley stated that Wildrose Leader Brian Jean was “fearmongering” regarding the Fort McMurray fire. Later that day his house burned down.
This was the worst natural disaster in Alberta’s history and it is absolutely shocking the NDP government hid this report for months in order to avoid accountability.
We were not prepared. More could have been done.
There were no overnight operations the night after the fire was discovered. On May 2, crews were only able to complete “minor guard construction.”
There was a complete breakdown in communications on the day of the fire.
On May 3, the Premier said that the government had two reviews underway, that they would be released in two to four weeks, and that her government would engage transparently and with accountability.
None of that was true.
2500 buildings were lost. The NDP cannot justify hiding this report.
It’s clear more now than ever that the government needs to release the reports in full and start an independent and judge-led public inquiry.
This government needs to stop denying answers to those who lost everything in this tragic fire.”
This is just one of many things that is so disconcerting about this Government. Ideology trumps common sense, and we are constantly wondering why the NDP Government makes decisions that seems to consistently undermine Alberta, and the fabric of this great province, namely the people. We know that no one is perfect, and we know that as humans we will make mistakes when we think it is in the best interest of the province, but truly, this Government needs to start listening to the people who they work for.
This is extremely obvious in the transportation issues being faced by the Board of Education and other school boards. Students attending non-designated schools through the CBE are now going to pay double for bussing their children to school. The crazy thing is that is not even for a safe yellow bus for 9, 10, and 11 year olds. No! These children are being tossed onto the public transit system and may have to make three transit changes in one ride to get to their school making their day go from 6:50 in the morning to just after 5pm in the evening with a change downtown. This lacks any sort of logic, and I warned the Government that this would happen. Parents and kids here in Chestermere, Langdon, and surrounding areas will face the same situation for those students attending French Immersion if it is not their designated school except we don’t even have a public transit option. We will be keeping a close eye on this one and keeping you updated. As always we love to hear from you. Stay strong Alberta. We have your back
