Hello Chestermere Readers! It has been a very busy week, and we have been so honoured to attend several events this week that have recognized many wonderful people from many incredible backgrounds, and cultures. We will post all of the events on Facebook, and we look forward to connecting with you at the doors, and at the events we have planned in Chestermere in the next couple of weeks. Catch us for All That Political Jazz:
Tuesday March 5 7:00-9;30 PM at the Langdon Firehouse Bar&Grill (sorry no minors). Pints, Politics, and a few tunes by Yours Truly.
Thursday March 7, 4:30-8:30 PM at Chestermere Landing. Bring the kids for Winter Family Fun with horse drawn sleigh rides, hot chocolate, and skating. After, warm up at the Dockside, give me your input, and learn about our positive vision for Alberta.
International Women’s Day is on March 8 and celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women globally. International Women’s Day has been celebrated for more than 100 years, and the first gathering was in 1911 supported by over a million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. These were campaigns for women’s equality and the right to vote. Women and girls all over the world are in need of support as they are experiencing massive violence in war torn countries, and then also the practices of “honour beatings, honour killings, child marriage, and female genital mutilations”. I have a responsibility to stand up for the protection of women and girls, and I hope you will join with me in shedding light on these practices to hopefully help with ending these violations against these women and girls. Please keep in mind that these things are occurring on Canadian soil, and not just overseas in some remote village. This is a global problem, and International Women’s Day helps us to educate and change the direction of how we view the value of girls and women both here at home and in the global community. My twitter handle is @voteleela, and you can follow me and become more involved in these very important issues.
Another huge issue is human trafficking. I am very proud to promote the United Conservative Party’s nine-point plan to address human trafficking. We see headlines like:
“2 facing human trafficking charges after Alberta RCMP investigation”
“RCMP charge Alberta man with human trafficking youth under 18 “
“Alberta company owned by priest fined in human trafficking case “
and we know that it is happening right here at home.
The plan would include the creation of a provincial task force and public awareness campaigns about the reality of human trafficking with a focus on vulnerable populations.
The plan would be funded by $250,000 that would support the task force as well as the public awareness campaign.
As Mr. Kenney said “The truth is trafficking happens in our own communities, and sometimes it happens right next door.”
We hope upon election to create a new law called the “Girl Next Door Act.” modeled after the Ontario legislation introduced in 2016 by Ontario MPP Laurie Scott. The legislation would allow trafficking victims to get restraining orders against their abusers, and would also open the door for victims to sue traffickers.
“Given the general failure of criminal sanctions…we need to empower [victims] with civil sanctions and that’s what this would do to increase accountability for human traffickers,” Kenney said.
The legislation also allows the government to name businesses that have been found to have facilitated human trafficking. 95 per cent of human trafficking victims were woman and 70 per cent were women under the age of 25.
Statistics Canada numbers show that between 2009 and 2016, there were 90 human trafficking offences in Alberta, which represents eight per cent of the total reported incidents in the country.
As I write this, UCP Leader Jason Kenney has unveiled another key policy plank, a Job Creation Tax Cut, which economists estimate would create 55,000 new jobs and $13 billion in economic growth. Please see my Facebook page Leela4ChestermereStrathmore for full details.
As always, we love to hear from you!
