Political BBQ brings in potential premier of Alberta

Times Reporter

 

Progressive Conservative, PC, leadership candidate Gary Mar is vying for the top spot as Premier of Alberta, and everywhere he goes people are liking what they hear. 

On Aug. 19 Mar and MLA Arno Doerksen were the guests of honour at a BBQ held at the Wilson Stock Farm. People came to enjoy good food and company, and to talk politics with the two men. 

“I’ve had really positive feedback from people over the last number of weeks,” said Doerksen. “Gary’s got the experience and the international perspective that we need. He connects with people, he’s got a lot of concern for people all across this province and the issues that are important for Alberta. He’s ready to be the next premier of Alberta, and I think he’s the man we need.”

The two men were busy the day of the BBQ, starting in Brooks for coffee and an open house at the Brooks campus of Medicine Hat College; then they had lunch with a group of people from the energy and agriculture industry. After that it was off to the Newbrook Lodge seniors home in Brooks. When the men left the Lodge they flew over the area to look at irrigation infrastructure. The last stop was at the Wheatland Lodge before heading to the BBQ.  

“The campaign is going great, we’ve been to so many communities throughout the entire province. We’ve gotten strong support from urban areas, rural areas, north, south, from men, from women, from Albertans of all kinds of different cultural backgrounds,” said Mar. 

“I’m really happy to be back home here in Alberta. You don’t realize how great things are at home until you’ve been away.”

He thinks part of the success of his campaign is because people recognize that he has spent a lot of time learning about the most important areas of their concerns such as healthcare and education.

“They also know that I have the deepest understanding of our most important marketplace, the United States, I’ve been there since 2007. Finally they see that I’ve got a vision for the future, a plan for healthcare, a plan for education and that’s what they support,” said Mar. 

Mar said if elected these issues can’t wait. He said you have to move forward, and listen carefully to Albertans, but there are a number of things that can be done for immediate improvement to the public healthcare system that are really important, and that has to be their main focus. He said other areas, such as the land use framework, have to be put on hold, and they have to listen carefully to Albertans to resolve some of the unresolved issues before moving forward.

“Critical issue in education will be making sure that we get labour stability with our teachers,” said Mar. “One of the difficulties of the last little while is government has been doing too much telling and not enough listening. So I’ll be careful to ensure that I listen to Albertans as we move forward on plans.”