Election 2015

With an election called for May 5, we are asking the candidates questions to help you get to know them better. The first question is what the major issues facing Strathmore-Brooks and how do you propose to fix them?

 

One column cannot effectively discuss all the issues facing Strathmore-Brooks. However, in Strathmore and Wheatland a big issue is our hospital. The fact that our hospital serves – in the surrounding area, a population of roughly 35,000 people and is still the same size as when Strathmore was 3,500. There are only 24 beds in acute care! The 25 beds in the Continuing Care Unit have been closed and empty for two years.
The government has promised to use the empty space to enlarge the emergency room and make room for diagnostic services. The new continuing care unit promised for the hospital is an example of the value of Progressive Conservative (PC) government promises. Except when there is an election on! Mr. Prentice stated there was a shortage of 400 continuing care beds in Alberta, well we all know where 25 empty continuing care beds are.
There are two things we should do and I will work hard with fellow constituents to accomplish. The first is long-term. Strathmore needs an expanded hospital, something better suited to the population it serves. It should have a larger emergency room and better diagnostic services. We should also bring back a continuing care function at the hospital for those seniors who are medically at risk and require better medical supervision than they currently get. This would ensure that beds that are currently being taken up by continuing care patients; who come from outside facilities or just entering care will not take up acute care beds. Mr. Prentice stated there was a shortage of 400 continuing care beds in Alberta. Well we all know where 25 empty beds are.
The second thing is immediate. By converting the former continuing care beds into acute care beds we would effectively double the beds available. Obviously there is a cost to this, but for most part I believe this would fall under operational funds and not capital funds. This provides a quick though temporary solution. However the PC government has created a huge bureaucracy in Alberta Health Services and like the Titanic this ship doesn’t turn very fast. Front line management at the hospital should be making operational decisions and not a senior bureaucrat in Edmonton.
Finally there is always a threat that our hospital may be turned into an urgent care facility like what exists in Airdrie. It is important that our next Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) promotes our hospital development and ensures it stays a hospital. Thank you.
Respectfully,
Einar Davison
Alberta Party Candidate
Strathmore-Brooks
(http://www.albertaparty.ca/einar_davison_for_strathmore_brooks)

 

 

Issues facing constituents in Strathmore-Brooks can be separated into categories. Ongoing ones such as the renovation of an existing vacant wing of the Strathmore District Health Centre, growing needs for seniors’ supports and housing, and keeping up with an increasing student enrollment are not unique to just our area.
All of these items require financial support, which can only come through a careful look at how money is spent in Alberta so that wise, fiscal decisions are made to put resources at the essential level. Management and administrative costs must be properly balanced with what is most critical, that being patient care, services to seniors, and student learning. Any and all ideas from innovative to old fashioned – particularly from front end staff – need to be considered as well as copying what works well in other provinces and countries. My 25 years in education taught me that by listening and asking questions, creative, sound solutions often could be found “within the building”.
To be mindful of the many successes within our systems cannot be understated because we do have much of which to be proud.
Because we are in the fast four weeks leading up to the May 5 election, another issue for ratepayers is sorting facts from fiction as presented by candidates. Good decisions should rely on facts. Everything you read or hear is not accurate! It never hurts to do some research. Choosing a candidate with an understanding of our local area and its “pillars” of agriculture, irrigation, energy resources, tourism, and small business, and who has lived in our Strathmore-Brooks constituency would be wise.
The ongoing viability and sustainability of our small rural communities, as contrasted to others that grow too rapidly due to location near urban centres, is also something on the minds of residents. Realizing that our hamlets, villages and small towns provide needed services to our rural residents puts all of us together in this struggle to help keep these communities alive. Raising property taxes to pay for residential services definitely has its limits. The attraction of a commercial/industrial base is not always successful. On the flip side is the demand that too rapid of growth puts on expanding towns like Strathmore and Brooks for services such as recreation and paved routes. As a “greater community,” working together for what is best for our taxpayers, needs to be the goal.
Important issues rarely have magical answers. However, open, honest, and respectful communication along with the desire to reach solutions for you, the taxpayers whom government serves, must be the guiding belief.
Molly Douglass
PC Candidate
Strathmore-Brooks
(https://mollydouglass.pcalberta.com)

 

 

After 44 years in power, it’s time for a government whose first priority is Albertans. In Strathmore-Brooks, many issues are unique to us, and some are shared with other Albertans.
I believe that there are five major issues facing Strathmore-Brooks right now: 1) the economy and taxes, 2) health and long-term seniors care, 3) education, 4) rural issues, and 5) accountability from government and politicians.
1) Having already spent the $17 billion Sustainability Fund and now planning a debt of $30 billion, Jim Prentice has left Alberta economically vulnerable. With depressed oil prices, our local economy is hurting, badly. When rigs aren’t drilling, the entire local economy sags.
The last thing that we should do in a recession is to raise taxes on everyday Albertans. However, that’s exactly what the Jim Prentice budget does, raising 59 taxes that will cost the average Alberta household $2,500 every year. Coupled with his weekly flip-flopping on whether to impose a Provincial Sales Tax (PST), this is very bad news for the economy and families.
Just as the first rule of medicine is to “do no harm” to one’s patient, the first rule for government should be to “do no harm” to the economy.
The Wildrose’s detailed balanced budget plan would prioritize spending towards frontline services by cutting waste, excessive management and corporate welfare subsidies to balance our budget by 2017.
We will roll back the $2,500 in PC tax hikes, reject a PST, pay down the debt, and save money in the Heritage Fund once again.
2) For nearly two decades, four successive PC premiers have promised to fix seniors care in Strathmore and Brooks, but all we’ve seen are photo-ops. The Wildrose will reallocate funding from lesser priorities to ensure that we get proper long-term care for our seniors. Now.
3) Alberta once had the best education system in the English-speaking world. Now, we don’t even have the best in Canada. The Wildrose will refocus our education curriculum on essentials, and scrap “discovery learning” math. Parents will see a simple ‘letter’ grade on their children’s report card; teachers in Strathmore-Brooks will see resources shifted to them instead of Edmonton bureaucrats.
4) For far too long, rural Alberta has taken a back seat in this government. The Wildrose platform makes rural Alberta one of its top five priorities. We will start by protecting the rights of property owners, repealing legislation that has trampled on those rights over the last decade.
5) Finally, the issue that triggered the election itself: accountability. The Wildrose will ensure that we do not waste another $28 million by breaking fixed election date laws, and make it illegal for MLAs to cross the floor without a by-election. We will also roll back the huge pay increases that PC MLAs have voted themselves in recent years. Politicians should never get a raise while raising peoples’ taxes.
These are five big priorities for the five big issues facing Strathmore-Brooks. I want to get to work on them right away.
Derek Fildebrandt
Wildrose Candidate
Strathmore-Brooks
(voteforderek.ca or fildebrandt.ca)