Finding our new normal

By Leela Sharon Aheer Chestermere-Strathmore MLA

Hello Chestermere-Strathmore. I am writing this article as we are receiving an emergency update about a tornado in Wheatland County. I hope that this next week finds you safe and tornado free as we head into some inclement weather throughout the province.

You may have been tuning into the legislature this week and as we all find our “new normal” we had a very productive first week back at the legislature, along with all the drama and bluster that is part of debating in the house. It’s been amazing watching other provinces and their various political parties and how they’ve dealt with COVID but also, the collaboration in some provinces and then also how our federal counterparts are doing with their response. This is not the time for your typical politics, or the rhetoric.

We imposed limitations to your freedom to keep us all safe from this invisible evil that is still rampant in some parts of our country and globally. For many sectors in this province including tourism, the arts, sports and culture, oil and gas and agriculture, that means not being able to access talent, products, supply chains and, moreover, our ability to get our products to foreign markets. These are all non-partisan issues, and yet opposition is all we seem to get in this province from an opposition that asks for us to collaborate, and when we do, then they actively mislead the pubic in suggesting that somehow we are not willing to work together.

Take for example the fact that the opposition asked to have a COVID debate and then after requesting only the presence of four ministers, including Labour and Immigration, Health, Finance and Education, they took to social media and berated the rest of the government for not all being in attendance for the debate when they specifically were asked not to participate by the opposition! Many of us including myself were in attendance representing our constituents, though not called upon to speak to COVID. It amazes me that opposition MLAs purposefully mislead Albertans and the media by suggesting that I and my colleagues were not there. This is false, and the NDP needs to be called out on their despicable behaviour in the house and their false posts on Facebook and other social media outlets. We have some real issues here, folks, and your opposition chooses to use the crisis of COVID to forward their agenda without any understanding of the real harm they are creating in content that is short on facts and is seemingly a game to them while people are truly suffering and are afraid at this unprecedented time.

This is part and parcel of the concerns that we lack a national Parliament that should be sitting and doing its job. We have enough protocols in place to keep us all safe, and there is no reason that federal Parliament should not be sitting. The federal NDP in all its glory, in a minority government, is using this opportunity to forward their agenda and to heck with democracy in the absence of a federal budget or any other important issues that may need to be debated or collaborated on. Please read the May 29 article by Andrew Potter at the National Post entitled “The Liberals and NDP have embraced contempt for Parliament” ( https://nationalpost.com/opinion/andrew-potter-the-liberals-and-ndp-have-embraced-contempt-for-parliament?video_autoplay=true ).

It is time to get back to work, to relaunch the economy, to build hope, and your government is leading by example because you have done a stellar job keeping Alberta’s numbers low. To all those who are still sick and suffering from COVID, to those we have lost, we send our love and deepest condolences. The true heroes of this story are all of you, and our front-line essential services. Now it is time to emerge slowly and carefully.

Please shop local! Your small business neighbours are open for business and doing everything they can to keep you safe. You will get a warm welcome and fantastic customer service! We are all in this together.

(Leela Sharon Aheer is the MLA Elect for Chestermere-Strathmore, Minister of Status of Women and Minister of Culture and Multiculturalism)