Focusing on the future

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By Leela Sharon Aheer Chestermere-Strathmore MLA

Hello Chestermere-Strathmore! To begin, I want to say thank you to all our elected municipal leaders that joined me for our budget and speech from the throne. I am so honoured to work with all of you and am truly proud to see your incredible resilience and willingness to work together as we get our fiscal house in order. I know that these past years have been tough, and I hope that we see some turn around in our province’s fiscal outlook. The government is focused on job creation and a big part of that is demonstrating every day that this province is a great place to invest.
I would like to thank the Strathmore Overnight Shelter for the work they do in our community, taking care of our vulnerable and our homeless. I was inspired to meet and join the board of directors and the volunteers for the “coldest night of the year” walk, but even more I was touched by the words of His Worship Pat Fule, Councillor Breaker, Councillor Crowfoot, former Chief Vincent Yellow Old Woman, First Nation Stampede Princess Falon Manywounds and finally our wonderful Pastor Elizabeth Karp. Thank you for including me in your program.
A warm toque and some socks can go along way to showing our friends who are having a rough patch in their lives that we have their backs. Please join me in helping our local shelters by donating your surplus toques and socks in good condition from Feb. 24 to March 13. Current drop-off locations are: Value Drug Mart (Strathmore), Prairie Grounds Coffee House (Langdon) and West Creek Auto Wash (Chestermere). For further information call my office at 403-962-0126.
I would like to chat with you about some important changes around the Surface Rights Board. The Board is the agency that works to resolve disputes between surface landowners (generally farmers) and resource companies. There is a backlog of approximately 5,000 claims waiting to be heard and new claims need to be dealt with quickly. We have earmarked $1.7 million in funding to help us catch up with the claims. We will hire around 15 new people to deal with the case pressures and will be bringing in a new on-line portal to track claims.
I would also like to chat about the education requisition. About $2.5 billion, or about 31 per cent of the $8 billion education budget, comes from the education requisition. The previous government raised it seven per cent in just one year, but we have managed to hold the increase to inflation.
In other news from the legislature, last week we passed Bill 1, the Critical Infrastructure Bill. Bill 1 will ensure that there are tough penalties for those who are doing illegal protests and jeopardizing public safety. If the bill passes, it will be some of the strongest legislation in Canada for critical infrastructure. We will not stand by and allow Alberta to be held hostage by people who want to sabotage our economy.
Our business community is a big part of what makes Chestermere-Strathmore a great place to live and raise a family. For those of you who live in Langdon and are patrons of the many great businesses, voting is open for the Langdon Chamber’s Golden Horseshoe Business Excellence Awards. To cast your ballot, see: https://www.facebook.com/LDCCGoldenHorseShoe/posts/118018186402788.
As always, I love to hear from you.
(Leela Sharon Aheer is the MLA Elect for Chestermere-Strathmore, Minister of Status of Women and Minister of Culture and Multiculturalism)