INNISFAIL – Town of Innisfail Mayor Jean Barclay was quick to congratulate Conservative Party of Canada candidate Blaine Calkins for winning the new Ponoka-Didsbury riding in Monday’s federal election.
She knows Calkins and looks forward to working with him.
However, Barclay is also hoping for a smoother working relationship between the new Liberal government under Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Alberta government under Premier Danielle Smith.
Earlier on Tuesday Smith invited Carney to improve relations between Alberta and the federal government.
The two leaders met face-to-face on March 20 and Smith gave him a list of demands on policy, including unfettered cross-boundary access to build pipelines and an end to the proposed greenhouse gas emissions cap.
As far as municipalities go, the province this year became extra protective against federal intrusions with its new Provincial Priorities Act that supports the Alberta government in pushing back against overreach by the federal government.
The legislation requires provincial entities, including municipalities, to obtain prior approval from the Alberta’s government before entering into or extending or renewing an agreement with the federal government.
“I'm hoping the province and the federal government will find a way to work together. It takes both parties to have a relationship,” Barclay told the Albertan on the morning after the federal election on April 28 that gave the Liberals a minority federal government. “When I listen to Prime Minister Carney and his vision for building Canada and building economic corridors, Alberta is so well-positioned to be at the forefront of that.
“You need to have a respectful relationship on both sides of the coin for that to happen,” added Barclay. “I think there's a lot of good work that goes on behind the scenes, and I'm confident for the sake of all of us there will be a good relationship moving forward.”
She added it was doubly important that everyone across the country works together as Canada is facing huge economic issues and threats to its sovereignty.
“We have a quite a formidable thing happening in front of us right now with the Trump administration and the tariff threats,” said the mayor. “We need to come together and deal with that, and we need to come together as one nation to deal with that, and that is what I am hoping for.”
However, Barclay added the ball is now in Carney’s court that he must deliver on his repeated declarations and promise to Canadians he is the right leader for the country who won’t succumb to Trump’s repeated use of tariffs and threats to Canadian sovereignty.
“Absolutely. Time will tell what gets delivered but as I said it take all provinces working together with the federal government to be able to take advantage of the opportunity that this country has, and I think this is a somewhat of a generational opportunity that we have in front of us, and Trump has been a wake up call for this country,” said Barclay.
“It's time for us now to take advantage of that and be the powerhouse that we are capable of.”
