The electricity transmission lines, education, and land laws dominated the discussion during an Alberta government cabinet tour stop in Innisfail last Wednesday.
Iris Evans, minister of international and intergovernmental relations, Lindsay Blackett, minister of culture and community spirit, Alison Redford, minister of justice and Attorney General, and Luke Ouellette, local MLA and minister of transportation, attended the open house at the Historical Village tea house.
The four ministers travelled to Innisfail as part of a provincewide tour to speak with Albertans in their communities.
A number of area residents had strong opinions on the construction of the transmission lines and asked pointed questions about their necessity and cost for Albertans.
Ouellette responded to a number of the questions and said although the two planned lines does sound like a lot more power then necessary it is needed for the growth of the province.
“We need transmission in Alberta and if you want you kids to have jobs and if you want to see economic development we need power,” said Ouellette.
Some residents inquired to the cabinet ministers whether or not there was another way to provide the province with the needed power without having to debate the issue of the two major power lines.
Evans responded saying that because everyone has recognized there is a need for the power the challenge now is just to find a cost effective way to provide it.
The ministers encouraged residents to attend the upcoming open house on the transmission lines to get more of their questions answered as none on them were the ministers directly involved in the dealings with the power lines.
The meeting was attended by a number of representatives from the education sector with three school board trustees, the Chinook’s Edge School Division chair and superintendent in the audience. Issues rising from the Inspiring Education documents and the teachers’ salary negotiations were both brought up and discussed with the ministers.
Evans discussed the budget restrictions that the government is faced with and said that one of the problems for education is that so much money is currently being spent in the health care system that at the end of the day there is not much left.
Other issues brought up by residents included dealing with large growth in small communities, problems with the land stewardship act, and the future of Alberta health services after the recent staff shake-up.
Retirement costs for seniors and the future of the baby boomer generation was discussed with questions raised about how the government is going to provide affordable retirement for the next generation of retirees.
Cynthia Webber from Big Brothers Big Sisters had some positive feedback for the cabinet ministers regarding the Community Spirit project. The non-profit organization has received a lot of necessary funds from the project that would not have been available in other provinces, said Webber.
Some other positive feedback came from local politicians regarding the progress on the development of the Plasco garbage gasification plant and the provincial funding for the regional wastewater line.
The cabinet ministers encouraged residents to leave their names and any questions that were left unanswered so that they could respond to them after the meeting.
