Wildrose Alliance Party leader Danielle Smith spent a few hours in Innisfail last Wednesday morning before moving on to Sylvan Lake for a wine and cheese event.
Smith started her day early touring the Discovery Wildlife Park before moving on to meet council shortly after 11 a.m. Kerry Towle, Wildrose candidate for Innisfail/Sylvan Lake was with Smith during the tour.
“I was delighted to hear from council there are relatively few burning and difficult issues from an infrastructure point of view,” Smith said at the end of her visit in town. “I think the council, although they have a couple of issues, it sounds like it’s not as acute as what I’ve seen in other municipalities.”
She said discussions circle around funding issues and said concerns from council focused on senior care needs.
“One thing the town was telling me was they end up getting squeezed on both ends with the aging facilities. They don’t have the money to build a new facility so they’re short on the capital, but they’re also facing funding shortfalls in the operating side so they’re really caught in a cost-price squeeze. I think that is a common story.”
Coun. Brian Spiller, who met with Smith said the meeting went well.
“She was just looking at our concerns to get a feel for what we needed,” he said.
Spiller was one of four councillors present at the meeting, along with the town administrator.
Smith also met with a handful of physicians. She didn’t speak specifically on what was discussed behind closed doors but said, “I’m excited when doctors meet with me behind closed doors,” to talk about concerns over health care.
