OLDS — Nathan Cooper, the United Conservative Party candidate running for re-election in the Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills constituency says if re-elected, he’ll continue to advocate for more doctors in the region.
However, he hinted a solution may be that people will have to travel outside their home communities to access those doctors.
Cooper made that point during an interview with the Albertan.
At last count, about 2,600 people in Olds did not have a family doctor. Cooper was asked what he could do to solve that problem.
“There are lots of folks who are willing to travel to Didsbury and Carstairs as we look at a broader approach to health care and making sure that we have doctors right across the region," he said.
“There isn’t enough of them, we need more of them and we’ll continue to try to attract them to our region – and to have AHS (Alberta Health Services) ensure that it remains a priority.”
Cooper admitted that travelling outside their home to other communities might not be “anyone’s first choice,”
“I continue to advocate for more doctors here in Olds and in an ideal scenario, we would continue to have an increase in doctors in our region, Olds, Didsbury, Carstairs and Three Hills,” he said.
Provincewide, Cooper said, the UCP government has cut down surgery wait times and ambulance wait times in Calgary and Edmonton which in turn improves health care access for Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills residents.
Cooper said as he's travelled around the constituency, the main concerns he’s heard are about the cost of living and “the way that Ottawa treats Alberta.”
He said the UCP government has implemented policies and programs such as tax relief to solve those issues.
The Town of Olds is undertaking a study to assess whether it would be more economically efficient to renovate the Sportsplex or replace it.
Cooper was asked if he would advocate for provincial funding for whichever course the town takes.
He said he would, and awaits the results of that study.
“The province has made more investments in Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills in the last four years than in the previous decade combined,” Cooper said.
“We just saw $7 million given to the town for their storm surge pond. We saw almost $30 million given to the college in this term of government for expansion.”
Cooper said his over-riding disappointment is that so far, this election has been focused on personalities rather than policies.
He was first elected in the constituency in 2015 and was re-elected in 2019.
