INNISFAIL – The Alberta Party is serious about the Innisfail-Sylvan Lake riding.
They now have a candidate for the upcoming byelection, and they have a new highly credible and experienced leader in Stephen Mandel, who served as a cabinet minister in the former Progressive Conservative government from 2014 to 2015 and as mayor of Edmonton from 2004 to 2013, and was chosen in February.
Mandel was in town to attend the recent annual Innisfail and District Trade Show, and to meet locals to spread his party's message and platform.
“We think it’s an incredible riding. We’ve got a lot of support and we’re optimistic we can do well here,” said Mandel.
Danielle Klooster, president of the constituency association, noted Mandel’s time and commitment to the riding, making several trips here since being elected, and his dedication to the people of Alberta.
“He is out in the communities, out around the province and meeting with people every day,” said Klooster. “He’s working incredibly hard and we’re really impressed with his work ethic and the attention he’s been (receiving) for our party.”
Mandel spoke about the Alberta Party’s core values and defined the party as fiscally responsible and socially progressive.
“We believe in ensuring those who need help get help. We care about people. We deeply believe in inclusion and diversity,” said Mandel. “Our party is open and welcome to everybody. We think that’s what Alberta is and we want to make sure people feel comfortable in our party.
“It’s a very diverse community and we hope the Alberta Party will be able to work with the community to build a better place for them,” he added.
Mandel spoke on some of the issues important to the riding and area residents, including rural crime, health care and seniors' housing.
“We need to have a much more creative way of dealing with rural crime. We need to make sure communities in rural Alberta are safe and secure and people feel comfortable,” said Mandel.
“There’s a tremendous need for seniors' housing,” he added. “We really need to make sure that we have more private enterprise and not-for-profits involved in building (seniors' housing).”
Klooster also identified the economy as a major issue.
“I think we have to recognize that even though the economy is picking up, lots of people are still really, really hurting,” said Klooster. “There are people that have chewed through their savings and employment insurance and they’re still not finding the opportunities, or they’ve decided they don’t want to ride that roller-coaster (in the oilpatch) again.”
Klooster said the Alberta Party wants to help find those economic opportunities and help people access them.
“Agriculture is one of the founding industries in this province and I think there’s a lot of opportunity in agriculture,” said Klooster. “We really need a government that’s going to help us leverage those opportunities and maximize our agricultural strength on a global scale.”
