The candidates in the Red Deer-Mountain View federal riding have outlined some of their respective plans for the local and national economy.
Canadians go to the polls on Oct. 21, with 338 seats up for grabs. The Red Deer-Mountain View constituency includes the town of Olds, Didsbury, Carstairs, Sundre, Innisfail, Penhold, the Village of Cremona, Mountain View County and portions of Red Deer County.
The nomination deadline for the 2019 election is Sept. 30.
As of press time Monday, the declared candidates in the riding are incumbent Earl Dreeshen from the Conservative Party of Canada, Conner Borle from the Green Party of Canada, Paul Mitchell from the People’s Party of Canada, and Logan Garbanewski from the NDP.
All four candidates have been visiting communities in the riding since the campaign opened two weeks ago.
Borle, 26, said if he is elected he would work to diversify the region’s and nation’s economy.
“The strategy from the Green Party to help this along is by investing in upgrading our national grid, enacting a national building retrofit and turning off the taps to oil imports,” said Borle.
“These strategies will create a demand for the skilled labourers who have recently gone through the loss of jobs in the oil and gas sector.
“I do not feel as if our representatives are using scientific and economic research to guide their decisions, but simply being guided by what might make them more popular, or more likely to be voted in for another term.”
He said if elected he would be prepared to make decisions for the overall benefit of his constituents.
“This should not be how we run politics; politicians should be willing to make hard decisions that may not be popular, but the research shows will be beneficial long term,” he said.
“These are the types of decisions I would be ready and willing to make.”
Earl Dreeshen, 66, says if re-elected he plans to work to address a number of key economic concerns, including the need to get agriculture products produced in this region to market.
“The key thing is we have to be aggressive on some of these things,” said Dreeshen. “We’ve had major issues with Italy with our wheat, Saudi Arabia with cereal grains, India with pulses, and of course China with canola and beef and pork.
“Quite frankly with China, I think they look at us and say these guys don’t fight back on anything. So that’s been one of the big issues, and it’s as though we are not in the discussion when it comes to trade.”
Getting pipelines built and operating will be a priority for a Conservative government, he said.
“That’s what people are concerned about in this region and it should be taken seriously. The oil and gas industry and agriculture are so important in our area. We need to get our natural resources to market.”
Paul Mitchell, 50, says getting the region’s oil and gas to markets will be a priority for him.
“The spinoffs from pipeline growth and building is going to be felt everywhere in Alberta, including here,” he said. “We are going to use Section 92.10 of the Constitution to impose pipelines. The benefits of that is any pipeline that is named can’t then be blocked by other provinces or the courts. So then we would get shovels in the ground.”
A second priority would be to make changes to the tax system.
“High taxes are of course an impediment to economic growth, and so for entrepreneurs we are going to reduce the tax rate to a flat tax rate of 10 per cent. Those guys are of course the engine of the economy, the guys who hire everyone, so a reduced tax rate would make a big difference.”
The party would also reduce income taxes across the board by putting in flat tax rates, he said.
“We are also going to get rid of the capital gains tax, and we feel that will benefit people by making sure people will invest wisely, and that will grow the economy.”
Gardanewski, 21, is an education student at Red Deer College. He is seeking public office for the first time.
Part of his party’s plans for the economy involve training workers for future industries, he said.
“I really want to focus on the green new deal that we have planned, which is a slow transition into renewable energy sources,” said Gardanewski. “Our plan is to create over 300,000 jobs (nationwide). We have a plan of job training to transition these hard-working oil and gas sector workers to green sector jobs.
“We are hoping to transition all of these workers to green energy, which would be not only more sustainable for our economy and the environment, but it would be a lot more stable as well.”
He said he would also work to support the agriculture industry.
“I’m committed to fighting for Canadian food, and we are committed to standing firm against China and their unfair attacks on our farmers,” he said. “If China wants to refuse our canola then we will find new buyers; the world is a big market.”
All four candidates say they will take part in local candidate forums during the election.
