With the region’s agriculture and petroleum industries continuing to rely heavily on a functioning and viable road and bridge network, the newly elected UCP government has a responsibility to district residents when it comes to transportation infrastructure.
Whether the government will live up to this obligation to rural Alberta remains to be seen. What is known is that as with health care and education, good roads, bridges and highways are vitally important.
In a new mandate letter, Premier Danielle Smith has instructed Devin Dreeshen, Innisfail-Sylvan Lake MLA and minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors, to focus on “expanding economic corridors across the province and country to increase employment, economic growth and non-renewable resource revenue for Albertans.”
Smith has also called on Dreeshen to “work with municipalities to assess and improve strategic bridge infrastructure” and “explore cost-sharing arrangements with the private sector and/or municipalities that support economic investment in Alberta’s transportation network, including public transit, heavy rail and bridge infrastructure.”
In response, Dreeshen said: “I’m honoured to build our roads, bridges and critical infrastructure all across the province. Alberta has the largest provincial road network in Canada – more than 64,000-lane kilometres of highways, of which more than 28,400 kilometres are paved, and more than 4,600 owned bridges, and one of the largest highway networks in Canada.”
Lorne Dach is the NDP’s Transportation and Economic Corridors critic.
“Albertans expect their government to build for the future,” Dach said. “However, Premier Smith’s mandate letter to Minister Devin Dreeshen is missing several huge opportunities for growth in both urban centres and rural communities.
“This work is critical, especially as the UCP’s failures in health care continue to force Albertans to travel hundreds of kilometres away from their communities in order to receive treatment.”
Over the coming months area residents will be watching closely to see if Minister Dreeshen lives up to his promise to “build our roads, bridges and critical infrastructure” in this region and across the province.
Dan Singleton is an editor with the Albertan.
