Since accepting the Wildrose nomination for the Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills constituency, I have been meeting with citizens, municipal government and community groups. To be frank, the amount of support I have received confirms the level of discontent people have with the PC Party. I knew there were a lot of lifelong PCers angry with their party, but the number caught me by surprise.Generally speaking, people have three questions for me. Why do I want to be MLA, why am I running for the Wildrose and why have I chosen this coming election to run?Let me address the first question directly. I am running for MLA because I'm frustrated. I'm frustrated with a government that has mismanaged health care, attacked property rights and dumped its responsibilities on local communities. Enough is enough.Like the majority of people in the Wildrose, I was once a member of the Progressive Conservative Party. People often ask why I left that party. My answer is this: I didn't leave the PC party. It left me.During the past decade the PC government has not only drifted off course, it has turned its back on the rural Alberta values from which it was born.Rather than control spending at reasonable levels, it threw out our balanced budget laws and proceeded to run up record deficits. Rather than promote economic growth during a time of recession, it raised taxes on our province's number one industry, disregarded contracts with oil and gas companies and let the Alberta Advantage slip away. When the government did finally scrap its royalty rate increases, not one representative of cabinet or the premier himself was willing to admit a mistake was made.People in my riding live within their means. They understand that keeping taxes low results in more jobs, more growth and a stronger economy. They understand that people do make mistakes, but also know how to admit a mistake and make amends. These are a type of rural values the PC government now disdains.As a direct result, the Wildrose has made significant gains over the past two years. Make no mistake, the Wildrose has two goals: to remove an old, tired and morally corrupt government that has lost its way on a number of issues, and more importantly, to replace it with something better.Why have I chosen to run in the next election? It's not because I'm angry with the government, even though I am. It's because I see my Alberta slipping away, and I know that I can help stop it from happening.Where I come from, when you see something you know is wrong, you do something about it. None of the current PC party leadership candidates was willing to do that as Premier Stelmach drove our province towards a cliff, so why should I believe that they will do the right thing now?The time for a change has come.Bruce RoweWildrose candidate for Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills
