BONNYVILLE – In front of a crowd of roughly 50 people, former Finance Minister Travis Toews pitched his perspective and policies to United Conservative Party (UCP) membership holders, local leaders and politically minded residents at Bonnyville’s Senior Citizens Drop-In Centre on the evening of Sept. 1.
Before arriving in Bonnyville, Toews and his campaign team had stops in Fort McMurray and Lac La Biche.
Time is running out for UCP candidates to rack up support to replace Jason Kenney as both Alberta’s UCP leader and premier, which will be decided in a leadership vote on Oct. 6.
Toews, the UCP MLA for the Grande Prairie Wapiti riding, has been travelling across Alberta making stops in several communities to share his vision for the future of the party and province.
“I'm one of those old-fashioned Albertans who believes that running deficits is not only bad policy, (but) it's immoral to place the results of our irresponsible fiscal decisions on the backs of the next generation. It is simply wrong,” Toews told those in attendance.
“To get the province back to surplus position was job number one for me in terms of my mandate,” he said, adding a balanced budget was an achievement and milestone for the province.
Toews expressed that good government encourages entrepreneurial spirit and creates an environment for business to grow.
“Governments don't create wealth. At best, we redistribute it, and we do that inefficiently. Government's role is to create the most competitive business environment possible,” he said to a room full of applause.
He noted that entrepreneurs see opportunities that governments don’t, which benefits the whole of society.
Toews also made a point of stating that under his leadership, all MLAs would be heard in caucus.
“I found this very often, the best idea came from an unlikely source around the table. We make better decisions when everybody has a voice. And friends, that's informed my leadership style,” he said.
“I can commit to you that every MLA will have a voice around that caucus table. It is their fiduciary duty to bring the views of their constituents to that table and advocate for them.”
Toews says when MLAs aren’t heard, neither are the voices of their constituents who will become discontent with their leadership “because their voice is so often heard through their MLA.”
Labour shortages
After Toews’ formal address, the floor was open for attendees to ask questions and several people did.
The Bonnyville and District Chamber of Commerce’s executive director, Serina Parsons asked Toews how a government under his leadership would address the worsening labour shortage for skilled and unskilled workers in the Lakeland.
“We don't have bodies to fill the jobs we currently have. It’s what (Chambers of Commerce) are hearing all across the board, all across the province,” stated Parsons.
In response, Toews said that the Alberta economy is growing, but the current labour capacity and lack of skilled workers is holding the economy back.
“It's a complex issue. There's not one single thing – there's a bit of a misalignment with skills that's out there,” he said.
One approach the government is currently taking is by “buying seats” in post-secondary institutions to grow program capacity in fields that are facing labour shortages.
“That's a new way of funding our post-secondary institutions to make them work for Albertans,” he added.
It is a strategy that Toews says he will continue to pursue for a variety of industries.
Highway 28
Roy Young, a board trustee for Northern Lights Public Schools, also addressed the UCP leadership candidate on the poor condition of the highly travelled Highway 28.
“The condition of Highway 28 is one of the worst situations in the province. And I would hope that you just take note of that,” said Young, over a background of cheers.
Adding on to Young’s comments, City of Cold Lake Mayor Craig Copeland told Toews that beyond the disrepair of the road, there were no passing lanes in a roughly 280 km stretch.
Copeland also pointed out that upgrades to Highway 28 have not been included in any of the province’s long-term capital project.
“All we're asking is at the minimum, is for some passing lanes from here to Edmonton and twinning (the highway) from Cold Lake to Bonnyville,” he said.
Toews responded, “Highway 28 needs to be on the list, we'll make sure it is... And that's good advocacy right here from your municipal leaders.”
In addition, Toews stated that one limiting factor of infrastructure projects also relates back to a shortage of labour.
"We have a lot of highway resurfacing taking place... but we ran into a capacity limitation. A lot of that funding hasn't been spent yet, because there's only so much capacity out there and transportation is having trouble rolling it out."
Healthcare concerns
The state of healthcare is the greatest challenge for those who live in northeastern Alberta, Toews told Lakeland This Week.
Comparing the Lakeland region’s struggles to ongoing issues seen in his riding, he says the shortage of healthcare professionals is at a crisis point.
Toews says Alberta Health Services needs an entire overhaul that reflects a bottom-up approach rather than a top-down approach.
Toews referenced several approaches to the current problem, such as policy changes to speed up accreditation of trained medical professionals arriving from abroad, increase post-secondary capacity, and create agreements with other provinces and the US to address the back log of surgery wait times for Albertans.
“One thing I would not do is withhold funding to deal with this crisis,” he said. “Alberta is not a cheap healthcare jurisdiction, but... I think Albertans are willing to pay a little more to ensure that if you live in a rural community, you can get health care.”
After the evening event, Toews and his entourage headed south to Vegreville where a pancake breakfast was scheduled for the following morning, as well as other stops in Lakeland communities.
