Photo: Wildrose Alliance Party leader Danielle Smith stopped in Lloydminster last week. – Andrea Nicholl Photo
By Andrea Nicholl
Danielle Smith met with local residents on Thursday afternoon to hear pressing municipal matters, political concerns and to build the Wildrose Alliance constituency association.
Smith met with area residences and mayor Jeff Mulligan to familiarize herself with local issues and challenges unique to the Border City.
“The issues that seem to come up, regardless of the community, are very similar - a lot of people are concerned about the budget deficits, people are concerned about the chaotic approach to the royalty framework, people are concerned about the level of regulation being lowered on our livestock industry, and people are really concerned about health care and the fact that it doesn’t seem to matter how much money we pour into health care we end up getting worse and worse results.”
Smith says she’s pleased with the response and support that Wildrose has received and is confident that the party will do well in the next election, though acknowledges the challenges and difficulties of starting a new party from the ground up.
“The fact that people are interested in what we have to say demonstrates just how out of touch the current government has become. If you’ve got a dynasty government that’s been in power for 40 years and all of a sudden people start to think ‘maybe I won’t vote for them in the next election,’ they start looking for new alternatives which is very positive for us.”
The Wildrose Alliance has complete intentions of running a candidate in every riding in the next election, and Smith says over the next year or two the party will concentrate on establishing good local constituencies and recruiting good local candidates.
“I’ve never been interested in demonstrating how right wing we can be, I’m more interested in demonstrating how grassroots we can be ... so when we position our party and the values that we’re interested in ... those will resonate with that classic conservative Alberta voter.”
Smith says grassroot and conservative values will appeal to Albertans, and that the Wildrose Alliance will emphasize the importance of a government that is responsive to the people of Alberta, and one which will protect our personal freedoms, allow individuals, families and communities to be a free judge of themselves and one that promotes and supports decentralized decision making.
“We don’t believe that hiring one smart guy in Edmonton, to work with the bureaucracies to solve all of our problems, is a way to govern the province.
“We should trust that local people, in local communities are the best able to make decisions in the best interests of those they serve.”