Last night was a chance for people in Peace River to hear from the candidates in the federal elections.
A number of people were at the Belle Petroleum Centre at the forum to hear what they had to say about several topics.
One of the big ones was the economy, with Conservative candidate Arnold Viersen saying the number one thing we need is more pipelines.
“We’ve seen with the cancellation of the Northern Gateway Pipeline and the loss of the Carmon Creek Project right here in Peace River. I’m looking forward to bringing those kind of projects back. The other major thing is the fact that because all the oil is on the rail right now, our lumber guys and our farmers aren’t getting their product on the rails as well.”
Meanwhile John Schrader, the candidate for the People’s Party, says we need environmental policies that quote “make sense”
“We need a government that understands that there are concrete realities and we need to focus on concrete solutions to the problems we actually face, not made up problems.”
Green Party candidate Peter Nygaard says they will fight to stabilize the economy.
“We want to exploit our oil resources for manufacturing value added goods to export to the global market and we can export those safely via rail. We wouldn’t need to expand the pipeline, pipelines only ship fluids, they don’t ship any other goods.”
The candidate for the Liberals, Leslie Penny, says we need to have more investments into rural infrastructure.
“I’ve used the example of the Peace Bridge, because I’m sure there’s federal money in that, and that puts people to work. Infrastructure is something that has to be done, but you do more of it when the economy isn’t kicking over as quickly as you’d like.”
Another topic that was discussed was getting the voices of rural Albertans heard in Ottawa.
Viersen says a strong Conservative majority is the best way to ensure that.
“That will take Alberta country wide. We know that a Conservative government will always stand up for the interests of Northern Alberta, particularly our resource development because when we have a strong Alberta, we have a strong Canada.”
Nygaard says if he wins this riding, he would be “diligent” in getting peoples concerns addressed.
“The salary is substantial so the amount of work the MP puts in should reflect that. I would work tirelessly to make sure that I am a strong voice for all the constituents here in the Peace River-Westlock riding.”
Schrader says if his party gets into power, they would speed up the process of approving important infrastructure projects.
“You had a proposal 12 years ago when I lived in Peace River to have a nuclear power plant built. Whatever happened to that? They probably got regulated into not even wanting to do it. That kind of a project would’ve created thousands of jobs.”
Penny says getting some Liberal MPs in rural ridings would get their voices heard in the event of a Liberal government.
“If there were Liberals in Alberta besides the four that are in the two cities, we could with those four and three or four more could make a difference, and yet we’re not willing to take that chance.”
If you weren’t able to make it to the forum last night, we’ve got the full video of it up on our Trending 55 Facebook page.
– Kyle Moore, Trending 55 News Room
