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Meeting with the ‘grassroots’ around our riding

The amalgamation of the Conservatives in our province is a major step forward.
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Opinion column by MP Kevin Sorenson. FILE PHOTO

As I write this mid-July Parliamentary Report, I am encouraged by the recent precipitation we have received in some parts of our large riding. It has been too dry for many of our agricultural producers and every bit of rain helps.

Other uplifting news includes the success of Conservatives in our province agreeing to unite under one banner in time for the next provincial election cycle. Conservatives are disappointed with the performance of the Alberta NDP government and are doing the hard work needed to replace them. The amalgamation of the Conservatives in our province is a major step forward, and we can all be pleased with this progress.

As always, constituents in Battle River-Crowfoot are generously sharing their political views with me at every stop I make throughout the summer. As usual, I am pleased to report that the vast majority of us feel the same way on the top political issues. From my perspective, I see political mismanagement of these issues from both the provincial government and the federal Liberal government.

There are many examples of what we are talking about. We know Prime Minister Trudeau’s decision to arbitrarily make a secret multi-million dollar pay-off to Omar Khadr is wrong. The Supreme Court of Canada never ordered any monetary compensation. The Supreme Court ruled that repatriation of Omar Khadr was the proper remedy and that’s why the previous Conservative government brought him back to Canada. There was no need to apologize to a convicted terrorist. Justin Trudeau chose a mean-spirited approach that has made it harder for Khadr’s victim’s family to seek compensation.

The provincial government in their zeal to pursue “environmental” policies are driving our province into debt while failing to ensure workers have jobs. This was highlighted in my recent tour of the Sheerness Generating Station with fellow Albertan Members of Parliament Earl Dreeshen and Shannon Stubbs. While China and other countries continue to burn coal, export coal and build plants to generate power from coal, our governments are shutting down our coal plants with no plan for the re-employment of these workers.

Amidst the graduations, celebrations, parades and other events that I have been attending, there are also community-building efforts. The “Taste of Stettler Night” and the Kneehill County’s “Farm to Table Culinary Tour” are events that bring together our volunteer organizations, local businesses, agriculture operations and workers to ‘meet and greet.’

The history of our area of Alberta shows us that many local entrepreneurs developed prosperous and employment-generating enterprises large and small. Our agricultural industry has always and will continue to serve us well. As your Member of Parliament, it is great to see local communities working to try to maximize our opportunities.