George Lee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Macleod Gazette
The government cares more about blocking Edmonton bike lanes than making sure rural Albertans with disabilities have access to public transportation, the NDP implied last week.
Calling much of rural Alberta “a public transportation desert” since Greyhound pulled out in 2018, transportation critic Lorne Dach alluded to the province’s concerns about bike lanes on a major city route.
“Why is the government willing to restrict some Albertans’ freedom to travel but not willing to enforce the mobility rights of people with disabilities?” Dach asked in the legislature.
A renewal of 132nd Avenue in Edmonton could include a section that reduces four car lanes to two to make room for bike lanes. The provincial government considers the idea a provincial issue because the avenue is a major artery.
Transportation and Corridors Minister Devin Dreeshen said there are six schools in the area, and reducing congestion should be a goal. “We have to be on the same page as Edmonton, and that’s something we’ll continue to work on,” he said.
Steering the exchange back to rural Alberta, Dach said nonprofit groups are forced to “beg for government grants” to help people with disabilities get around. Urban public transportation rightly gets billions of dollars, but rural Albertans have a right to public transportation, too.
The UCP government won’t even study the creation of a provincial network serving “every corner of our province,” said Dach, the member for Edmonton-McClung.
But Jason Nixon, the minister of seniors, community and social services, noted that the UCP just put another $3.5 million towards transportation for aging Albertans and those with disabilities.
The NDP shows that it doesn’t care by voting against UCP initiatives, said Nixon, the member for Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre.
Dreeshen, the member for Innisfail-Sylvan Lake, said that as a rural MLA “I obviously understand the issues that we have.” He said billions of dollars are going towards rural road networks, creating economic opportunity while helping Albertans develop resources and get them to market.
