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Personable doesn’t mean responsible

As the Drumheller-Stettler region gears up for an election...

I notice that a former PC Cabinet Minister, Jack Hayden, is the PC candidate in our region.

As as individual who has spent years working with landowner groups, and with property rights issues, I can't help nut comment on the fact that when Jack Hayden was in government, he was the PC government's point man on key initiatives that were designed to trample landowner rights.

Bill 19, the Land Acquisition Act, was Jack Hayden's Bill. He Tabled it in the legislature. As Hayden steered the Bill through the Legislature , he never held any public meetings in the constituency at all. And rather than tell people the truth about what the Bill would actually do to all landowners, Hayden told people its purpose was primarily to deal with ring road issues in the Edmonton region. Today we all know what he said at the time wasn't true.

In fact, during last fall's legislative session in Edmonton, the Assembly acknowledged that Jack Hayden's Bill 19 was such an outrageous attack against property rights that it needed to be repealed. There are still two more PC Land Bills that need to be repealed, that are equally outrageous – Bills 24 and 36. Hayden enthusiastically supported and defended these Bills as well. Hayden's track record on landowner rights and issues of justice is odious. No constituency in the province deserves to be represented by an individual who has championed such ideas.

Hayden may be a personable individual. But good government isn't about backslapping and being responsible. Good government is about the hard work of policy. It's about fiscal responsibility and being accountable. It's about representing the people of the region in the legislature, and not about representing and promoting party policy in the riding. In our riding a key issue is property rights, and Hayden has already proven that sending him to protect out property rights would be like inviting Alison Redford to manage the government's travel budget.

Jim Ness – New Brigden