Wildrose Caucus makes great strides during spring session
As the spring sitting of the Alberta Legislature draws to a close, Wildrose Alliance Leader Danielle Smith congratulated fellow caucus members for their accomplishments on a variety of issues.
“As I have travelled the province, it is clear that Albertans have been watching our Wildrose Alliance Caucus to see how we deal with issues,” said Smith. “The feedback I am getting in town halls and meetings is that Albertans like what they are seeing. I want to congratulate our elected MLAs for doing such an amazing job.”
“Our caucus has limited resources and limited funding, but we are leading the debate in many areas,” said Heather Forsyth, MLA for Calgary-Fish Creek. “Our Caucus has been effective in holding this tired, visionless and exhausted PC government to account.”
In particular, the Wildrose Alliance Caucus was able to:
- Win the fight to help restore some of the energy industry’s competitiveness following the PC-created royalty disaster;
- Get Finance Minister Ted Morton (along with outside experts) to confirm that the actual size of the provincial deficit is $7.6 billion, not $4.7 billion as the PCs have been telling Albertans;
- Propose an alternative budget that would have allowed the PC government to balance the books in two years instead of three;
- Reveal information provided by the medical community that has forced the PC government to respond to its cataract surgery foul-up;
- Pass Heather Forsyth’s Private Member’s Bill 202 that will require the mandatory reporting of child pornography;
- Introduce Rob Anderson’s Private Member’s Bill 204 to introduce fiscal accountability principles into government spending;
- Question the government’s use of taxpayers’ resources to fund partisan or political activities such as the submission to the Electoral Boundary Commission; and
- Operate as a newly formed and unified caucus with three MLAs, Paul Hinman (Calgary-Glenmore) , Heather Forsyth (Calgary-Fish Creek) and Rob Anderson (Airdrie-Chestermere).
“Albertans are craving true leadership and the PC government is failing on so many different fronts. We have brought forward many constructive ideas and solutions to help restore the Alberta Advantage and return our economy and provincial finances to prosperity. Our elected members, have been effective in doing their jobs and putting forward ideas that will help get things right for Albertans,” Smith concluded.