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43 Tuesday, October 2013 Vol. 7,Vol. No.8,2,No. Tuesday, November 8, 8, 2011
MICHELLE PINON PHOTO
Birds of a feather were flocked together and taking a much needed rest stop at a dugout near Range Road 193 just off Highway 15 near Lamont last week.
Wildrose infrastructure critic tours Heartland Michelle Pinon Editor
Drew Barnes wants to help pave the way for a different future with the Wildrose Party. Barnes, Infrastructure and Transportation Critic, was in Fort Saskatchewan on the last leg of his province-wide tour late Friday morning when The Lamont Leader caught up with him. The Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA was on a fact finding mission. “It’s very important to listen to local people,” stated Barnes, who had spoken to hockey parents, economic leaders, producers, and stakeholders over the past seven days. Barnes even had informal meetings with folks at various Tim Hortons along the route. From the information Barnes had gathered, residents wanted to see more spending in
growth areas of the province. “They wanted to balance that with other areas that had safety concerns.” “We want to take politics out of decision making,” explained Barnes. “There is only one taxpayer.” He said he wanted to hear first hand what was important to Albertans in order to develop a comprehensive list of priorities based on needs. “We wanted to see how all of this fits into the entire scheme of things so that by the next election will will have a province-wide infrastructure list.” The overall plan, if the Wildrose takes office in 2016, would be to inject $50 billion in infrastructure spending over the next 10 years, added Barnes. “Then all Albertans will know when and where the jobs will be done and will be able to get more projects done.”
Barnes said the PC’s have broken promises on several projects in recent years, and both he and the Wildrose want to change that. He cited Highway 61 in his constituency that had been slated for an upgrade many years ago, but was only partially completed. He said that not only this case, but others like Secondary Highway 881, work had started and stopped, with stakeholders and residents left in the lurch-not knowing why the project(s) had been delayed or scrapped altogether. Barnes feels that with enough input, the Wildrose will have all the information it needs to establish the right priorities list. Barnes expects to have his report completed within a week. “At that time we will make our findings public.”
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Drew Barnes, infrastructure and transportation critic for the Wildrose Party stands beside the Fort Saskatchewan bridge. Barnes was visiting the Heartland region as part of a seven day province-wide tour.