Athabasca and the surrounding area has a fan in the form of Alberta’s Deputy Premier Thomas Lukaszuk.
Lukaszuk was in town last Tuesday to serve as the keynote speaker at Athabasca University’s Community Breakfast, where he said both the school and the community of Athabasca are set to be an integral part of Alberta’s future.
Lukaszuk noted that Athabasca is the centre of the province in many ways.
“Athabasca has a compliment of industries here and it’s geographically located in a very opportune area... (the town and county) are poised to be very instrumental in the region, the province and the country,” Lukaszuk said.
“Athabasca is at the heart and centre of the energy and resources in the province, next to Fort McMurray, and Alberta is the energy centre of Canada and the energy plan for Canada.
“When you look 40 years into the future, you have to imagine what it’s going to look like, and the oil industry will never stop until it dries up. When that happens we’ll have to rely on other resources that are developed with innovation and research at universities such as Athabasca University.”
Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Athabasca-Sturgeon-Redwater and Minister of Education Jeff Johnson said he was happy to be able to invite his colleague Lukaszuk to attend the breakfast and visit the community.
“It’s important to do events like this and engage in the community and to reach out and support (the university and the region),” Johnson said.
“It’s not often you get all the community leaders together in one place, especially in support of educational institutions like AU. I’m always happy to bring colleagues to town to profile our region and important institutions like AU.”
Similarly, Athabasca County Reeve David Yurdiga was pleased that Lukaszuk was able to attend the breakfast and he was just as happy to see the community attend and show their support for the university.
“People say that we don’t always agree with each other, but debates are healthy because we aren’t one municipality here in Athabasca, and we need to find the best possible solutions for everyone,” Yurdiga said.
“Having events like this where we can bring all the people together in one place is important. Having the Deputy Premier here signifies that the province really does care about small communities and the county and council really appreciate it. It opens up more doors for networking with the government in the future and allows everyone a chance to promote development in the region.”
Lukaszuk noted that being able to provide more opportunities for all regions of the province is important, but the Athabasca region in particular has a bright future ahead of it.
“Athabasca is at the centre of the energy production but it’s also at the heart of the agriculture and pulp and lumber sections,” he said.
“These are very important because in the next 20 years, Canada is going to be one of only 20 food producers in the world. These three sectors are just many important industries and Athabasca is right in the middle of it all, which will be important for the region, the province, the country and ultimately the world.
“If we carry the message to all regions of Canada to develop, the whole country prospers, and so it’s important to be able to support regions with industries with opportunities for growth in the future because everyone benefits in the end.”
