Kevin Berger – Leader Staff
Town of Barrhead councillor Leslie Penny has been named as the Liberal Party of Canada candidate for the Peace River-Westlock riding in the upcoming federal election, which will take place on Monday, Oct. 21.
Penny, who originally hails from Edmonton, originally moved to Barrhead in 1972 to work as a registered nurse at the Barrhead Healthcare Centre. Over her career, she worked in many health care-related positions.
Eventually, she stepped into the arena of provincial politics, running as the Liberal Party of Alberta candidate for the Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock constituency in 2008 and 2012.
She was then elected as a councillor for the Town of Barrhead in 2013 and then again in 2017. Penny serves on a number of committees, including Community Futures Yellowhead East, the Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) board, Barrhead and District Social Housing and the Barrhead Regional Landfill Commission.
When asked why she representing the Liberal Party in this election, Penny indicated she has been a Liberal supporter since the days when Pierre Elliott Trudeau took over as leader in 1968 and then became Prime Minister of Canada.
Penny noted that Trudeau’s infamous “Just watch me” moment in response to the October Crisis in 1970 made a strong impression on her.
She added the Liberal philosophy has always fit her ideals more, being a good compromise to the businesslike approach of the Conservatives and the left-wing politics of the NDP.
Penny said she is strongly in favour of some of the initiatives undertaken by the Liberals since they were elected in 2015, such as introducing the Canada Child Benefit in 2016.-
She said she also “completely supports” the legalization of cannabis, adding that Canada is no longer saddling people with criminal records for partaking in a substance that is no more harmful than alcohol.
Penny also pointed out that since 2015, 84 long-term boil water advisories in First Nations communities have been lifted, and the Liberal Party has a plan to eliminate the remaining 58 by 2021.
“It’s disgusting that there are still some, but at least a promise was made to try and get that moved forward,” she said, noting she is aware from her time on town council that water treatment is an expensive and sometimes challenging proposition.
Of course, Penny acknowledged there have been “hiccups” over the past four years, such as the scandal that arose over PM Justin Trudeau’s vacation on the island of the Aga Khan, which Conservative MPs argued was unethical.
“Just because your dad was a friend of the Aga Khan doesn’t mean that you should go on holiday to his island!” Penny said. “We probably could have thought that through a little better.”
Penny also acknowledged the recent SNC-Lavalin affair, in which Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion found that Trudeau had improperly influenced then Minister of Justice and Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould to intervene in a criminal case against the Quebec-based construction company.
Penny said she has her own thoughts on the controversy based on what she has read about the affair. For one, she would like to ask Wilson-Raybould why she opposed a deferred prosecution agreement for the company in the first place.
“After having read what those are all about, it doesn’t seem to me that it’s a get-out-of-jail-free card,” she said.
Calling the whole situation a “schemozzle” — a Yiddish term for a chaotic mess — Penny said, “Whether or not Trudeau deserves to be voted out because of it, I don’t think so.”
On the subject of the carbon levy, which has drawn the ire of provincial and national Conservatives alike, Penny referred back to the magazine known as The Economist and its stance on the subject, which is that the carbon levy is one of the few things that can actually bring down CO2 emissions.
Noting that society has never really recognized the true cost of pollution in terms of its impacts elsewhere, Penny said she would prefer to call it a pollution levy.
“What comes out of the tailpipe of my car is pollution — there’s no question about it,” she said.
In terms of the Liberal Party’s platform for the 2019 election, Penny indicated she particularly supports instituting a national pharmacare program, which would extend prescription drug coverage to all Canadians.
Penny said many seniors and Canadians living on a small income often can’t afford to buy prescription medication, which results in their health deteriorating.
She said she would like to address the focus on punishment within Canada’s justice system and work more on ensuring the most vulnerable Canadians are supported “in a manner that gives them dignity, and we do what we can to help them to be part of our society.”
She indicated she also feels the federal government can do more to help diversify Alberta’s economy so that it is less reliant on oil and gas.
“Our wellbeing cannot hinge on the one-trick pony, and that’s what we’ve been doing. And we’ve been saying the same thing for years! We need to become less dependent on our resource extraction,” she said.
On that front, she said she would like to see more rail transport utilized instead of transporting everything by truck.
