Nearly 200 people came out to the Memorial Hall in Westlock to show their support for Link Byfield and the Wildrose Alliance, and to meet the party’s leader.
Danielle Smith conducted a tour of the Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock riding last Monday and Tuesday, which culminated in a speech at a $100 per plate dinner, during which she expressed high hopes for winning the riding come next election.
“I don’t think I’ve met one person who isn’t looking forward with optimism for the future, and that’s a credit to this community,” she said.
In her speech she outlined many of the key policy planks of her party, punctuating each one by saying “And that’s what a Wildrose government would do.”
First and foremost, she said, the party would enshrine landowners’ rights in law and undo the harm the current government has done with its various land-use laws, such as Bills 10, 36 and 50.
“Why does it take organized public fury from all over rural Alberta to get their attention?” she said.
The next big priority is to “fix” Alberta’s healthcare system, Smith said. She said while she is committed to staying with the Canada Health Act, she sees a wide range of other options as good possibilities for improving the quality and speed of care.
“We can have competitive delivery with public funding,” she said. “It is a way to ensure we get better, faster, cheaper care.”
The idea of decentralized, competitive delivery of services is something she said she would like to see extend into a wide variety of other social programs, as well.
“Chronic social issues seem to be getting worse, not better,” she said. “Perhaps there is a better way to care for the most vulnerable members of our society.”
She commended the many private individuals and groups who run organizations that deliver social services to the province’s needy, and said the government puts up too many roadblocks to allow individual communities to address their own needs.
“The government should make it easier for these social engineers to succeed,” she said. “This is the most successful way to deal with these problems.”
Smith also took the opportunity to repeatedly take jabs at the ruling Progressive Conservative party – even going so far as to call them a “once-great party that needs to be replaced.”
Although she praised current MLA Ken Kowalski for his work and his dedication to this riding, she said the problem lies not with him but with his party.
“Alberta’s main problem is it has a government that’s been in power for 40 years,” she said. “Alberta needs a fresh start – a clean slate.”
Smith also took a pointed jab at Premier Ed Stelmach over his recent resignation.
“We have a Premier with the greatest majority in Canada run out of office by his own party,” she said.
Byfield, when he took the stage to speak, took the opportunity to thank his supporters and to suggest not only was his party’s momentum building in this riding, but other north-central Alberta ridings were also turning to the Wildrose Alliance.
“We have a good thing going here, and it’s going to spill into other ridings.”
Those in attendance at the dinner seemed to have come from all over the riding and even outside it.
Stephen Eperjesy, a young man from St. Albert, said he was at the dinner out of curiosity as much as anything, and while he was not committed to the Wildrose Alliance he appreciated some of what Byfield and Smith had to say.
“I’m interested in something new and different,” he said. “I think (the Wildrose) is definitely a viable alternative.”
Dr. Michael Smith, a physician in Athabasca, said he has some concerns about how the healthcare system is run and sees the Wildrose Alliance as having the potential to make important changes.
“We need to get some people who will listen, instead of the people who don’t listen,” he said. “In the healthcare system, there’s a lack of respect for front-line workers. You have layers of bureaucracy above who do not listen to our problems. I would like to see people recognize professionalism and try to work with us, instead of telling us what to do.”
Although the Wildrose Alliance seems to be developing some support across the province, it will still be a year or more until they have the opportunity to test their popularity at the polls. The next provincial election isn’t legally required to be called until spring 2013, and with the current leadership race in the Progressive Conservative party, an election call isn’t expected until that time.
