NEWS PHOTO MO CRANKER
MLA Drew Barnes listens to a speaker Friday evening at the Fair Deal Panel session at the Stampede.
mcranker@medicinehatnews.com@MHNmocranker
Hometown MLA and Fair Deal Panel member Drew Barnes says he was happy with Friday evening’s meeting at the Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede.
Hundreds showed up to voice their concerns on a wide range of issues. Barnes says it was a productive night all around.
“First of all, it’s pretty clear that there is a lot of frustration and fear,” said Barnes. “It’s clear that people know we’re collateral damage in an economic situation – our economy is hurting and our families are hurting.”
Barnes says everyone is feeling economic pressure right now.
“That’s showing in many ways with private business people and with people in the agriculture industry – they’re having trouble reaching their full potential or even surviving,” he said. “With our public servants, God bless them for their work and service, they’ve had to endure another pay freeze.
“It’s time for us to work toward being the richest and freest place in North America.”
Barnes says he is talking about the Alberta advantage when he brings up being the richest and freest place,
“We want to have the most opportunity, the most competitive tax rates and the best public programs,” he said. “We want to have good quality services and pay quality people really well.
“We need a strong economy to make that happen.”
One of the big issues at Barnes’ town hall meeting in late 2019 was pensions and the potential of the provincial government pulling out of the Canada Pension Plan. It was once again a dominant talking point Friday.
“I respect and understand that hardworking Albertans are entitled to the best retirement possible,” he said. “I have heard from many people on the other side saying that our contributions would be lower and our benefits would be higher if Alberta had our own pension plan.
“That’s not even mentioning the leverage we would gain with the rest of Canada by showing them we can be strong and independent.
“Over the next two months I will be analyzing both sides of the pension issue thoroughly.”
Barnes says the panel will soon spend five days meeting with expert groups on things like pensions, policing, taxation collection and immigration/border control.
“We’ve heard from many, many Albertans saying we need immediate action,” he said. “I hope the final report is to the point and focused on action – I want to see timelines and deadlines (in the report).”
