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Party leaders visit Lacombe during campaign

Now into the second week of the campaign trail, Wildrose Leader Brian Jean made a stop in Lacombe on April 14th.
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CAMPAIGN STOP– Wildrose leader Brian Jean stopped in Lacombe on April 14th to visit with candidate Ron Orr and to speak with voters. Sarah Maetche/Lacombe Express

Now into the second week of the campaign trail, Wildrose Leader Brian Jean made a stop in Lacombe on April 14th.

Jean stopped late in the afternoon to great Lacombe-Ponoka Wildrose candidate Ron Orr and to speak to supporters about what his party plans to do to support Albertans.

“Remember, Wildrose MLAs are the only ones that want lower taxes, the only ones that will stop higher taxes and we will make sure that we continue to fight for lower taxes in all things to make more efficient government.” he said. “That’s what the Wildrose government stands for.”

He stated the 2015 provincial budget raised taxes on everyone and it will affect Albertans through trickle-down lay-offs.

“We believe the best thing we can do in times like this is to support Albertans to make sure we have a stable economy, to make sure we build and create jobs and a better economy for Albertans because the future is quite bright if we work together.”

Jean stated to deal with the current provincial fiscal situation, Wildrose has presented a plan to remove 16,000 employees from Alberta Health Services and 16,000 provincial employees from middle or higher management positions.

“We have said that we will do that over a three-year period through attrition and other means, we will let these people go,” he said. “These are people who are pushing paper from one end of the desk to the other. They are not front line workers. We don’t believe that’s necessary.

“What we need to do is to stick together as Albertans and make sure people don’t have higher taxes and make sure we create a competitive environment that is the best in the world for corporations to come and hire the citizens of Alberta and get Alberta to work so we have a better quality of life. That’s what it’s all about.”

Last week, Premier Jim Prentice also made a stop during the second day of his campaign on April 8th to meet with PC supporters and Lacombe-Ponoka PC candidate Peter DeWit.

Prentice said this election period can be seen as a time of renewal for the province.

“That’s really what this is all about,” he said. “It’s about getting this province back on track for all of us, for all Albertans. What we have to do in this province is to get off this boom-bust cycle that we are on. You can’t plan for the future.”

Prentice said the PC government presented a plan to deal with the financial state of the province, which deals with short-term and long-term challenges.

“That’s what this campaign is going to be about,” he said. “It’s about who has a plan for the future of the province. The plan that we put forward is a 10-year plan. It keeps an eye on our children and grandchildren. It’s going to balance our books over the next three years.

“We also are going to cut waste, reduce the size of government and eliminate red tape and duplication and you can’t do that overnight. That takes time to work through.”

He said his party also plans to hold on to all jobs in the province.

“This is the wrong time to be increasing taxes on every single business in this province,” said Prentice. “It’s the businesses that create jobs, they create employment, they create jobs, and they create investment. This isn’t the time to be killing investment and killing jobs in this province because we are going to need every single job that we can hang onto.”

A candidate’s forum for the Lacombe-Ponoka constituency will be held in Lacombe on April 27th at the LMC in Centennial Hall.

Hosted by the Lacombe and District Chamber of Commerce, all candidates will be present at the forum. The forum starts at 7 p.m. and will conclude at 9 p.m.

The provincial election is set for May 5th.

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