Alberta’s health care system has plunged into crisis. Alberta Health Services is over-centralized and inefficient. It is not responsive to community needs and concerns.

We need to make our health services more directly accountable and not just answerable to a small appointed group in Edmonton.
We need elected regional health boards again.

The promised public inquiry into Alberta Health Services needs to happen immediately in an open, honest and transparent way. Albertans deserve to know the full truth of what is happening in our health care system.

We need to improve the quantity and scope of facilities and services for our seniors,and ensure adequate funding and staffing.

The Government must come clean on its plans to remove the cap on the cost of long term seniors’ accommodation charges and fees for other necessary services.

We need to invest in Alberta’s greatest resource – our children.

The economic stars of the world are those which have looked at education as an essential long term investment.

We need to reduce the burden of all the extra school fees and charges on our families.

We need to ensure that our K-12 education system is properly supported, with effective local public oversight through strong elected school boards.

Red Deer College needs to be enhanced as a diverse, multi-faceted academic and vocational regional education centre with degree granting status.

The oil and gas and petrochemical industry needs to be recognized as the major backbone of the Alberta economy. It must be allowed to grow and prosper in an environmentally sound fashion.

Small business is our largest supplier of jobs. The burdens on these job creators must be reduced so innovation and entrepreneurship can thrive.

The Government’s policies on electrical deregulation have failed. Alberta has gone from one of the lowest cost electrical markets in North America to one of the highest. This not only hurts homeowners; it hurts business.

We need to fix the system, but only after careful planning so that a bad situation does not become much worse.

We need to ensure a healthy environment for future generations. Effective and practical laws and regulations must not only be created, but must be properly enforced by Alberta Environment.

Access to adequate supplies of water for domestic and industrial use is already a major issue for Albertans. We need to plan for the long term use and sustainability of the Red Deer River basin.

Water is a basic human need and not a cheap commodity.

Arts and culture create a much better quality of life. Red Deer has a wonderful cultural community that needs to be recognized and supported.

Local boards for the distribution of lottery grants need to be restored so that communities can set their own priorities and determine their own needs.

We cannot run our homes, our businesses and our Province with on-going debts and deficits.

We need to restore provincial government budgeting that is fiscally and socially responsible.

We need to establish priorities with full public involvement and debate. These issues are too important to be decided by a small group of insiders behind closed doors.

Dr. Raj Sherman spoke up about the crisis in health care. He was viciously attacked and punished by the Alberta Progressive Conservatives for speaking up for what was right for Albertans.

We need to have more people like Dr. Sherman and Michael Dawe who are willing to stand up for Alberta and Red Deer and not just repeat what they are ordered to say.

We need to index AISH payments so that the assistance the recipients receive accurately reflects increases in the cost of living.

We need to ensure a standard of pay for the staff of contracted agencies so that staff are both sufficiently trained and compensated for their important work.