United Conservative Party candidate Doug Schweitzer is onboard for a Cardiac Catheterization Lab in Red Deer he said during an address in the City earlier today.

“Here in Central Alberta the big push is around making sure that decisionmaking in health care is made at the local level. They feel as though the tax dollars leave their jurisdiction and they don’t come back and that’s the beef of all Albertans with Ottawa,” said Schweitzer.

He said as a province, Albertans need to make sure they have that same approach where they’re respecting taxpayers, making sure that the dollars go back into the communities where they’re raised and making sure that people have the services they deserve.

“We commented earlier about making sure that we have those heart attack services here, because when I heard that story of the doctor who had a heart attack right in the hospital and then had to be put on an ambulance where he had another heart attack on the way to Edmonton, that wouldn’t have happened if we had local decisionmaking,” he said.

Schweitzer made a campaign stop in Red Deer Oct. 23rd, and said the biggest thing his campaign offers is a fresh start for the United Conservative Party.

“One of the things we’ve been advocating for clearly from day one and with our new blue campaign is that people are looking for a different type of politics here in Alberta. They’ve sent that signal at the municipal level, they’ve sent that signal as well in the last provincial election, and Conservatives need to listen to Albertans.”

He said they need to make sure they reflect the times and that they reflect a young population. He said they are looking to take those divisive social issues off the table, whether it’s gay straight alliances, making sure they’re not outing gay kids to advocating for women issues as well like domestic violence or income gaps.

“Our campaign’s been clear on a lot of those issues, making sure we set the tone on it.”

He said for his campaign, it’s a matter of coming in second place in that first round because they have a huge amount of second ballot support out of both of the other campaigns.

“We’re just continuing to grow and encourage people to vote for us number one, and also get that second ballot support as well,” he said.

Schweitzer also touched on the provincial deficit. He said he the first term is about getting Alberta working again, and a big part of that is making sure they get their spending under control.

“The budgets going to be around $58 billion in that first term, so by holding our spending flat at the same budget for four years, and as our economy grows, we’ll be able to eliminate our structural deficit here in Alberta and make sure we get our spending back to the levels where it should be.”

In taking a look at politics right now, Schweitzer said young people are winning at the municipal level as well as federally, and that people are looking to a younger voice to represent them.

“I’m 38-years-old and I don’t have any baggage that comes along with it, and we need to make sure we get the social issues off the table that the NDP want to focus on so we can keep the focus on the economy.”

United Conservative Party members select a new leader in a province-wide vote, which concludes Oct. 28th.

carlie.connolly@reddeerexpress.com

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