The nomination deadline for this month's provincial election closed on May 11, and there are five candidates who hope to win the Airdrie-Cochrane seat.
As a way for the community to learn more about the five MLA hopefuls running to represent Cochrane and some of the town's surrounding rural areas, The Eagle reached out to each candidate, in order to hear their reasons for running for office and how they intend to better serve the region. Due to space restrictions, each candidate was given a maximum of 200 words to answer our questions.
Shaun Fluker: Alberta NDP
Eagle: Why are you running?
Fluker: I am running as the Alberta NDP candidate in Cochrane because I strongly believe Cochrane needs an elected MLA who listens to the concerns of residents here and who will respond to those concerns as part of a stable and competent Alberta NDP government that is focused on things that matter to the people who live here: health care, education and affordability.
Eagle: What is your priority, if elected?
Fluker: If I’m elected to represent Cochrane, my priority would be to ensure everyone in our community has access to primary care and a family doctor. I would also focus on getting new public K-12 schools built in Cochrane and ensuring that our schools have stable, predictable and adequate funding.
Eagle: What is the biggest issue in this riding in particular?
Fluker: Cochrane and Airdrie are the fastest growing communities in Alberta, and the UCP has failed to adequately support capital infrastructure, health care, and education needs that come with our rapid population growth. Many are having a hard time finding a family doctor, so when they’re sick, they have no other option but to turn to understaffed emergency services or urgent care. Our public K-12 schools are near or even above capacity, and enrolment continues to rise every year.
Ron Voss: Wildrose Loyalty Coalition
Eagle: Why are you running?
Voss: The last three years have been very difficult for Albertans, struggling under overbearing measures imposed upon them. As a result, there has been a loss of trust and confidence in our various institutions, such as our judicial system, our mainstream media, our medical establishment, etc., and especially our governments and legacy political parties. I am running under the banner of the Wildrose Loyalty Coalition party to offer an alternative to the legacy political parties that have let us down.
Eagle: What is your priority, if elected?
Voss: Albertans are in a broken, dysfunctional, toxic relationship with Ottawa, and we must take control of our future. The legacy political parties continue to divide the people, usurp freedoms, and enforce ruinous social, economic, and environmental policies. In addition to rejecting net-carbon zero and the UN/WEF scam of man-made climate change (embraced by the legacy parties), a key priority in establishing Alberta’s sovereignty and freeing Alberta from federal interference, will be to create an Alberta Revenue Agency to collect all the taxes here in Alberta by Albertans for Albertans.
Eagle: What is the biggest issue in this riding in particular?
Voss: The implication of such a question is what project, school, hospital, transportation, etc. will you promise to finance, typical ‘pork barrel’ vote-buying politics whereby voters are essentially bribed with their own tax dollars. Instead, this election will be about choosing the future we want. Do we want to be governed by a socialist government, a conservative in-name-only government or one freeing us from the yoke of an overbearing Ottawa and standing up for an Alberta that is truly Strong and Free? I would be honoured to receive your vote.
Responses from incumbent Peter Guthrie of the United Conservative Party, Michelle Overwater Giles from the Green Party of Alberta, and Michael Andrusco from the Solidarity Movement of Alberta, were not received as of The Eagle's press deadline. Their responses, if and when received, will be added to the online version of this article at Cochraneeagle.ca
