The official opposition party hosted its annual general meeting this weekend and addressed pressing policy issues before the fall session started on Monday.
Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock MLA Glenn van Dijken was one of almost 700 party members who travelled to Red Deer to take part in the Wildrose Party’s annual general meeting.
Overall, van Dijken says the meeting went well. So well that the leader’s address on Friday was standing room only.
Van Dijken’s portfolio includes transportation. He received feedback about the issues with the current state of transportation and infrastructure in the province.
The MLA is most concerned about the maintenance and preservation of the roadways through the province.
“We need to come up with a way to ensure that when we charge user fees, such as fuel taxes, that we get a fair amount of that going back to make sure we are maintaining the assets of our highway network,” van Dijken said.
In March 2016 the gasoline tax increased from 9 cents per litre to 13 cents per litre, which increased revenue by $400 million. Van Dijken is concerned that the funds for roadway maintenance dropped by $50 million in the last budget, despite more money being collected by users of the road,
After meeting with his fellow party members, van Dijken now plans to investigate what other jurisdictions have in place in regards to allocating funds to protect highway systems. He is particularly interested in looking at Saskatchewan’s transition from gravel to pavement roadways and what hurdles they overcame when preserving their new roadways.
The party focused on education, transit, healthcare and the carbon tax during their annual meeting.
“At the end of the day health and education are a big part of what government does,” van Dijken said. “That is part of why we need to recognize the importance in having clearly articulated what that stands for with regards to those files.”
The party rank and file voted on many education policies and struck down motions for an independent review of the curriculum and parents opting to have children out of class if they find the content objectionable. They also shot down a motion that would require parents to be included in all issues relating to their children’s education, including sexual identity or orientation over concerns that the opposition would see the motion as an attempt to out gay students.
The party voted to repeal the farm safety legislation and the $3 billion a year carbon tax if elected in 2019. Wildrose leader Brian Jean has already been denouncing the levy across the province and the vote over the weekend gives him the mandate needed to fight the tax.
The tax is to be introduced on Jan. 1 and will be tacked on to gas prices and heating bills. There will be a $20 a tonne levy on emissions in 2017 that will rise to $30 a tonne by 2018.
Low and middle income families will receive a partial or full rebate from the carbon levy.
The official opposition will now turn their attention to the fall session that started on Monday, Oct. 31.
