Juno News - November 14, 2022Danielle Smith returns to the Alberta Legislature
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Summary
On Tuesday, voters in Brooks, Alberta elected United Conservative Party Leader and Premier Daniel Smith to represent them as their MLA. Just one day after that victory, Premier Smith called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to axe the carbon tax and pause the federal fuel tax. In a letter to the Prime Minister on Wednesday, Smith said her government is taking action to help Albertans through the cost of living crisis while she accused Trudeau of contributing to inflation.
Transcript
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Voters in Brooks Medicine Hat on Tuesday elected United Conservative Party leader and Premier
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Daniel Smith to represent them as their MLA. Smith was elected with 54.5% of the vote while NDP
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candidate Gwendolyn Dirk came second with 26.7% of the vote. Alberta party leader and candidate
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Barry Mortishita came third with 16.5%. Independence party of Alberta candidate Bob Leone received 1.8%
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of the vote and the Wild Rose Independence Party candidate garnered 0.4%. Take a listen to Premier
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Smith's victory speech after the results came in late on Tuesday. My friends the people of Brooks
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Medicine Hat have made their choice and next year it'll be the turn of Albertans to make
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their choice and that choice is clear. You can choose Rachel Notley and the NDP that increasingly
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takes their orders from Jagmeet Singh and Justin Trudeau at the federal level
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or you can choose a united confident and energized UCP a UCP that will keep Alberta strong and free
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we are going to deliver more and better jobs accessible health care and a lower cost of
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living for you and your family that is the choice that is the only choice. The Premier also said her
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government will take unprecedented actions over the next few months to help Albertans weather the
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cost of living crisis that includes help with electricity bills targeted help for seniors another
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fuel tax holiday and genuine health care reform. Just one day after that victory Premier Smith called
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on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to axe the carbon tax and pause the federal fuel tax. In a letter to
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the Prime Minister on Wednesday Smith said her government is taking action to help Albertans through the
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cost of living crisis while she accused Justin Trudeau's imprudent policies of contributing to
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inflation. Quote, Canadians need governments to take immediate action to address this affordability
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crisis. An immediate and simple step your government should take is to cancel the planned increase in
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the federal carbon tax. Then on Thursday while speaking at the rural municipalities of Alberta fall 22
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convention the Premier announced the creation of Ukrainian task force to better engage with the Ukrainian
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community. She said that task force has been charged with coming up for recommendations with the government
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by January 15. Take a listen to some more of her comments at that conference. Let's talk a minute though about
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our priorities. In Canada we are fortunate to be free of this kind of violence and conflict. However, that doesn't
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mean that we are immune to global instability. The global economy is currently facing a severe crisis of
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inflation and supply chain disruptions that hits all of us directly and indirectly including right in our
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wallets. And while it would be great to have a federal partner who stands with us in fighting the
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affordability crisis, in truth Alberta is on its own. When you combine skyrocketing inflation with federal
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policies that target the energy industry and damage the economy, the result is a crisis for regular working
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families. Whether it's fuel or electricity, groceries, fertilizer for our farmers, the cost of everything
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we need to live and to raise our families has soared. We can't solve this inflation crisis on our own,
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but we can certainly balance the province's books as well as help Albertans cope with the worst
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financial pressures. So in the coming weeks, and it won't be that long, this government is going to take
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decisive action to ensure that families don't have to choose between buying food and keeping warm in
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the winter. We're going to lower the cost of electricity to ease the financial burden for seniors
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and parents and vulnerable Albertans. Our government is going to ensure that they have more money in their
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wallets right away to meet the rising costs of life's necessities at this critical time. Our government
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is also going to lock in removing the provincial fuel tax and ensure that the gas stations lower the prices