Juno News - November 14, 2022


Danielle Smith returns to the Alberta Legislature


Episode Stats

Length

3 minutes

Words per Minute

168.69986

Word Count

673

Sentence Count

32


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.560 Voters in Brooks Medicine Hat on Tuesday elected United Conservative Party leader and Premier
00:00:05.760 Daniel Smith to represent them as their MLA. Smith was elected with 54.5% of the vote while NDP
00:00:12.880 candidate Gwendolyn Dirk came second with 26.7% of the vote. Alberta party leader and candidate
00:00:19.040 Barry Mortishita came third with 16.5%. Independence party of Alberta candidate Bob Leone received 1.8%
00:00:26.320 of the vote and the Wild Rose Independence Party candidate garnered 0.4%. Take a listen to Premier
00:00:33.360 Smith's victory speech after the results came in late on Tuesday. My friends the people of Brooks
00:00:39.280 Medicine Hat have made their choice and next year it'll be the turn of Albertans to make
00:00:44.080 their choice and that choice is clear. You can choose Rachel Notley and the NDP that increasingly
00:00:51.200 takes their orders from Jagmeet Singh and Justin Trudeau at the federal level
00:00:58.960 or you can choose a united confident and energized UCP a UCP that will keep Alberta strong and free
00:01:10.320 we are going to deliver more and better jobs accessible health care and a lower cost of
00:01:14.480 living for you and your family that is the choice that is the only choice. The Premier also said her
00:01:19.760 government will take unprecedented actions over the next few months to help Albertans weather the
00:01:24.320 cost of living crisis that includes help with electricity bills targeted help for seniors another
00:01:29.440 fuel tax holiday and genuine health care reform. Just one day after that victory Premier Smith called
00:01:35.120 on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to axe the carbon tax and pause the federal fuel tax. In a letter to
00:01:40.880 the Prime Minister on Wednesday Smith said her government is taking action to help Albertans through the
00:01:46.400 cost of living crisis while she accused Justin Trudeau's imprudent policies of contributing to
00:01:51.760 inflation. Quote, Canadians need governments to take immediate action to address this affordability
00:01:57.360 crisis. An immediate and simple step your government should take is to cancel the planned increase in
00:02:02.800 the federal carbon tax. Then on Thursday while speaking at the rural municipalities of Alberta fall 22
00:02:08.240 convention the Premier announced the creation of Ukrainian task force to better engage with the Ukrainian
00:02:13.440 community. She said that task force has been charged with coming up for recommendations with the government
00:02:17.920 by January 15. Take a listen to some more of her comments at that conference. Let's talk a minute though about
00:02:23.840 our priorities. In Canada we are fortunate to be free of this kind of violence and conflict. However, that doesn't
00:02:31.040 mean that we are immune to global instability. The global economy is currently facing a severe crisis of
00:02:37.920 inflation and supply chain disruptions that hits all of us directly and indirectly including right in our
00:02:44.080 wallets. And while it would be great to have a federal partner who stands with us in fighting the
00:02:49.840 affordability crisis, in truth Alberta is on its own. When you combine skyrocketing inflation with federal
00:02:56.880 policies that target the energy industry and damage the economy, the result is a crisis for regular working
00:03:02.880 families. Whether it's fuel or electricity, groceries, fertilizer for our farmers, the cost of everything
00:03:09.440 we need to live and to raise our families has soared. We can't solve this inflation crisis on our own,
00:03:15.920 but we can certainly balance the province's books as well as help Albertans cope with the worst
00:03:23.920 financial pressures. So in the coming weeks, and it won't be that long, this government is going to take
00:03:28.560 decisive action to ensure that families don't have to choose between buying food and keeping warm in
00:03:33.920 the winter. We're going to lower the cost of electricity to ease the financial burden for seniors
00:03:38.960 and parents and vulnerable Albertans. Our government is going to ensure that they have more money in their
00:03:44.400 wallets right away to meet the rising costs of life's necessities at this critical time. Our government
00:03:50.560 is also going to lock in removing the provincial fuel tax and ensure that the gas stations lower the prices
00:03:57.360 as appropriately when we do that.