Premier Smith hears the concerns on Highway 28 after fundraiser in Bonnyville

Premier Danielle Smith addressed the large contingency of conservatives in attendance at the UCP fundraiser on Friday, January 26.

Roughly 800 people ponied up big bucks to listen to Premier Danielle Smith speak at the C2 in Bonnyville on Friday night.

The UCP fundraiser was the second time Smith had come to Bonnyville for such an event in under two years.

“I can tell you that I love coming to the north, because it really is the economic driver for our province,” Smith told Lakeland Connect after she left the stage.

“There’s so much economic activity that happens here. And we had a tough time for a long time where we saw people leaving our province now they’re coming back, they’re reinvesting. And we’ve got to make sure that we’re investing in the community so they can continue with that growth. The only way you can find out what the priorities of a community are is you got to be here. That’s why I came back again.”

The $250 evening also saw a catered dinner from Joly’s Fine Cuisine, a speech from Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul MLA Scott Cyr, and after Smith’s solo speech, questions posed by constituency association president Mitch Sylvestre.

Attendees got the chance to take pictures with Smith, plus there was an auction later on that night.

Larger provincial topics like a provincial pension plan, homelessness, guns, health care, and energy comprised a large section of the chatter.

Many wanted to know the status of work on Highway 28, after millions were promised for an engineering study and design work last April.

Municipal leaders from across the region had the opportunity for 1-on-1s earlier in the day.

“I heard nothing but that we need to prioritize the twinning of Highway 28. When you think about the kind of truck traffic that’s out there, the agricultural traffic that is on there, the danger that it poses,” Smith said.

“There was money in the last budget to look at the initial design phase. And I was trying to get an update from my transportation minister to see what we’d be looking at for prioritizing the construction and build of that project. So we have our budget coming down February the 29th. But I’ve heard loud and clear, it’s a major priority for this area.”

However, when asked what one particular issue is on the top of Smith’s mind at the moment — it’s healthcare.

“We have to make sure that we’re able to provide the number one service that people need, which is a family practitioner when they need it: if they get sick, or their kids get sick, when they are aging, they need to be able to age in place and be able to get appropriate home care. If they’ve got a mental health or an addiction issue, we have to be able to provide appropriate services and our hospitals and ambulance services have to work,” she said.

“I inherited a situation where none of those things were working very well. So we changed the leadership at Alberta Health Services. I’ve got a new health minister, and we are going to work towards ensuring that every single aspect of the system is top performing. I told the folks that I’ll be back here for an accountability session a year from now. And I hope to see major improvement on all those fronts.”