With only days remaining in the federal election campaign, a number of chamber of commerce and community groups throughout the Battle River-Crowfoot riding have tried to host all candidate forums.
For example, the All Candidates Forum that was anticipated for Drumheller on Thursday night, had to be cancelled as four of the five candidates were unavailable or did not reply to the request. Conservative candidate Damien Kurek shares that it is important to have these all candidate forums. “That is an important part of democracy but also to make sure that folks in a community like Drumheller, as has been the case in other communities in Battle River-Crowfoot, to make sure they have a chance to dialog with their candidates. Unfortunately, there were two forums that were hosted and others that were cancelled because only one candidate confirmed.” Kurek shares that he would have been happy to debate the other candidates.
We did reach out to all of the candidates and did get a response from Jonathan Bridges, who is running for the People’s Party of Canada. “I was invited to attend that candidates forum in Drumheller. Unfortunately I was not available on the day of the forum as, like most regular people, I still work full time to provide for my family. My current job has me in Slave Lake for a week at a time and this shift coincides with the date of the forum. It has been a challenge to campaign between work and being a single father to 5 wonderful children.”
As for issues that are of concern throughout the constituency, Kurek has been hearing many of the same as are concerns across the country. “In terms of where those national issues converge here, I hear consistently about affordability issues. It has gotten tough to live in Canada, despite us having the most potential to be the wealthiest country on the face of the Earth. Especially us in rural Alberta, where the stuff that the world needs, comes from. We should be able to benefit and see that our resources get developed, and the things that we offer should be showcased and bring about prosperity.” Kurek also believes we need a unifying national government instead of a government that pits region against region. He also shares that “rural so often gets forgotten about. We need to make sure rural Alberta and rural Canada does not get forgotten about. We may not have the population but we have the potential for an incredible quality of life.”
Running in the Battle River-Crowfoot riding means that the candidates have to put on quite a few miles to reach each corner of the region. “With great challenges comes great opportunity,” shares Kurek. “I’ve put thousands and thousands of kilometres on my pickup truck, going back and forth between the communities that dot Battle River-Crowfoot, including the updated boundaries including the entirety of Kneehill County.”
A reminder that the final opportunity to choose your representative in the House of Commons is on Monday, April 28th. Polling stations will be open from 7:30 AM until 7:30 PM.
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