With a provincial election campaign underway, the Gazette plans to provide coverage through a variety of means, including question-and-answer segments with local candidates.
This week we ask candidates about their positions on funding for St. Albert's proposed south park and ride lot.
The City of St. Albert has applied to the provincial government, under the GreenTRIP public transit program, for approximately $22 million to fund construction of a park and ride lot on Campbell Road in the transportation utility corridor. Would you support this application and what steps would you take to ensure the city receives this grant?
Tim Osborne – Alberta Party
As part of our Energy and Environment Policy, the Alberta Party will create a long-term plan to reduce commercial and personal vehicle emissions. We believe that it is important to provide incentives to municipalities to support public transit and would therefore be supportive of this application. Anyone who has had to try to find parking at the Village Landing transit station can certainly attest to the need for a new park and ride facility!
As an Alberta Party MLA, I will commit myself to working collaboratively with all stakeholders. I believe that we need more MLAs who are willing to make representing their constituents their first priority, rather than simply representing their party. Supporting this application would involve sharing information with the residents of St. Albert and bringing together municipal and provincial officials to speak to the importance of this project to St. Albert and the Capital Region.
James Burrows – Wildrose
Yes, I support this park and ride project, which was in discussion back when I was a member of city council. It is clearly needed by the citizens of St. Albert and will become indispensible in the near future.
A Wildrose government would put an end to the uncertainty of patronage-based, special interest programs and replace them with a stable, predictable and ultimately richer funding model for municipalities.
St. Albert knows best what St. Albert needs. A Wildrose government will give St. Albert funding for our local priorities instead of creating a buffet of narrow programs that we have to apply for, and could be rejected from.
I'm looking forward to the chance to vote for the new municipal deal in the Legislature.
Steve Khan – Progressive Conservative
The GreenTRIP program is a perfect example of how the province can partner with our city to develop practical infrastructure solutions. This initiative will provide a number of benefits to St. Albert, such as reducing traffic congestion, improving traffic safety and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. As your MLA I would support this initiative and work closely with St. Albert city council and the transportation and infrastructure ministries, facilitating open and constructive dialogue to ensure that the current grant application is successful. I will work hard to be an advocate for the transportation priorities that are important to St. Albert.
Nicole Bownes – NDP
Yes, I would whole-heartedly support this initiative. I think the province should strengthen the GreenTRIP program by increasing the amount of funding available to municipalities. The NDP is calling for both the currently committed funds for GreenTRIP to really be spent and not just used for headlines, and to increase the funding in this important program. As MLA, I would seek to work closely with municipal government, which needs both authority and resources to make decisions in the best interests of citizens and the overall community. I would advocate strongly for improvements to public transportation to help clean up our environment and make our city a more attractive place to live.
Kim Bugeaud – Liberal
I fully support the South Transit Centre/park and ride project. Bravo city council.
For a project that addresses the environment, the economic development of St. Albert, and the current and future transportation needs of our residents, it is obstructionist for the current PC government to defer approval of the grant until the City of St. Albert has 'access to the land.'
Municipalities have been treated as a junior partner in the firm, fostering a dependency that has created an all-too-often adversarial and subservient relationship. In actual fact, it is the municipalities that are efficiently and effectively delivering the essential core services to Albertans.
Time for full partnership. A new deal for municipalities.
If St. Albert has come to an agreement with Edmonton about appropriating land from the transportation utility corridor, then the Province should get out of the middle and make it happen. If there's no agreement, as St. Albert's MLA I would be doggedly persistent in facilitating one.
P.S. $4.8 million budgeted for the potential charge from the province for the use of the land would go a long way towards affordable housing.
