The new UCP MLA for Lac Ste. Anne-Parkland is “itching” to get to work with the new conservative government that swept rural Alberta.
Shane Getson, who was elected last week in the blue wave that swept over Alberta, is a first-time politician who was able to unseat one-term NDP incumbent Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Forestry Oneil Carlier.
Getson, who runs his own consulting company and has a civil engineering technologies diploma from NAIT, said he is both honoured and blessed to be selected as the MLA for the riding.
Getson finished the race with 65.7 per cent of the vote (15,820 votes) in the new riding of Lac Ste. Anne-Parkland, with Carlier placing second at 23.4 per cent (5,642) with voter turnout across the province clocking in at 70 per cent.
Lac Ste. Anne-Parkland was one of many rural ridings that either overturned an NDP MLA to vote for the conservatives, or held their conservative candidates through the 2019 election. The NDP won no rural ridings in the election.
Getson said the reason the UCP were so successful in the race and particularly in rural ridings is because they have been hit the hardest by the economic downturn.
“Out here you have the energy sector, the manufacturing sectors, you have the small business, you have agriculture, obviously. And all of those areas were hit equally as hard,” Getson said.
The MLA-elect said the state of the economy was the recurring theme as he knocked on doors during the campaign.
“Folks are tired and tired and tired of government overreach and the overlaps they are seeing with inefficiencies."
Getson said he decided to get involved in politics after a successful career in the private sector because of his “absolute frustration” with the economy.
“People in the (energy) industry are taking jobs that they haven't performed in 15 or 20 years, just to keep the lights on,” Getson said.
The future-MLA said he also became frustrated after working on a green project but finding the two regulatory groups that were overseeing the project were going to delay the work by another year.
“If we can't even build a green project in this environment and if I can't influence it from being on that side of the industry, then I'd I better step up and do something to try to fix it from within,” Getson said.
The other concern he heard the most about was the quality of education Albertans' kids are receiving.
“They want to see the test scores coming up, they want to see the performance levels higher, and they want to make sure that they have a choice of education models for them,” Getson said.
The MLA-elect said now that he has been elected he will shelve his consulting firm to prevent a conflict of interest while holding public office.
Getson said he has experience in boardrooms through his private sector consulting firm and is ready to roll up his sleeves and get to work.
“The campaigning thing may have been new to me and the whole election process but put me in a boardroom where I’m comfortable and I’m itching to get to work here in short order,” Getson said.
The new MLAs will be sworn in on April 30.
