It has been a matter of days since Vern Raincock got the green light to be the Alberta Party candidate in the Airdrie-Cochrane constituency and he's hitting the ground running.

The Airdrie resident expects to be in Cochrane on Tuesday and kicked off his doorknocking on Saturday in Airdrie. 

He is running for office for the first time and believes the Alberta Party offers practical solutions for Alberta's current challenges. He was reassured it is the right way to go when meeting a cross-section of people, from company owners to auto mechanics to doctors and nurses, on his first day of doorknocking.

"Decency. I think what people are looking for is somebody willing to provide proposes and options to help get the economy on track. To listen to not only the Aboriginal position but also the positions of industry and locals," says Raincock.

"Albertans are exhausted and tired of putting out fires daily. Previous provincial governments 'ragged the puck'. The opportunities in the past were never seized resulting in our current situation. I think there is a new strategic urgency that we can capitalize on right now."

"I don’t believe anybody believes at this point we can afford four more years of failure."

Raincock has lived in the Calgary region since the late 1980s and has worked in railway, high tech and food and beverage industry. He has a degree in economics and is a business owner. He clearly loves hockey and is the founder of the Craft Brewers Hockey League, volunteers in his community, including serving as a guest lecturer to students in sales and marketing strategies.

With a son who's just entered university and a daughter in high school he says he is focused on making the future bright for the next generation. He believes Airdrie-Cochrane has the ability to attract further international investment, especially if heavy rail transit is established. Calgary, Cochrane and the mountain communities are currently collectively promoting its potential.

Raincock believes heavy rail can play a major role in further establishing Airdrie-Cochrane as a last port of call and economic gateway to the Banff-Canmore eco-tourism corridor,

Additionally, it would tap into stranded assets, which include people.

"We have 100,000 underemployed or unemployed people in southern Alberta at this conjuncture, several with university degrees. A lot of them are professional engineers, lawyers, accountants—you name it—and this could be a great opportunity to basically put some shovels in the ground and link larger metropolitan areas into the Banff corridor. But also, trains go both directions so we also see people who are trying to go to Calgary Flames games. If we had the train system right now from Cochrane, I could see people hopping on and going down to the red mile."

He believes the decision to upgrade the Hwy. 1A-Hwy. 22 was the right one and wants to see it proceed.

"We don’t want to be saying negative things about good decisions. I think that’s a good decision for this region."

He says the Alberta Party will address the educational needs of the constituency. Rocky View Schools continues to be taxed with the need for more schools to meet a rapidly growing student population. 

"The first announcement for our party was looking at doubling up the teachers’ assistance. The big problem faced is infrastructural, of course, not only in Cochrane but also in Airdrie where the student class size is very large. So there would be additional resources placed immediately upon election. To me, it's a very positive sign to recognize there is an issue there."

He is also a strong proponent of free votes in the Legislature.

 

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