The man who aspires to become Alberta's next Premier came to Airdrie last night (February 25).  

United Conservative Party leader Jason Kenney was at the Apple Creek Golf Course for a Meet and Greet hosted by Airdrie MLA Angela Pitt.  Pitt said it was the first time Kenney has been in Airdrie as the Leader of the Official Opposition.  About 80 people came out to meet Kenney, many of them former members of the two legacy parties that make up the UCP, the Wildrose Party, and the Conservatives.

Pitt said Kenney was there to answer the group's questions, and that's exactly what he did. 

"I think everyone in the room was quite pleased because he just stayed and he answered all the questions that the room had.  There was everything right from 'what are you going to do when you're the Premier and what are we going to do in the meantime,' lots of suggestions were thrown around, there was a lot of concern about minimum wage hikes and of course the carbon tax being the number one thing.  And right now this whole pipeline dispute with B.C."

Pitt said a lot of people showed their concern over the pipeline dispute and the trade war its initiated between Alberta and British Columbia.

"The pipeline dispute is not settled and I think people are rather concerned.  They just want to know, 'how are we going to get this pipeline built.'  Nobody cares about the internal wars these provinces are having.  I mean, really, everything's just been put on hold right now.  The real concern, at the end of the day, is, how do we get this pipeline built, who do we have to talk to and this needs to get done."

Pitt admits that the new fledgling UCP's has a few steps to go but she also believes the party is united under Kenney. 

"We have our first AGM and policy convention in early May and that will be sort of one of the final pieces of the puzzle for just now.  We had a great sense of unity last night, we had members from both legacy parties there and everybody got along just fine.  I think everybody's really excited to move forward and defeat the NDP in the next election."

 

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