Banff-Airdrie MP Blake Richards was back in his riding this weekend, holding pre-budget consultations to hear from his constituents.

Richards holds pre-budget consultations every year in the lead up to the Federal Budget. He said this year there was alignment between the wants and worries of his constituents when it comes to the upcoming budget.

"They wanted to see the Government take a look at ways they can be a bit more responsible in terms of how they're spending money. What that then means, of course, is we can see taxes lowered, that we can see better opportunities for businesses to succeed."

One meeting was held on Friday (January 26) in Airdrie, with two more on Saturday (January 27) in Cochrane and Canmore. Some different topics were discussed in each community.

"They all had different things that came up for sure. We had a lot more of a discussion in Airdrie about innovation. I think that was largely because that was an interest of some of the people that attended the meeting, so it really just depended."

Overall though, Richards said a common theme emerged from the meetings: His constituents are tired of what they see as a constant piling on.

"Certainly the common theme in all of it was if the Government could just stop over-regulating and over-taxing everybody, it would make it much easier to succeed with your small business or even just for people to be able to succeed in managing their finances in their everyday life."

Richards said people in his riding are already struggling, and taking more money out of their pockets just makes things worse.

The pre-budget consultations will be used to shape Richards' and his party's response to the Federal Budget, which will be released by the Liberal Government later this year. While the meetings are done, Richards said he is always open to hearing from his constituents and has a survey on his website for just that purpose.

 

Questions, comments or story ideas? Email us at news@discoverairdrie.com