Fresh off a win in four electoral divisions Premier Jim Prentice is setting his sights on rural Alberta in the lead up to the next provincial election.
The Progressive Conservatives won seats in all four ridings in the byelections on Monday.
Prentice met with the media at MacKay’s Ice Cream shop in Cochrane on Tuesday morning and was introduced for the first time as the MLA for Calgary-Foothills.
Prentice was at the popular shop in Cochrane to announce more support for rural Alberta businesses.
“It was always clear to me that rural industry, rural businesses play an indispensable role in our province’s economy, you know the statistics $77B of GDP and another thing that was abundantly clear was the incredible business acumen and innovation that thrives within places such as MacKay’s, which represent Alberta’s newest entrepreneurs,” said Prentice.
The Rural Economic Development Action Plan is intended to be a long-term strategy to link existing resources and organizations to grow the economic development in rural communities.
“We are starting down a new economic pathway for rural Alberta, we’re going to walk that journey together. Shoulder to shoulder with industry, shoulder to shoulder with the businesses that this plan speaks to and we’re going to increase the economic development capacity of rural Alberta,” said the premier.
The Action Plan’s five key themes
- Industry and business development
- Financial and capital access
- Attraction, retention and entrepreneurial development
- Rural business infrastructure capacity
- Regional and cross-regional collaboration
The first phase involves doubling the funding for the Agriculture Opportunity Fund to $3.5M and an increase to the individual loan limit to $1M to a program that gives cattle feeders access to more capital.
“We’re going to make these changes effective immediately and this will allow producers to be able to finance as many animals as they normally do and to increase that capacity to take advantage of strong market circumstances,” said Prentice.
The plan comes just hours after Prentice claimed his seat in Calgary-Foothills and he says Albertans told him when he was knocking on doors that they want new management.
“They’re pleased with the progress that they’ve seen. They want a government and a premier and ministers that are decisive, that are moving the province forward, they want common sense, they want decency, they want hope and they want optimism and that’s exactly what myself and minister Olson and other representatives of the government intend to bring to this province,” said Prentice. “All governments are on probation. All governments exist because they have the public support, the public will of the people, that’s part of my philosophy to government and I expect every day that I am the premier I’ll work hard to continue to earn the respect and the trust of the people who have voted for me and the people that comprise the citizens of the province.”
He says he is humbled by the results and that Tuesday’s announcement shows that his government is decisive and grounded in the needs and the priorities of the people who live here.
