Friends,
With April, the weather warms up, the grass greens, and the leaves start to appear on the trees. This is the sentiment folks across Alberta are starting to feel—that things are looking up!
Our NDP government has announced its support for full-scale commercialization of partial-upgrading technologies will be among this government’s next steps toward energy diversification. This is an important expansion of our numerous and broader diversification efforts. This will leverage construction of two to five partial upgrading facilities, representing up to $5 billion in private investment, 4,000 jobs during construction and 200 full-time jobs during operation. The University of Calgary estimated the impact of partial upgrading could be worth up to $22 billion in GDP growth for Alberta.
We are also proud that we recently expanded the Community Paramedic Program. Keeping our commitments is important, with this we are fulfilling our promise to make life better for Albertans. Under this program mobile community paramedics provide on-site care to seniors and other Albertans with chronic conditions, reducing the use of ambulance transport, acute care beds and hospital resources. This expansion will add 20 full-time community paramedics to the Calgary and Edmonton regions. Common sense changes like this make it easier for seniors in Varsity to receive care in their own homes!
In March, we provided a good news update on Alberta’s fiscal situation. With careful planning and finding smart efficiencies we reduced the provincial deficit by $1.4 billion dollars. Our economic diversification efforts and investments in Alberta’s job creators has also meant nearly 90,000 full time jobs were added dropping the unemployment rate to pre-recession levels of 6.8 percent. As things continue to look up—our NDP government will also continue to look forward to ensuring progress for our province.
Finally, I would like to thank everyone who participated in my Telephone Town Hall in February. I always value hearing your experiences and learning what’s important to you.
Our office serves all the people of Varsity, Dalhousie, Brentwood, Banff Trail, University Heights, Montgomery, and Charleswood. Our team is available to talk to constituents about provincial government departments, programs, scrolls, and services. To find out more drop in, call, email, or check out my Facebook page @stephanie.mclean.127
