The UCP Leadership candidate had a stop in Airdrie to talk to Airdronians about her plans for Alberta. 

DiscoverAirdrie caught up with Smith to talk about her campaign. The first thing Smith talked about was the Conservative movement. 

“There have been a couple of issues in the last two years that I think have caused people to move away from the UCP. That's part of why I wanted to enter the race. I think it is really important for Conservatives to stay under one party banner, and to make sure that we're addressing the issues that caused the disunity.” 

Smith says the reception she received in Airdrie was amazing and it was a testament to the fact that the new Conservative movement is getting more and more united and more and more energized. 

Smith went on to talk about health care in the Airdrie area. 

“The Peter Lougheed is just so overwhelmed that there needs to be a new full-service hospital in that area, whether it is in North Calgary or whether it is in Airdrie to be able to serve that huge population. As for ambulances, it's a real problem with rural ambulances being pulled out of the communities, and then paramedics sitting for entire shifts at hospitals.” 

According to Smith, there are a few simple ways to solve the ambulance problem. 

“A couple of ways you can do that is by having a team of paramedics actually situated at the hospital so that they can receive patients. I've been told that you can get as many as four patients offloaded if you have a team of paramedics, and then we also have to make sure that when we're doing inter-facility transfers for things that are very basic, like doctor's appointments, that we're not pulling our emergency ambulances out of the mix to be able to do that.” 

Smith says one of her main campaign points is bringing in the Alberta Sovereignty Act. 

“I think that we've had a constitutional crisis since November of 2015, where we have seen that the federal government has essentially told us that they're imposing economic sanctions on our province, they have refused to approve pipeline projects, they've cancelled pipeline projects that had already been approved, they've created so much uncertainty that businesses have pulled the plug, after not being able to see a pathway through to get approval. And we've got to assert that they can't keep doing this to us.” 

According to Smith, Alberta would assert that it's going to defend its rights under the Constitution, and it’s also going to defend the rights of its citizens. 

Smith is happy with how her campaign is going so far. 

“I'm encouraged that the people seem to be ready, the message seems to be resonating with people, I think, I think people have a love of Canada, but they are also frustrated that our relationship has not been one of mutual respect. They want to see us assert ourselves so that we can become a senior partner in Confederation and I intend to do that. I think they also want to make sure that Ottawa is not going to impose vaccine mandates on us again, we've had two long years of suffering for our young people and for our seniors, and we have to find a different way of approaching respiratory virus season.” 

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