United Conservative Party (UCP) leadership candidate Jeff Callaway took time to share his platform with local residents as part of his cross-province tour.
Callaway and his campaign team stopped at Jennie's Diner on Friday, Sept. 21, for an open meet and greet.
Going hand-in-hand with the first of what he calls his 'three big ideas for Alberta', Callaway wasted no time addressing a local concern.
"A lot of what I'm finding is some of the largest economic challenges are probably more in the eastern side of the province, especially in resource development. The agriculture sector is doing okay from what I understand, but the energy sector has been really tough," said Callaway.
A large part of Callaway's campaign involves finding ways to maximize productivity within the oil and gas industry.
If elected, he'll look to help spearhead innovative ways to extract the region's resources in the most cost-efficient way.
"Alberta is blessed with a lot of natural resources. In the Bonnyville region, there's a lot of heavy oil, and the development of that has really been challenged in the last few years. We need to figure out new ways to get that heavy oil out of the ground more economically and efficiently," noted Callaway.
If he becomes leader of the UCP party, he'll not only look to maximize the productivity of oil in the region, he'll also largely focus on natural gas production and use.
"For a lot of oil and gas wells that are under production, it's not just heavy oil, they produce a lot of natural gas as well. I'm just saying we should use what we have an abundance of more in our own economy. It will further our economy because it puts a lot more people to work across Alberta," he said.
One of Callaway's major goals surrounding the resource industry is the province purchasing the Port of Churchill from Saskatchewan.
"My second idea is really securing our economic destiny by buying the Port of Churchill, it's a grain terminal and the railway that runs to it. The idea is to build a pipeline that runs to the port, and then use ice-strengthened tankers to ship it to refineries on the east coast."
Farmers in rural Alberta would also benefit from the purchase, with the opportunity to ship their grain across the country becoming a possibility.
The secondary function of the port purchase would be to provide Kinder Morgan with an alternative route while those against the proposed pipeline project hold the process up.
"That's again why I come back to the port. If we control that access to tide water, then we can have that greater leverage with the likes of the B.C. government," explained Callaway. "If we had that alternative port to ship oil out of, we could say 'Kinder Morgan, don't worry about it, ship your oil out of the Port of Churchill while the NDP government holds you up in B.C.'"
Not all of the talk surrounded the resource industry. Callaway did take the time to approach how he would handle the distribution of medical and recreational marijuana after it's legalized.
When it comes to medical cannabis, he says regulating it through pharmacies the same way the province regulates other prescription drugs is the way to go.
He believes there is a place for marijuana in Alberta, and said a system for properly controlling the substance already exists within the province.
"I think we've actually got a regulatory structure in Alberta now that would work very well for the distribution of marijuana, both medically and recreationally. Medically it's simple, we have pharmacies with controlled drugs," Callaway noted.
Recreationally, he takes a more strict stance, but is still in favour of recreational marijuana being available, if distributed correctly.
"It's a serious substance, and it should be highly regulated. The private structure we have in place in Alberta right now is with liquor stores. I'm not saying it should be sold inside the liquor stores, but it could be sold in a co-located fashion for example," he said.
Switching gears, Callaway explained his final big idea is to implement what he calls his tax free investment structure within Alberta.
In a region like the Lakeland, he hopes that will mean new infrastructure and more jobs created. According to Callaway, if he were to become the UCP leader, the structure would be ready to be rolled out, shoul de then be elected premier.
"The tax free investment structure that I have developed with securities and tax lawyers, it's totally viable and doesn't need any federal interference on it. That could mean drilling wells around Bonnyville, or investing in a SAG-D type of operation. Or that could mean a partial-refinery-type operation," he said.
The central theme around Callaway's big ideas is finding ways to create new revenue for the province and eliminating the deficit. He has also made similar promises to the three candidates he's running against, in regards to eliminating the carbon tax.
Before hitting the road for his next stop, Callaway highlighted the importance of the decision UCP members are faced with.
With confidence, he stated the winner of the upcoming leadership race will be the next Premier of Alberta, due to the public's lack of confidence in the NDP.
"Especially on the eastern side of the province, in towns that are dependant on the oil and gas sector, a lot of people are hurting. This government isn't helping them at all. It doesn't matter who wins this race, absent a severe lightning strike, they will be the next premier of this province," Callaway predicted.
Callaway is one of four candidates in the upcoming UCP leadership election. He'll face -off against former Wildrose party leader Brian Jean, former Progressive Conservative party leader Jason Kenney, and Calgary lawyer Doug Schweitzer.
The election takes place Oct. 28, 2017, with the deadline to sign up for the UCP set for Sept. 29.