After representing the Lac La Biche-St.Paul-Two Hills riding for 11 years, Progressive Conservative politician Ray Danyluk was unseated by Wildrose’s Shayne Saskiw on the provincial election April 23.
And although Danyluk says he isn’t sad or bitter, he says electing an opposition MLA — PCs still have a strong majority in the Legislature — won’t fare well for the area.
“You had a MLA that was not only in government but was a minister,” Danyluk said.
“Even though I asked the opposition to have discussions, I have talked to the opposition, not including in session, for one hour in the last two years. They’re not the government. So is it going to be detrimental? Of course it’s going to be detrimental.”
He admitted it would work the other way too — if he had been elected and the Wildrose had won a majority provincially — it would have been a negative. Electing a Wildrose candidate, he said, is a bad shift for rural Alberta.
“If I was to say one thing — it’s a sad day for rural Alberta,” he said. “When you have individuals that are MLAs — and I’m not saying anything negative, I’m just talking as a whole — MLAs that have very much focused their attention on reducing infrastructure and education … and to me that fails rural Alberta.”
Danyluk stressed he’s happy that PCs won a majority provincially, and he is not sad about his personal loss. He says he is willing to live with the choice that people made, and is ready to move on.
“The people made a decision,” he said, adding he thinks it was based on his party’s platform. “Education was not important to many people, infrastructure was not important, and protection of their land was not important. I’m not exactly sure where that put people, but that’s alright.”
After his long-time serving for the area, Danyluk says he can’t pick one thing he considers a legacy or something that he considers his biggest contribution to the Lac La Biche area.
“My biggest contribution has always been to the community, “ he said. “In a nutshell, I was doing my job as an MLA and a representative. There is no such thing as a legacy. At the end of the day, where I come from, it is what can we do for and how can we support communities.”
Danyluk says he is looking forward to being a private citizen, and sees his loss as an opportunity to do other things.
“I’ve never let the grass grow under my feet and I’m not going to start now,” he said. “Being an effective MLA is very time-consuming. I have a lot of things to do, and I’m very much looking forward to it.”
Danyluk said that he wasn’t able to finish everything he would have liked to in politics, but added that he will not consider running again.
“When I was first elected, it was an opportunity,” he said. “This is an opportunity for someone else to show what they’re made of — I think I showed what I’m made of.”
