…And they’re off.

On Sunday morning during the Heritage Day Long Weekend, Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited the Governor General asking to dissolve parliament signaling the beginning of election season.

The 42nd General Federal Election is slated for October 19, 72 days from the writ being dropped.  Area MP Kevin Sorenson says this is an important election.

“We are going to ask Canadians to look at our record and we’re willing to have that, plus our vision for what Canada can be, and of course the economy,’ Sorenson tells The Mail.

“The economy is the big issue right now. With economies around the world in turmoil, Canadians are going to decide who they want in charge on issues that matter most in regards to the economy. When they look at the leaders, I think they will see the importance of Stephen Harper, who gets it.”

“We depend on what happens around the world, we rely on what is happening with the rest of the world. When Europe is in downturn and China is going through a crisis in their stock market, the US recovery has been slower, and that might be why ours is lagging a bit right now. “It’s very important we get things right.”

He says the policies of the Conservatives are supportive of building a strong economy.

“Our polices of keeping taxes low, making sure we don’t  put high taxes on job creators so they don’t lay people off. We want to keep employment high,” he said.

“As far as moving into a recession, it sure doesn’t feel like a recession, consumer confidence is the highest it has ever been, people are spending. Unemployment is still relatively low, compared to when you are in a real tailspin. Alberta is different. Energy is a huge sector. Alberta very well might be in a recession, but across the country our employment numbers are strong, housing continues to be strong, and typically in a recession people lose a lot of equity in their home because of a glut in the market, and none of those things are happening.”

“I am confident in our economy.”

The boundaries have changed in electoral ridings in Alberta. Sorenson now represents the Battle River-Crowfoot constituency which now stretches further north to Tofield, while communities that were in the south of the riding such as Hussar, Standard, Strathmore, Acme and Linden fall in the Bow River constituency.

As of the date the writ was dropped the NDP and Liberal Parties have not yet named candidates for the Battle River-Crowfoot Constituency. Attempts to contact the parties as of press time were not returned.

Gary Kelly of the Green Party has let his name stand as a candidate in the Battle River-Crowfoot Riding. Kelly is from Tofield. According to the Green Party Website, professionally he is a salesman for a company called Ecolab, and is responsible for the cleanliness and sanitation concerns of over 100 restaurants, hospitals, care homes and hotels.

He believes in a grass roots approach to politics, putting constituents first. He believes in moving towards diversification by investing in jobs centered on knowledge, skills and sustainable resource development.

In the Bow River Riding, so far The Mail has learned that Martin Shields, Mayor of Brooks is the Conservative candidate for the riding.    

Drumheller has been getting some much needed beautification updates over the past few months. 

In May, the Town of Drumheller partnered with The Drumheller Institution’s inmate work program to help beautify the Petro Canada Munchie Park in downtown Drumheller at the corner of highway 56 and 3 Ave W. 

The crew pulled weeds and planted new flowers within the park to make it look more presentable.

Members of that crew are now working in other areas around townn to beautify them while still maintaining the Park. 

“There is a lot of routine maintenance that is going on. Then we had to step it up a bit with Munchie Park. It looks awesome now. We are starting to see plants around town. We have the one entry way done. We are going to be looking at other entries, said Drumheller Mayor Terry Yemen.

The town has been waiting for the Alberta government to approve work to be done along the boulevards on the highways in town. Yemen said the government has finally approved it, after about two years. 

“The Alberta Government finally (gave us) approval that we can go ahead and do some more work on the boulevards. It is their boulevards, so ultimately it is their decision, so we had to get their approval and we do have that now so we are going to move that forward,” he told the Mail.

He explained it will move forward and the work will be done in phases because there is not a big budget for this type of work to be done all at once, so it will be done in smaller time frames. 

“We are going to continue it and it will look something like the entry way that we have now,” Yemen said. 

“We have been getting lots of positive comments from long time residents that they have said the Valley is looking really nice this year, so I am glad to hear,” he said. 

“There is a bit of a atta boy out to the town staff because they have really stepped up too,” he finished.