The Federal Budget came down last week and it recognizes the need of communities to be ready for floods.
    Last Tuesday, Finance Minster Jim Flaherty brought down the budget. M.P. for the Crowfoot riding Kevin Sorenson was appointed Minister of State for Finance last year and this was the first budget he participated in as a junior minister. He said the budget commits $200 million to communities to support flood mitigation and preparedness.
    “The Minister (of Public Safety Vic Toews) was there and was talking about disaster mitigation and how we cannot just wait for the flood happen and deal with the remains,, but how could we prevent it?” Sorenson told The Mail. “Some of the funds have been specifically focused on mitigation. It is going to initiate at $200 million. We are going to start doing a review of the disaster program … generally speaking, in the past that kind of funding has never been provided by a federal government, the province and municipalities do it, but we want to work with the municipalities and province.”
    The budget also indicated exploring the idea of flood insurance, something not offered in Canada.
    “That has to be done on a national scale. If we bring foreword some type of program, work with the public sector for example…but you would need a large scale buy in on something like that,” said Sorenson.
Sorenson said the focus of the budget has to do with employment.
    “We said we want to have a budget that wants to create jobs, build the economy and bring us to a balanced budget in 2015, and this budget does that,” said Sorenson.
    He adds that it also addresses some of the special circumstances in his riding about employment, where the level of unemployment continues to be much lower than the national average.
    “Something we have recognized, especially in Alberta is we need people in the trades. That is why we brought forward the Canada Apprenticeship Loan Program. This will allow young people to qualify for student loans. We have set aside up to $100 million across the country so apprentices can get an interest free student loan and will finish their apprenticship.”
    He said this will give people the chance to take time from their job to finish their apprenticeship in an affordable way, and in doing so increase their earning potential.
    Sorenson said the budget also provides 3,000 opportunities for graduating students to do an internship and get the experience they need in the work force.
    On Thursday following the initial budget speech, the Prime Minister of Canada announced more details to the New Building Canada program, saying it will “ensure small communities have stable, long term and unprecedented access to funding vital for infrastructure projects.”
    “Our government’s commitment to small communities has never been stronger. Under the New Building Canada Plan, we are providing predictable, stable support so that municipalities with fewer than 100,000 residents can build the projects that matter most to them,” said Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
    Sorenson explains this investment was done in the hard times.
    “Our government has invested in infrastructure more than any other government, and we did that in the recession, and we did that because we knew that projects are going to help create jobs,” said Sorenson. “The program actually ends in March 2014, so we knew we had to keep this infrastructure program moving ahead and today our prime minister outlined some of the particulars of how the next phase of infrastructure will be laid out.”
    One more area that benefits rural communities Sorenson feels strongly about is an injection to expand rural high speed Internet.
    “We brought forward $305 million to help with rural broadband,” said Sorenson. “This is a huge one for rural Canada. I have small schools in my riding and they depend on the Internet for school programs.”

    The Provincial Government is finalizing the agreement it set out in October to pharmacies between the Alberta Government, the Alberta Pharmaceutical Association and Alberta Blue Cross.
    Health Minister Fred Horne states the agreement is one that recognizes the expanding role of pharmacists and “...Offers four years of predictable funding to help pharmacists plan their business.” He adds this is the first update of the Pharmacy Agreement since 2003.
    The plan lays out funding structures for fees pharmacists receive for counselling, medication purchases and reimbursement  from the province.
    “From this point, it doesn’t seem like prices will change for customers”, said Shoppers Drug Mart pharmacist/owern Arsen Gincher.
    “Counselling service fees were previously built in with dispensing fees - now the activity (counselling) is separated.”
    Gincher explains the money invested into new patient services for extended or enhanced counselling, for things such as prescription renewal or adaptation and smoking cessation, can now be measured, where previously the government had no way of doing this.
    “They want to see people are getting benefits from pharmacists’ intervention," said Gincher.
    Riverside Value Drug Mart’s pharmacist/rwner Ray Ainscough is attending a meeting February 24 of RxA, the Alberta Pharmacists Assocation, to get more information on the technical details of the agreement.
    Pharmacy manager for Freson Bros. Pat Doyle, says the new agreement would be signed in April.