Yesterday, the provincial government hosted its Alberta Next Panel in Airdrie. Hundreds of Airdronians and the surrounding area residents attended the sold-out event, voicing their opinions on the predetermined topics. The panel had six topics on the agenda, which included: Federal Transfers and Equalization Alberta Pension Plan Constitutional Changes Provincial Police Force Immigration Tax Collection The panel kicked off by introducing everybody on the panel, which included (titles according to Alberta Next Panel website): Premier Danielle Smith Rebecca Schulz Minister of Environment and Protected Areas. Andrew Judsonb Chairman of Winsport, Vice Chairman (Prairies) of the Fraser Institute, and a Director at the Calgary Police Youth Foundation. Brandon Lunty MLA for Leduc-Beaumont and currently sits on the Public Accounts and Families and Community Legislative Committees as well as the Alberta First Cabinet Policy Committee. Honourable Bruce McDonald Served as a Justice of the Court of Appeal of Alberta from 2009 to 2023 after serving as a Judge on the Provincial Court and Court of Queen’s Bench. Melody Garner-Skiba Past president of the Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce in 2015-2016 Dr. Trevor Tombe A Professor of Economics at the University of Calgary and Director of Fiscal and Economic Policy at The School of Public Policy Sumita Anand Vice President of Business Development at Above and Beyond Care Services. Adam Legge The President of the Business Council of Alberta. Dr. Akin Osakuade A family and emergency doctor in Didsbury, and a clinical lecturer at the University of Calgary. Grant Fagerheim President and Chief Executive Officer of Whitecap Resources Inc. Michael Binnion President and founding shareholder of Questerre Energy, a publicly traded Canadian energy company. Dr. Benny Xu A registered acupuncturist and a Calgarian with over 30 years of experience in acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine. Tara Sawyer MLA for Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills. Recently served as Chair of Grain Growers of Canada and was previously the Chair of Alberta Grains and Alberta Barley. Stephen Buffalo President and CEO of the Indian Resource Council of Canada. Before getting into the topics of discussion, Premier Smith kicked off the two-and-a-half-hour discussion by talking about Airdrie. "The people who live here and the people who are flocking here know exactly what makes every so appealing. It's a welcoming and affordable community with great amenities and a quality of life that is hard to beat. These qualities are worth protecting, and this growing community deserves the best future that we can give it." During the discussion, the panel focused only on the set topics, avoiding questions outside the agenda. After each subject was covered, attendees were asked to vote for or against a closing question to show how the room felt about the issue. The questions and answers on how the room voted include: Federal Transfers and Equalization Should Alberta take a lead role in working with the other provinces to reform federal transfers and equalization? The room voted yes. Alberta Pension Plan Should Alberta create a pension plan with the same or better benefits than the Canadian pension plan? The room voted yes. Constitutional Changes Should Alberta take a lead role in working with other provinces to pressure the federal government to amend the Canadian Constitution to empower and better protect provincial rights? The room voted yes. Provincial Police Force Should Alberta create an Alberta police service to take over community policing from the RCMP? The room voted yes. Immigration Should Alberta take more control of the immigration system to counter Ottawa's open border policies? The room voted yes Tax Collection No question was asked. Anand thanked those who attended for being respectful and for their participation in the discussion. "You're amazing. We haven't laughed as much in any other place. So thank you for being who you are." If you would like to hear the full discussion that took place at the Town and Country Centre, watch below: Airdrie East MLA Angela Pitt was in attendance for the event. She was pleased to see so many Airdronians in attendance sharing their thoughts. "[There was] a great representation of the people in our community on issues that have mattered to us for quite some time, that being Alberta standing up for itself, and Airdrie did not disappoint." When asked about what topic stood out to her in conversation, she mentioned that she was surprised by how many people were willing to switch to an Alberta Pension Plan. "I was surprised with some of the conversations around the pension in particular, I thought it would have been a little bit more of a divisive issue, but I think as people start to receive more education on the issue, and start to see what a raw deal we've been getting for such a long time that's changing hearts and minds and really moving the needle on lots of these issues." When asked about people who voted against the questions, Pitt mentioned she is always available for a conversation. "I truly just want to get a good representation of our community when we're up in Edmonton, having these more broad conversations." Last week, NDP leader Naheed Nenshi was in Airdrie for their "Better Together Townhall". Sign up to get the latest local news headlines delivered directly to your inbox every afternoon. Send your news tips, story ideas, pictures, and videos to news@discoverairdrie.com. You can also message and follow us on Twitter: @AIR1061FM. 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