Banff-Airdrie MP Blake Richards has put it to his constituents and asked them what they hope to see in the upcoming Federal Budget.

Richards, who also serves as the Official Opposition Shadow Minister for Small Business as well as Export Promotion and Tourism, wrapped up a series of Pre-Budget Consultations with constituents last night (January 23) in Cochrane and Canmore.  The first of the meetings went on Monday night in Airdrie.  At that meeting, about 20 people from various backgrounds, including small business owners, seniors, and ranchers gave their opinions on a far-reaching group of topics.

Richards says, "We kind of split up into discussion groups, which seems to work pretty well.  We've kind of canvassed people and they seem to really appreciate that format.  Often you get these meetings and you get a politician that just talks to everybody and takes a few questions at the end.  I certainly did both of those things as well, but I left the bulk of the time for people to have a good discussion."

Richards says they worked off the themes that the government has said it would be looking at in the budget.

"We had some discussions on how to improve competitiveness, how to give better opportunities for our small business to succeed, how to look at what we could do better to support our seniors and how to encourage health, wellness, and fitness."

Richards believes the mood in Alberta at this time is that people are frustrated and angry.  But he also says they're hopeful.  The frustration comes from not believing that the government understands our energy industry problems and the impact they're having on all Albertans.  The hopefulness, Richards says, comes from the fact 2019 is an election year.

"A lot of the questions in the open portion of the evening centred around, 'how do we make sure that the Conservatives get elected so we can get these things put in place.'  They instinctively know that we will, in fact, be addressing those things if we get the opportunity." 

Richards will take what he's learned at the meetings and compile the information into a report that will be delivered to the man responsible for the budget, Finance Minister Bill Morneau.

"I'll compile all of the feedback we've got through these meetings, as I've travelled the riding over the last six weeks or so, the survey that we've received in the mail and online, I'll take all of that and compile it and take the consensus there and put it into the submission that I'll make to the Finance Minister that will indicate what my constituents believe needs to be in that budget.  It'll also inform how I approach debate and what I'll be discussing in the House of Commons.

Being an election year it will inform some of the things I'll be pushing for our party to put forward as platforms in the election as well."

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