Alberta Liberals to bring the Legislature to the people

Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft announced today that he will take the Legislature on the road for two weeks every year to give Albertans around the province a chance to see their government in action.

“The Legislative Assembly is the heart of our democratic process,” said Taft. “It is where our elected representatives are empowered to debate and make decisions of enormous importance affecting every aspect of life in Alberta.”

“We can’t move the actual Legislature building around the province, but we can move the Legislative Assembly. We’ll spend two weeks out of every year in a different community in the province, to reconnect Albertans to their democratically elected representatives,” Taft said.

Taft said an Alberta Liberal government will convene the first out-of-Legislature session in Lethbridge. It will also be convened in cities such as Medicine Hat, Red Deer, Calgary, Fort McMurray and Grande Prairie.

Taft believes this initiative will help restore real democracy in Alberta after 37 years of a Tory government that has become unaccountable and insulated from the public.

“For many, many years now this Tory government has worked to marginalize the Legislative Assembly. The Legislative Assembly, the exact place where voters should be most able to hold their representatives to account, has become a rubber stamp,” said Taft.

“Debates that should have occurred in the Assembly, in full public view, have been shifted to the backrooms.  Decisions that should have been determined in the Assembly are now almost always made before the Assembly has a chance to even consider them.”

“The Legislative Assembly, the exact place where voters should be most able to hold their representatives to account, has become a rubber stamp.”

Taft said if the citizens of the province had a greater opportunity to see what happens inside the Legislature, they would demand better. 

“I want the Legislative Assembly of Alberta to once again belong to the people who elect its members,” said Taft.

Backgrounder: Legislature on the Road
Speaking Notes: Moving the Legislature to Albertans