Lethbridge-West Candidate Profile – Ben Maddison – Alberta Independence Party

Where do you stand on the Supervised Consumption Site, and how do you believe the drug crisis in Lethbridge can best be resolved?

“I’m big on personal responsibility, and the SCS reeks of enabling to me. Although I do understand the need for it, it exposes the vulnerable to options for treatment and clean needles, and I understand what that’s all for but at what point do you put the needs of the vulnerable ahead of the needs of the taxpaying citizens that are having their businesses impacted? That’s a conversation that I’m not sure has been properly addressed yet.”

Do you support the funding announcements made in December 2018 about supportive housing, and intox/detox spaces?

“I hate to make it about money as far as the most vulnerable, but I don’t really understand the entire program. My understanding was its 40 long term beds or housing for some homeless drug addicted folks. When we don’t feel any consequences for our actions, there’s no motivation to change. You give me clean needles to stick in my arm, a nice warm bed to sleep in and food in my belly I have no motivation to change my behaviour. That’s the definition of enabling, so I’m just not sure that it’s the effective approach to make people change.”

Lethbridge has been sheltered compared to other parts of the province when it comes to the economic downturn, but jobs remain a key issue in this election.

What is your party proposing when it comes to economic issues and what policy, in particular, are you championing as something that will help the people of Lethbridge?

“Just strictly our economic policies. A $45,000 personal tax exemption which is more than one and a half times what we have currently. A 20 percent flat tax, which means if you make $100,000 your tax bill is $11,000. I just did my son’s taxes, he made $50,000 and paid $10,000, there’s no fairness in that. I’m of the firm belief that the government has no business in business. If we put more money back in the pockets of the taxpayers, then the taxpayers spend more money, and that fixes a lot of ills just by itself. That is our basic starting point, and we take it from there.”

How can you take the positive experiences in Lethbridge when it comes to a diversified economy and try to translate that to the whole province?

“We’ve been agriculture-based here for as long as I’ve been around. Retail and that is all fine, but where do we go? I’ve heard lots of stuff about the tech sector because we have good education and universities around here to turn those kinds of people out, but that kind of economy exists in many other places in the world. Again, I think it’s right back to putting more money in the pockets of the people and let them decide what industry is next. Whether that be the tech sector or bubble gum factories, it doesn’t matter, if there’s a demand it happens.”

How do you view the health care system in the province in 2019, and what would your party do if elected to improve it?

“I have no personal take on that besides what I hear out there which is the NDP have thrown a bunch more money at the problem and accomplished nothing. Wait times have not improved; people are still waiting a number of days for MRI as an example. As you can imagine with our party running on the mandate of separation, there are hundreds and hundreds of things that would need to be addressed immediately upon on a positive vote for that in a referendum on separation. The only thing I can think that covers that policy right from the word go is that we agree to continue spending at current levels or better until we get some of this stuff figured out.”

From three weeks of the polar vortex to grass fires at the start of spring, Lethbridge and Southern Alberta are bearing the brunt of climate change.

Where does your party rank dealing with the climate as an issue and what are your plans to protect the agriculture and farming industries that will be impacted?

“It’s one of those things that needs to be addressed. Climate change is a conversation that needs to happen, but I’m not one who blindly swallows the narrative fed to me by a government that releases documents that backs up their tax. Our stance is no carbon tax as I believe that’s not going to repair anything.”

Southern Alberta has been described as a leader when it comes to green energy, from wind turbines to solar panels.

Will you commit to keeping and improving Energy Efficiency Alberta, and if not, what are your plans for the industry?

“My understanding is there are some rebates available for upgrading to energy efficient products, and I can’t see anything wrong with that. We’ve agreed to spend to current spending levels or better on those programs. When we get to them, they’re going to be addressed one at a time. That’s really all you can do. There are so many things ahead of that to deal with like passports, currency, military forces, police, etc. I don’t know who gets to set the order of the importance of that, but they’re all very important.”

Tolerance: Recently comments have emerged from candidates about homophobia, white nationalism, and anti-muslim/refugee rhetoric.

What is your party doing to raise tolerance and civility in regard to public office, and what are your views on the LGBTQ community?

“My views are it’s not up to me to decide who you love, it’s just that simple. I don’t see why they shouldn’t be able to get married and be miserable like the rest of us! That’s all there is to it. That’s a social issue, and I will commend the NDP for tackling those things. I have some friends that agree that some people were left behind in 40 years of Conservative rule. Now after having witnessed that, having some empathy for that, and trying to understand that, I agree. The measure of any society is how we treat our most vulnerable citizens. Some of these people are in danger from hateful rhetoric and closed-minded people. Unfortunately, we all have skeletons in the closet, but what happens is when you open yourself and enter public life, you open yourself for someone to dig that up about you. It’s a measure of how to respond to that that I think is important. How I would handle that and how some people handle it isn’t the same, I would say ‘yeah, I said that.’ There’s a lot of things that I used to think were valid and right that I don’t agree with anymore; people do change.”

For more details on the specifics of the Alberta Independence Party platform, you can go here.

by Aaron Mahoney

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Lethbridge-West Candidate Profile – Ben Maddison – Alberta Independence Party

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