Raj Sherman delivered his first speech as Leader of the Official Opposition to the Rotary Club of Calgary - Crowchild Urban Spirit on September 13, 2011. Here are his remarks:
Good afternoon friends, and thank you so much for this great opportunity to connect with you.
Not counting partisan events and media scrums, this is my first public appearance as Leader of the Alberta Liberals and Leader of the Official Opposition, and I’m so glad to have the members of such a fantastic organization as my first audience.
I appreciate the invitation very much and I look forward to getting to know you and your issues.
As the new Leader of the Official Opposition, I feel a profound responsibility to all the people of Alberta.
Democracy flourishes when elected officials are principled, thoughtful and strong. For me and my caucus job one will be to help Albertans build a better province.
Yes, there are challenges, and yes, I feel that the government has made mistakes. But as a pragmatic public servant, I want to stop playing the blame game. I don’t care about right versus left; as my predecessor David Swann often says, we should focus on right versus wrong.
In other words, let’s focus on the problems of Albertans and work together to solve them.
And there’s definitely a lot of work to do – not just for me and our caucus in the official opposition; I’m talking about every Albertan.
Consider the challenges:
Oil has been selling for between $85 - $100 per barrel, yet the province is running a deficit. We used to run surpluses when oil was at $40 a barrel. That’s a problem.
Our health care system remains in crisis, with wait times and cancer death rates that are still way too high. Our schools are overcrowded and under-resourced. Countless seniors aren’t getting the care or the respect they’re entitled to. Our energy sector is under constant attack from people who don’t understand our most important industry and the crucial role it plays in our economy. Even worse, we’re shipping unrefined oil and, more importantly, well-paying jobs down our pipelines.
I believe that all of these problems can be solved, but it takes the right kind of leadership: imaginative and visionary, but also pragmatic and practical, based on the best possible evidence.
Now, my challenge as Leader of the Official Opposition is to show Albertans that our team is the best choice to tackle these challenges, to solve these problems, and that we truly understand the issues and share the values important to our fellow citizens.
In the weeks and months to come, I’ll be reaching out to Albertans like you to prove that Alberta Liberals are worthy of your trust. We all want what’s best for this province we love, and we’ll prove it by focusing on the issues that are most important to Albertans.
First, good government. We will restore honesty and trust to government by putting Alberta back in the hands of Albertans and by balancing the books. Albertans are tired of wasteful spending and backroom deals.
Second, a stable economy. We will fix the boom/bust economy. Soon, Alberta will have the opportunity to drive Canada’s economy once again, for the third time in recent history.
We will seize this opportunity when it comes. We need to hit the economic home run that Albertans have always deserved to protect our prosperity not just for today, but for future generations.
That means Alberta will develop an economic infrastructure that allows for better jobs, knowledge-based industries and competitive resource revenues.
I touched on the problem of shipping raw bitumen out of the province; to address that issue, we will create much larger value-added upgrading capacity so that we can keep those jobs in Alberta and get more value from the petroleum products we sell to our neighbours.
We will also recognize the value of our agricultural sector and support the Albertans who work in that sector.
And of course, we will fix our broken health care system. We have two experienced doctors on our team. David and I know what the problems are and how to fix them. We will lower wait times, get higher quality care, train and hire more family doctors and keep Albertans healthy so they don’t get sick in the first place. And, we will get health care spending under control.
We will defend the solid Albertan value that the size and thickness of your wallet will not determine whether you live or die or whether or not your loved ones get access to health care.
We will restore dignity to our seniors and the vulnerable by investing in home care, community-based non-profit lodges and long-term care.
I know we’re on the same page here, because Rotary members have done so much good work for the community, especially to help those in greatest need. We will work together to build the spaces and resources that our seniors and disadvantaged need to live happier, healthier lives.
Finally, we all know that education is the key to long-term prosperity and growth. Alberta families are sending their kids back to school to find that classroom sizes have doubled or worse. It’s time to revitalize education by giving parents more choice and flexibility, to transform our schools into community hubs, and to do the work that’s needed to ensure that every child graduates.
Going forward, I look to the people of Alberta, especially engaged Albertans such as yourselves, not only for support, but also for advice; I believe in local solutions for local problems. Albertans are smart; you know what needs to be done. We just need a government that will listen to Albertans and take action to fix the problems.
We all want a better province. And we all need to help build it. There’s far too much unrealized potential in this province and its people; we will fight harder to tap that potential.
Thank you again for the opportunity to share my vision with you today. I’m happy to take questions…