Rachel Notley’s work will continue to carry on
By Lethbridge Herald on January 27, 2024.
AT THE LEGISLATURE
Shannon Phillips – NDP MLA for Lethbridge West
Earlier this month, the NDP Leader and former Premier of Alberta, Rachel Notley, announced she will not be leading our party into the next election.
Her announcement triggered many calls to my office with heartfelt and warm wishes.
There is no doubt that Rachel is a leader who changed the face of politics and restored people’s faith in democracy.
There is so much more to say about this incredible woman, but I won’t get to all of it in this column (the editors only give me so many words!).
Here are a few of the first of her accomplishments that come to mind:
• Cutting child poverty in half.
• Real action to combat climate change and diversify our economy.
• Investing in schools and in hospitals.
• Ending corporate and union donations to political parties.
And there is so much more to Notley’s legacy.
Her leadership and bravery built our party and our province. Rachel never forgot who we are – even as we changed and grew.
While serving in the first Alberta NDP Government, we remained rooted in our values — that’s due to Rachel’s commitment and hard work, optimism, and constant focus on building our party for all Albertans.
Now, Rachel may be resigning as leader of the Alberta NDP but we carry on her work — and I suspect that we have not heard the last from her either. There is so much still to fight for. The Alberta NDP is strong and we stand here proud to hold the government to account.
One of the issues I continue to hear most about is the unnecessary and ideologically driven assault on Albertans’ retirement security.
This has to stop because your pension is yours; it is your reward for a lifetime of hard work.
The Albertans I’ve heard from have made their position really clear: the UCP needs to keep its hands off their CPP. For those we haven’t heard from — and those we have, frankly, we know this is an issue people are very passionate about — we will hold an in-person town hall about your pensions and retirement security in Lethbridge on Tuesday, Jan. 30.
All are welcome to attend, but please pre-register at AlbertasFuture.ca to make sure we save you a seat. Let’s come together and send a message.
Let’s ensure we continue to have peace of mind that our pensions will be there.
We also need reliable healthcare. Figures have surfaced in recent days that emergency rooms were closed a combined 38,000 hours in 2023, or the equivalent of 4.3 years. We also see a new survey from the Alberta Medical Association that found 61 per cent of physicians are considering leaving healthcare altogether in our province and 91 per cent are concerned about the financial viability of their medical practice. Furthermore, one-in-five fear their practice will close in the next six months.
This is a healthcare crisis, one that Lethbridge residents have been embroiled in for years.
Danielle Smith promised to fix healthcare 18 months ago. She has broken that promise. It’s time for real, concrete action to recruit more physicians and other healthcare professionals. It’s time to engage in new, team-based delivery models where doctors can focus on seeing patients and not filling out paperwork.
It’s time to end the crisis, once and for all. This should be the top concern for our government.
Healthcare must be there for you and your loved ones, and if you need a doctor you should be able to see a doctor.
Quality healthcare and retirement security — two things that have always been top of mind for Rachel Notley, will continue to be my focus in the Legislature.
Her fight carries on, my friends, and we will continue to press for the values of Albertans, just like Rachel Notley has done for the last decade.
I am honoured to have served alongside her and look forward to our party’s future with optimism and hope.
As always, I look forward to hearing from you about what concerns you most in the provincial government.
Please contact me through the constituency office at lethbridge.west@assembly.ab.ca or at 403-329-4644.
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Obviously written by a NDP supporter. Notley and her circus never did anything good for Alberta except left us worse off then when she took over. Anyone who supports NDP just wants hand outs, they have zero interest in the betterment of the province. Alberta cannot ever afford to see the NDP in charge again. The next best thing would be for Shannon Phillips too do all Albertans a favour and quit.
I hope she’s an NDP supporter, she the NDP MLA for Lethbridge West. smh
Was really impressed with the snot job Notley pulled when she announced her resignation. Couldn’t resist putting her true leadership skills on display. Unfortunately it has spread thru the party like a pandemic without a vaccine. There are a lot of derogatory superlatives one could use to describe her good bye speech. Gracious isn’t one of them.
“”There are a lot of derogatory superlatives one could use to describe her good bye speech. Gracious isn’t one of them.””
‘Gracious’ isn’t a derogatory superlative in the first place, dumbass!
So using a high degree of quality in her derogatory comments fluffs you up. Lol. Get a life professor. Uptight to the point sarcasm passes you by.
You’re the one that needs a life as you hang around this Herald website pushing your divisive bullsh*t, miserable s.o.b.
A quote from Premier Smith re: Rachel Notley:
“Serving as Premier is an extremely demanding job, and she served in that office with an honour and dignity reminiscent of her late father, another honourable and loyal Albertan and public servant.”
http://www.albertapolitics.ca/2024/01/rachel-notley-the-woman-who-made-alberta-deomcracy-great-again/
Maybe the Notley dissers here should listen to their own Premier.
Agree. Not one supporter telling Notley to get in line.