Mr. Speaker, there is an election in my home Province of Alberta, and yet again it appears that this provincial election will come down, by and large, to which way Calgary votes. Whoever wins Calgary, wins the election, or so it has been since 1948.
Let us talk about some of the issues facing my city and my province.
We have office vacancies downtown which are crippling our municipal tax coffers. We have an unemployment rate floating around 10% and that is double the national rate. We have Albertans and small businesses struggling to make ends meet. We have an oil price that continues to hamper and hinder our development.
Clearly, when it comes down to my constituents in Calgary, the economy is top of mind. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I must implore the government to do everything in its power to proceed with the Trans Mountain pipeline as soon as possible.