Grande Prairie – Wapiti MLA Wayne Drysdale admits he is frustrated that funding for the planning of a health complex in Beaverlodge might no longer be in the budget. When asked in Question Period about the $2 million that had been earmarked for the project, Health Minister Sarah Hoffman said the NDP government will be reviewing it and other decisions made by its predecessors.
“So I was pretty disappointed in it. They’ve worked hard and there’s no doubt that project deserves to be built; not for political reasons. It needs to happen and I didn’t think it was a very good answer when they tried to make light of the question.”
In QP, Hoffman said they’ve heard a lot of discussion about decisions made by the past government for political reasons instead of based on fact, and there’s a list that needs to be reviewed. Drysdale argues the community has been working on plans for the past seven years, and the design was meant to be used for future facilities in rural areas as former Minister Stephen Mandel intended.
“Instead of everybody spending money designing something, let’s design one and use it as a template and we’ll build them all over. Airdrie and Sylvan Lake both were going to get one, but he said, ‘Let Beaverlodge design it and everybody will follow that pattern.'”
Drysdale plans to continue to advocate for the facility. The Question Period segment in question is below: