Conservative party hopeful Marilyn Gladu says she will be standing tall for Canada.
She meant that both metaphorically and literally, given she’s six-foot-two, and the tallest person in the Conservative leadership race so far.
Gladu was in Red Deer Tuesday afternoon, before heading off to Calgary for a fundraiser.
The Conservative candidate believes she is that strong, dynamic leader, who can win the hearts of Canadians.
She believes in a better balance between fiscal responsibility and social compassion.
“People love what we do as Conservatives – when we grow the economy, create jobs, lower taxes, balance the budget – but they want more. They want a credible climate change plan, I’m a chemical engineer with 32 years of global business experience – I can bring that. I worked in oil and gas for many years and did emissions reduction so I can bring that.”
Gladu was recently among the Conservative party hopefuls including Peter MacKay, calling for an election in October, should she win the leadership bid.
In Red Deer’s Toad ‘n’ Turtle Pubhouse and Grill Tuesday, she said Conservatives will have to seek out support from other parties given Conservatives are not in a majority, to trigger a federal election in fall.
“The Bloc right now is supporting the government and so how long will that go on while Quebec runs out of propane? We’ll have to wait and see about that,” she said.
“The NDP has no money, so they may not want to have an election soon, and the Green Party is in the middle of a leadership race as well… so by the end of October those things may all be resolved and that is the timing I think we have to get rid of Justin Trudeau.”
A Red Deer resident and a longtime Conservative Colin Dykes came out to meet the candidate.
Dykes said he hasn’t made a decision yet on who would get his vote, but he continues to watch the race closely. Some of the issues he is watching are carbon tax, alienation that Albertans feel, and lack of support from eastern provinces.
The Ontario MP said she has heard of heart breaking stories of Albertans and the economy, and there are people moving from here to her riding of Sarnia-Lambton, “where there’s a lot of job prosperity happening.”
“They’ve lost their businesses, lost their houses, they cry when they tell me their stories – this is unacceptable what Justin Trudeau has done. He has decimated the economy out here.”
The only way to restore unity to the country is to restore prosperity, she added.
“We must get our oil and gas to either coast, we must create jobs for Albertans and we cannot hate on the energy sector. This is the natural GDP driver of our country, we should be leveraging this to the world.”
mamta.lulla@reddeeradvocate.com
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