Evidence that small-scale farming has been in decline due to industrial corporate farms and subdivision development is a concern, says the New Democratic Party candidate for Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre.
Doreen Broska said she likes the NDP’s stance on the environment and agriculture and wants to see “road blocks” removed for small-scale farmers.
“I feel like the NDP do have an understanding of the problems of the small farmers,” Broska said. “It warms my heart that people want to feed the world,” she said, adding that development is impacting farmland.
“I feel so badly that we are losing it. You can’t blame the developer but I blame the people who gave the okay to the municipal plan that let it happen.”
Specifically in the Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre constituency, Broska said that the oil industry has done a great deal for the area.
“Resources are there to be developed but I want to see that they are developed as sustainable as possible,” she said.
The candidate is also concerned about the health care system, explaining that she has heard of “gaps” in the system as she travels around the constituency.
“Some of the things I have heard is that doctors are not feeling they can to an adequate job for their patients. We need to have doctors who are confident and who can stick up for their patients,” she said.
Doreen Broska, 68, is married and has three adult children who grew up in Rocky Mountain House. She worked in Rocky and Red Deer in the not-for-profit sector and served one term as a town councillor in Rocky from 1998 to 2001. She is currently retired and lives in the Drayton Valley-Devon constituency. She is running in the Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre constituency because she lived in the area for most of her adult life.
jjones@www.reddeeradvocate.com