February 2011
What is Our Role in Government?
With an election just around the corner, I would like to take this opportunity to share my thoughts on what I believe our role as citizens is in electing our next government. It is always debateable whether one should vote for the person, the party or the leader, but I believe that the MLA needs to represent not just the political interests of their party, but the interests of our families, our children and the future of our community.
Unfortunately, within our current political system when a newly elected premier and their party form a majority government there is little consultation made with local representatives.
This does little to strengthen our democracy and we have seen the results with growing voter apathy not just in Alberta but across Canada. In order for a democracy to be truly democratic, the power must always rest with the people. If voters knew their elected representatives stood for their interests and could be held accountable through recall or citizen initiative referenda, we could once again engage those who have felt disengaged with the political process.
I have heard from many of you about your concerns about deficit spending governments across the democratic world failing to address the long-term needs of our communities. As an MLA I believe these concerns, among others, can be addressed through a higher voter turnout so that your voice can be heard at the Legislature and the concerns of your families can be addressed.
Here are some of the big picture questions I keep hearing from Albertans:
- Are the leader and the party prioritizing their spending to balance the budget?
- Will that leader allow MLA’s to represent their constituents?
- Is there accountability through recall to stop a poor decision or law?
- Does the leader believe we have a spending problem or revenue problem?
- Does the leader believe in the voice of elected members or believe the power rests with cabinet?
- Do you support cabinet making unilateral decisions for the province such as the multibillion dollar DC power lines?
As Albertans we can work together to preserve and strengthen our province for future generations. As your MLA I am committed to not making just the easy decisions but the right ones. With regards to government spending we can find an effective way to protect current programs and avoid cuts in the future is to run a balanced budget today. The world economy is too fragile to run a deficit hoping to pay via a boom economy tomorrow.
If you believe in initiatives such as putting our fiscal house in order, talk to those who are running. It does not matter what your political stripe is – everyone has to balance their budgets and that includes our Alberta government.
Respectfully,
Paul Hinman MLA
December 2011
Hello Neighbours!
Can you believe December is already upon us? It is hard to believe this is my third Christmas since being elected the MLA for Calgary-Glenmore. Representing this great community in the Legislature has been a true privilege, and I feel very blessed to be honoured with your trust and support.
I would like to thank each and every one of you who have taken the time to contact me with your questions, concerns and solutions for the issues that we face in our community and province. I simply could not do my job without hearing from you, so thank you!
I’m sure that over the next few weeks many of you will be busy making preparations for Christmas and Hanukkah festivities. A lot of shopping, baking, cooking and planning always goes into each holiday season – but in the midst of all of this I encourage each of you to take some time to reach out to those less fortunate. There are many charitable and non-profit organizations like Project Warmth, Coats for Kids, Meals on Wheels and the Veterans Food Bank to name a few that need and appreciate your support and donations this holiday season. Don’t forget to make all of your charitable donations before year end to the organizations you support!
Christmas is also a tremendous opportunity to check out some local community events. I myself am looking forward to attending several of the holiday concerts at our local schools, the 23rd annual Community Menorah Lighting Ceremony at City Hall, the Festival of Lights and the Calgary Jewish Academy Hanukkah Latke Lunch where I will give out Menorah pins to Grade One students.
Don’t forget to check out your local community association’s holiday calendar. Many of our volunteers are hard at work organizing and planning family events this holiday season. Southwood, Palliser Bayview Pumphill and Braeside are hosting winter events, and Hayboro is once again hosting their New Year’s Eve bash. Keep an eye on Braeside for the grand opening of their brand-new outdoor skating rink!
I look forward to visiting with many of you at my third annual Calgary Glenmore Open House! Please join me at my office on Dec. 9 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Dec. 10 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. I hope to meet many new constituents as well as catch up with those of you who have stopped by in the past.
In closing, let me say how lucky we are to be Albertans. Please take some time this holiday season to reflect on the many freedoms we enjoy year in and year out in Alberta. I truly believe good government is the result of good people making good choices.
From my family to yours, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and best wishes for a safe, prosperous, healthy and happy new year.
Paul Hinman MLA
Calgary Glenmore
November 2011
Is our cup half full? Is it overflowing? Are we filling our cup one drop at a time with charitable acts of giving? One of the many privileges and honours as your MLA for Calgary-Glenmore is to attend numerous charitable and non profit events for fundraisers and to recognize and thank our volunteers and organizations. Albertans are so caring and generous when it comes to donating money and volunteering time to our many organizations. Together we can help fill our cup.
I would like to share a few experiences with you. I have always tried to go the extra mile, but this year I met Roy Ponte in Edmonton at the Minister’s Seniors Service Awards. Roy had gone an extra 50,000 kilometres driving seniors to doctor and medical appointments over the years as he volunteered at the Calgary Seniors Resource Society. Roy is also an active volunteer at the BraeCentre Community Operated Police Station. (COPS) Thanks Roy, for filling our cup.
Combining Golf and Giving is a great way to get out and enjoy the outdoors as well as support an organization we believe in. I was fortunate to attend two such events this summer. The Friends of Calgary Chabad Golf Celebration for the Friendship Circle of Calgary was a great success and I would like to thank Rabbi Matusof and all his friends and family who put on this great event to help fill our cup. The second was the Alberta Adolescent Recovery Centre. (AARC) Dr. Dean Vause and his wife Joanne have an incredible team that really do perform miracles for our children and truly give the gift of life back to so many – 468 graduates to date and counting. Thanks Dean and Joanne for filling our cup. I supported a dear colleague of mine, a survivor, who participated in the “Run for the Cure”. There are many wonderful opportunities to combine healthy activities with helping our community.
We often hear “If only we had more money” but I believe, “If only we gave more of our time”. While money is an important factor, the friendship and community spirit we build by
participating and giving of our time is more important and does more to raise our quality of life. It was great fun to help a group of seniors who get together once a month to make and deliver about 400 sandwiches for the Calgary Urban Project Society (CUPS), they have been doing this for many years and are still going strong. I also had a great time at the Weaselhead/Glenmore Park Preservation Society’s Volunteer Appreciation BBQ where at the end of the event, we all took a little time to pick up all the garbage around our picnic sight. There are many great people and organizations in our community and I apologize to all those not mentioned, unfortunately space does not allow.
Once again on Canada Day I attended the Citizenship Ceremony held at Heritage Park, celebrating our new Canadians taking the oath to become citizens. The excitement on their faces was tremendous as they were all looking forward to joining in and helping fill our cup. Let us all renew our oath of citizenship and give of our time and support. This is what “The Alberta Way” is all about.
The question is how much will we give back? There are many opportunities to volunteer in our neighbourhoods. Please send us a letter, email or visit the office to share your story.
Together we can be sure our cup is full and running over.
October 2011
Hello Neighbours,
It is always wonderful news when you are told you are ranked in the top five of the world as Calgary has been recently. The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Report ranked Calgary the 5th best city in the world to live. There are many reasons why we ranked so well but today I would like to discuss safe communities.
Naturally, we all want safe communities and we as individuals have many things we can do towards this worthwhile goal.
I would like to start off by thanking the many wonderful volunteers at our own BraeCenter Community Operated Police Station (BCOPS) for making our communities safer.
Serving communities in Southwest Calgary, BCOPS operates as a fully functioning police station run by volunteers and constables from the community. Every time I walk into BCOPS, I am greeted by compassionate and willing volunteers aged 19-84 years old. BCOPS was established in 1990 originally at the Southland Leisure Center, and later moved to BraeCentre in 1996. There have been over 637 volunteers donating their time to these two offices since then, constituting a total of over 202,000 hours! Did you know, of these volunteers, 36 have joined police departments across Canada and the USA? Perhaps you will be the next one to go in and become a community volunteer or more!
The volunteers at BCOPS are a bridge or connector from our community to police services. When you walk in, you are greeted by friendly volunteers with a helping and serving attitude that creates and maintains an atmosphere that makes it easy to report an accident, lost and found property, or simply ask any general question about the Calgary Police Service (CPS). BCOPS also provides a Child ID program and hosts various committee meetings. BCOPS is an essential part of our communities in my opinion.
Safe communities have a good relationship with police services whereas communities with problems often have poor relations and respect for our police. With so many volunteers at Braecentre being from our communities they really are an extension and part of our community here in Calgary-Glenmore and we have seen a significant reduction in crime. Safety is one of those things that when you have it you do not really think about it, but when it is lost, it is very hard to get back. Just as I believe the best government is the one that is closest to the people the same is also true for safe communities. The safest ones are the ones that have the closest relationship with the serving police officers and their volunteer assistants.
The Calgary Police Commission will be presenting their budget to city council in November and they have asked Calgary Police Service to make $5 million in budget reductions; they say everything is being looked at as it should be. We need to be proactive to ensure that closing down centres such as BCOPS doesn’t happen. Our Braecentre Community Operated Police Station is not an expensive station because of our incredible volunteers. It is further sustained by donations from community associations, Calgary-based oil and gas companies, and local community members. I believe it is more effective and efficient to keep BCOPS open than to close it and hope to reopen it at a later date.
Together we can keep our communities safer. Please contact Wallace Shouldice 403-238-1237 or Diana Polowick 403-255-3662 to ask how you can be proactive.
Sincerely
Paul Hinman MLA
Sept 2011
Dear Neighbours,
People often say there are two things in life you can always count on: Death and taxes. We have an incredible province in the best country in the world. The question is when you are at the top, how do you stay there? In my opinion, the only way we can stay on top is if we have the best government in the world and that is our job collectively. I always say we get the government we deserve; that being, we get the government we vote for.
I believe we are in very tumultuous times. When in tough situations we must make the right decisions. It wasn’t that long ago that our biggest threat was tyrants that wanted to take over the world. In the First World War, Second World War and during the Cold War, we witnessed a time when the fate of humanity was at the whim of leaders who could destroy much of our world with a push of a button. Today in North America, the fate of our society is dependent on the type of “tax and spend” government we vote on.
Alexander Tytler is credited with researching the cycle of democracy. He says a democracy will eventually fail because the people will choose to vote for the people who give them the most from the public purse. The outcome is that the party will eventually bankrupt the nation. I do personally believe we are far too close to the point of no return with the debt of many democratic governments around the world. These governments will not be able to pay it back and we will see a default of their loans, while they continue to argue that all they need is more credit.
I often use the simple explanation that if we have to borrow money for our wants and needs, we will have even less tomorrow because we will spend a portion of our income on interest. For example, this was evident in Alberta back in 1994 when approximately 35% of every tax dollar was going to pay off our debt.
In my opinion, we hear far too often that we are selfishly increasing a debt our children will have to pay off for the rest of their working lives. Sacrificing for the next generation is giving something up for others. The constant deficit spending of government is not a sacrifice that is for our children.
If you want to protect the future of this great city, province and country, then I believe it is time we start telling ourselves and all our friends that we have a spending problem, not a revenue problem. We will not dig ourselves out of this hole by increasing taxes for people and businesses, increasing our debt, or reducing our purchasing power by paying a higher percentage of our tax dollars on interest.
Together we can and must do better.
Paul Hinman MLA
June 2011
Hello Neighbours,
As I write this, clean-up crews are working day and night to rid parts of northern Alberta of toxins released into the ground when 28,000 barrels of crude oil leaked from the 46-year-old Rainbow pipeline on April 29.
It is always unfortunate when these disasters happen, and upon investigations the cause, whether error or oversight, is generally followed by a renewed vigilance in practice or better standards implemented. Cleaning up after an environmental incident like the Rainbow pipeline leak is both expensive and essential. Whatever the cause — poor quality work, inspections, age, or corrosion — the damage and results are the same. Prevention is always the elusive goal too often overshadowed by complacency and/or neglect.
Like mold growing behind the walls of a house, our current governments’ culture of centralizing power and money is eroding the moral and economic integrity of our province. This government’s practise of intimidation, coercion and centralization has seized our public institutions and has contaminated our ability to govern this province with openness and transparency.
Look no further than our health-care crisis. Our health-care system continues to be demoralized. The superboard’s original gag order forbidding health care workers to comment on the system…. for which they are still dismissing by failing to call a full public inquiry into past actions.
Like the Rainbow pipeline built 46 ago, after 40 years in power, the PC government’s bad behaviour and fiscal mismanagement has infiltrated almost every nook and cranny of Alberta public life and has corroded our services. Our emergency rooms are bursting at the seams, there are unreasonable waiting lists for health-care services and operations, and seniors are in need of long-term care facilities.
This is a government that doesn’t like criticism, and in an orchestrated move has suppressed it though intimidation. Those who do speak out are personally smeared and threatened with the loss of work as we have seen with many doctors.
On electricity transmission, they’re spending $16 billion to build power lines that for the first time did not go through a proper needs test. Many experts say that Alberta does not need the lines and cannot afford them. To add insult to injury, they have handed out the contracts without a competitive bidding process.
It is my opinion that this government is beyond the point of repair. Their toxic behaviour has spread far too deep throughout province. We need to elect a new government that will start to clean things up. We need a government that decentralizes the power accumulated at the highest levels of government. We need to eliminate the health superboard, address the facts about electricity transmission, and ensure accountability with recall and free votes in the Legislature.
It will take a while, but the cleanup effort will be worth it. Alberta is the best place in the world to live, work and raise our families.
Together we will do better!
Your MLA,
Paul Hinman
May 2011
I recently had the privilege, as Wildrose critic for Municipal Affairs, of meeting with City of Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi and Alderman Peter Demong along with my colleagues Danielle Smith, Wildrose leader, and Rob Anderson, Wildrose finance critic. Cities, like families and businesses, are always challenged with the task of budgeting responsibly with a limited amount of money.
“Fiscal imbalance” is something we usually hear about when it comes to the amount of money we as Albertans send to Ottawa. But another fiscal imbalance, just as important, in my opinion, is in how much money is collected from our municipalities by the province, never to return. What really frustrates local governments when they struggle to provide basic services is the amount of tax dollars that leave our communities and are spent elsewhere.
The Wildrose caucus wants to change the way municipalities are funded. Mayor Nenshi and I agree that a better way is a formula-based system that would return a set portion of the personal and corporate taxes back to the municipality where they were actually collected from.
As a democratic and free society there is little doubt that we have made giant leaps forward in most every field of science. However, one area where I feel we are still stuck in the 19th century is when it comes to party politics. We need to make a leap into the 21st century when it comes to democracy.
Historically, the federal and provincial governments like to collect all the taxes possible and then create what I call political slush funds.All municipalities, organizations and charities need to then lobby the ruling party for the slush money. The current government then claims great accolades as they redistribute the tax dollars back out with an IOU expectation that the people involved in those organizations will say how great the government is and vote for them and even donate to the party. This is a very offensive, but effective, vote-buying scheme. I believe a formula-based system would greatly reduce the political plays and ensure that organizations and municipalities could focus their work on what they actually do rather than wasting an enormous amount of time, energy and money on lobbying government for the dollars they need.
I may try to expand on this in upcoming newsletters. If the province were to return a fixed percentage of the personal and corporate tax collected from the City of Calgary, they would have more stable revenue that would allow them to do a better job of long-term planning. An example at a local level would be for the city to return a fixed percentage of the property tax back to our community centres so they would not be so dependent on casino revenues and government grants.
I am convinced that if we had leaders willing to take the partisanship out of politics and citizens eager to elect them we could leap forward into the 21st century with governments that don’t use and abuse our tax dollars and instead ensure that projects, communities and cities are funded more appropriately.
I always appreciate your feedback, and remember, together we can do better.
Paul Hinman
April 2011
Hello Constituents,
It is truly an honour to represent you in the Alberta Legislature and to be able to speak on your behalf, knowing only too well that we do not all think alike but we are all in this together. In challenging times, Albertans have always rallied together for the good of the community.
In my survey that was sent out last year and posted on my website, the deficit and ring road were among the top concerns. Sadly, the deficit and SW ring road do not seem to be top priorities for the current government. I’m disappointed that the government continues to say the budget cannot be balanced and we are not going to properly address the ring road. The one thing I learned a long time ago was not to ask someone to do something they say cannot be done.
The fundamental economic principle of living within our means has never been more pertinent in my mind. We are constantly being bombarded by ads that promote buy now and don’t pay for a year, first 3 months are free or unlimited use*. They want you to try the product in hopes that you will not want to go without. They want you to develop a habit or dependency on them or their product.
When government is short sighted or self serving it is the people who pay the price in the long term. The questions we need to ask about the ring road are; is this built for the long term? Is it built to last? Is it a build now, pay later deal we cannot afford? Do we need to cross the Weaselhead? We need to make sure we address both problems and that is; city congestion and the need for a true ring road.
We need to build a new bridge of trust and mutual respect with our neighbours and all levels of government. This will take time but I believe will pay big dividends in the future. I have been meeting with the various stakeholders and do hope by the time you read this newsletter that a new true option is starting to be discussed again. We are definitely going to have to pay a price that may be both monetary as well as affect our quality of life by failing to properly resolve this issue before now. Like the airport tunnel let us pay the slight penalty now for being late rather than a huge penalty for trying to do it later in both monetary and quality lost costs. If we cannot afford to do it right the first time, we certainly cannot afford to do it a second time to get it right.
The simple truth here is that if we are to enjoy peace and continued prosperity we must have our economic house in order. We see governments all around the world that continue to run deficits to the detriment of the citizens and worse to the detriment of our children and future generations. If we don’t have enough money and foresight to do it right now, we will have long term pain in the future.
We must plan better and we must spend better.
Together we will do better,
Paul Hinman
*for the first 6 months
March 2011
As your elected representative, I receive many inquiries and I am always happy to help out. I have listened to many concerns and comments regarding popular winter issues such as health and driving on our winter roads. I would like to share a few pointers with you which have been brought to my attention. First I would like to comment on health, but in particular, your personal medical records. Should your doctor retire or close his/her practice, have you ever asked yourself what would happen to your medicalrecords? Your doctor is responsible for keeping your records for 10 years.He/she may choose toturn the records over to another firm for storage.In one case our neighbour received a phone call from a company in Ontario telling her she could purchasea copy of her medicalrecords for $99!
Next time you visit you family doctor please inquire as to what the practice is regarding your records. If your doctor is retiring or closing down his/her practice, it is important that you be proactive and make sure your records are sent to a doctor or clinic of your choice, and perhaps even request a copy for yourself. Another potential problem is with our electronic health record system. There are rare breaches of security by those who have access to medical records.If you have a suspicion or are concerned that there may have been a breach of your records, you can request that Alberta Health provide you with the login record of whohas beenlooking at them.
Alberta Health is required by law to report any knownbreach to you directly. They go to great lengths to monitor abuses but they are not 100%. Please call Julie at the constituency office if you require further information. Another common question is: must all lanes of traffic slow down to 60 kilometres an hour when passing emergency vehicles and tow trucks? Please be aware that the law applies only to the lane immediately adjacent to the stopped vehicles. If you are on a multi-lane roadway all other lanes may continue at the regularly posted speed.
In closing I would just like to reflect on the past month. We certainly live in a fast paced and changing society. If you remember, at the beginning of February wewere not only struggling with snow on our residential streets and common colds due to winter weather, we witnessed a political shock with three major resignations: Premier Ed Stelmach, Finance Minister Ted Morton and David Swann, Liberal leader. This is old news now, but these are exciting times here in the Province of Alberta. I urge you to get involved and be part of the process of choosing our next Premier.Please contact me with any questions, concerns or comments that you would like to bring to my attention.Your feedback is important to me. Together we can make Alberta a better place.
Paul Hinman MLA-Calgary Glenmore
403-216-5421
www.paulhinman.ca
February 2011
It gives me great pleasure to share a few of my thoughts with you each month. I appreciate our community paper and the important role it plays in connecting us with each other and the good things that are happening in our neighborhood.
Here we are, already into the second month of the New Year with spring just around the corner. The next session of the Legislature will commence this month and the government is in the process of setting the budget.
What would you like to see in the new budget? What are your main concerns?
For me, the purpose of a budget is to set priorities so that one lives within their means. This Government is failing to live within its means. The province of Alberta is currently spending approximately 7 billion dollars more than they are taking in. This is not sustainable! We would not do that in our own family budget, and we should not be doing it as a province. People, businesses and governments that are successful, ensure that revenue exceeds expenditures.
Albertans are very blessed, especially in comparison to the rest of the world. We truly live in a land of peace and plenty, but for how much longer? How many years can we continue this reckless spending before we too end up like Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain? These are countries that have spent themselves into financial disarray.
As your elected representative I will do all I can to ensure we properly prioritize and balance the budget here in Alberta for you and for our future generations.
As always, I need to hear from you and I appreciate those of you who share your concerns and priorities with me.
Together we will build a better Alberta.
Paul,
January 2011
Dear Neighbours,
I hope that everyone had a wonderful Holiday Season, one that was spent with family and friends. It is a wonderful time of year where we reflect on the past and look to next year with renewed hope and enthusiasm to be all we can be. We start off the New Year with goals for the better and desire to leave old poor habits behind and adopt new ones for the year ahead. We have not failed until we fail to try. I have always liked the words of encouragement Churchill gave England at their darkest hour “Never give Up!”
With the New Year behind us, I am looking forward to spending some time out in the community at your different events. I appreciate the invitations and would encourage you to call Julie with anything you might like me to attend in the future. I apologize for the times where my schedule has not allowed me to make it to all the events.
I want to thank all of you who do so much for our communities and the great spirit of serving and caring. Together we can continue to insure we are all able to enjoy the freedoms and quality of life that we are so blessed to enjoy here in Alberta.
It was great talking to everyone during our open house in December! I appreciate all of our neighbours taking the time to come out during such a hectic time of the year. It is really important to me, to connect with all of you. With these types of gatherings, it helps me to have a better understanding of the issues that are important to our community. I was inspired by many of your comments and discussions that we had on your current issues.
I was given many ideas and thoughts on matters that are important to not only to our community but as Albertans as a whole. I will continue to be your voice; I will continue to bring your issues up in Question Period and in the Legislature. I will continue to represent you in the best manner that I know how.
The next Legislative Session will start sometime in February with the Throne Speech followed by the 2011/2012 budget. I would like to hear your thoughts on the upcoming budgets for the different Government Departments. One common theme we can all agree on is that we must prioritize our spending as we all understand the realty of limited budgets. It is very important to me that you share your thoughts and concerns about the upcoming budget.
Please remember, my door is always open. Remember you can always call Julie at the office for information on Provincial issues. We are looking forward to hearing from you.
Happy New Year!
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December 2010
Hello Neighbours,
With the Holiday Season upon us, there are many seasonal events that are going to be held in and around our community. I am looking forward to seeing many of you there, and I would like to invite you to attend an open house at our Constituency office for some holiday treats and community conversation.
As I reflect back on this year and all the events, I was able to participate in; I am truly grateful to all the volunteers and community workers who have given so much and worked so hard to help make our community a better place to live. While many have had struggles this year, we need to remember our numerous blessings. Remember, it is better to give than to receive, and it is the seeds of kindness that we plant each day that returns our bounty. As a Cub and Scout in the Calgary 22 Scout Troop, I remember each week promising to “do a good turn every day.”
This is the time of year that we must remember to take care of others who not as fortunate as ourselves and give people a hand up so that one day they may also be able to contribute to their fellow Albertans. I was able to attend the retirement appreciation party for Dermot Baldwin of the Calgary Drop-in & Rehab Centre at Heritage Park. What an incredible example of caring and giving to those less fortunate. He does not judge and his goal was to be a true friend, give hope and purpose to those who may be down and out.
Whether you are a parent, neighbour, friend, or a volunteer of one of the many wonderful organizations in our community, I thank you all for your hard work in helping others, and all the time and care you have given. I know it often goes unrecognized, and I thank you for making our community a better place.
As we celebrate this Holiday Season and bring in the New Year, enjoy your families, friends, and loved ones. Create memories, record memories, and enjoy the blessings Alberta has provided you. Cherish these times and give a little of yourself to each other so that we may begin 2011 refreshed, and reminded of those we care so much about.
We are truly blessed with the bounties of the earth within Alberta, and are living in one of the increasingly rare places that enjoys peace and freedom. May we all work together to preserve and protect our freedom and democracy.
I am looking forward to seeing you at our Open House on Saturday December 11th, from 12 – 3 pm at my office A210 Glenmore Landing
Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah, together may we strive for peace on earth and good will to all.
Paul Hinman, MLA
Calgary Glenmore
403-216-5421
A210 1600 90th Ave SW
Calgary,AB
T2V 5A8
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November 2010
With the Holiday Season upon us, there are many seasonal events that are going to be held in and around our community. I am looking forward to seeing many of you there, and I would like to invite you to attend an open house at our Constituency office for some holiday treats and community conversation.
As I reflect back on this year and all the events, I was able to participate in; I am truly grateful to all the volunteers and community workers who have given so much and worked so hard to help make our community a better place to live. While many have had struggles this year, we need to remember our numerous blessings. Remember, it is better to give than to receive, and it is the seeds of kindness that we plant each day that returns our bounty. As a Cub and Scout in the Calgary 22 Scout Troop, I remember each week promising to “do a good turn every day.”
This is the time of year that we must remember to take care of others who not as fortunate as ourselves and give people a hand up so that one day they may also be able to contribute to their fellow Albertans. I was able to attend the retirement appreciation party for Dermot Baldwin of the Calgary Drop-in & Rehab Centre at Heritage Park. What an incredible example of caring and giving to those less fortunate. He does not judge and his goal was to be a true friend, give hope and purpose to those who may be down and out.
Whether you are a parent, neighbour, friend, or a volunteer of one of the many wonderful organizations in our community, I thank you all for your hard work in helping others, and all the time and care you have given. I know it often goes unrecognized, and I thank you for making our community a better place.
As we celebrate this Holiday Season and bring in the New Year, enjoy your families, friends, and loved ones. Create memories, record memories, and enjoy the blessings Alberta has provided you. Cherish these times and give a little of yourself to each other so that we may begin 2011 refreshed, and reminded of those we care so much about.
We are truly blessed with the bounties of the earth within Alberta, and are living in one of the increasingly rare places that enjoys peace and freedom. May we all work together to preserve and protect our freedom and democracy.
I am looking forward to seeing you at our Open House on Saturday December 11th, from 12 – 3 pm at my office A210 Glenmore Landing
Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah, together may we strive for peace on earth and good will to all.
Paul Hinman, MLA
Calgary Glenmore
403-216-5421
A210 1600 90th Ave SW
Calgary,AB
T2V 5A8
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September 2010
Hello Neighbours,
I hope you had a great July and August with family and friends. September, for those of you with children, means back to school.
When it comes to the weather here in Calgary, we know anything can happen and probably will. It seems when good weather is needed most, you may not get it. In life there are those things you can and cannot control. For instance, you can plan a family reunion for the 4th of September at the Calgary South Glenmore Park, but you cannot guarantee a beautiful day. This summer’s weather has been chaotic and unpredictable. The government’s education budget has been more unreliable than Calgary’s weather.
Our education system needs predictable funding. The school boards of Alberta have found themselves in the midst of an economic storm. There are areas that can be controlled and others that cannot. In the governments’ spring budget they announced there would be no money for the school boards to honour the negotiated teacher salary increase. The school boards were told to balance their budgets with the money they had. Here in Calgary, the Board of Education announced the elimination of 192 Full-time teachers, 79 school based support staff, and 7 custodial staff. Education Minister, Dave Hancock, saw how devastating the cutbacks would be and advised Alberta’s school boards that they should run a deficit; however, many boards across Alberta were not willing to do this.
Once the budget cuts and layoffs had been made the minister announced, after they lost through arbitration to the teacher’s association, he would give the boards the $63 Million they needed to balance this years’ budget. While it is a good news story to be able to hire those teachers and support staff back, we must look at the bigger picture and realize this government continues to plan and prioritize poorly. The government fails to realize the chaos and uncertainty caused by not keeping their contracts. The government claimed they had to keep their golden contracts with top health care bureaucrats and give out unwarranted bonuses, yet they would not honour their contracts with the teachers.
I agree with having a sustainability fund for Alberta’s priority core services, education and healthcare being the two most important ones. The sustainability fund was supposed to prevent this current yo-yo effect within the budget. It was supposed to allow us to have predictability in core services regardless of resource revenues. Instead, when times were good we saw this government give themselves and top appointed bureaucrats big raises and bonuses, sign on to unproven projects like the $2 Billion carbon capture scheme, and grow government far beyond what we need. The governments’ choice to cut core departments like education first was wrong. Our future is our children’s future and we know their education will have a major impact on the quality of life here in Alberta. We can control the priority of our spending; the first cuts should not be on core services.
Please call my office at 403-216-5421 or drop us a letter or email at Calgary.Glenmore@assembly.ab.ca with your thoughts and concerns. I look forward to hearing from you and anticipate many great discussions.
Together we will do better.
Your MLA,
Paul Hinman
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June 2010
Hello Neighbours,
I believe it is always better to start off by identifying what our goals are and what we have in common. I know as a community, two of our common goals are to have safe communities and safe roads.
I would like to go back a few years when I was off to Kindergarten at the St Andrews United Church. My Mother was very concerned about me crossing Elbow Drive and Heritage and tells me she walked me across Elbow for a long time. I remember how indignant I was, thinking that I and did not need her supervision!
My parents were always stressing to me the importance of being responsible and defensive when crossing the road. They taught me not to assume the right of way just because I was in the crosswalk. All of these lessons were reinforced when I started to drive. Defensive driving was critical and I was never to assume everyone else was watching and had control of their vehicle.
There are many things I would like to talk about when it comes to our roads – congestion, merge lanes, synchronized lights, overpasses, proper signage to name a few but for today I will talk about Bill 16 and distracted driving.
I am all for safer roads and will speak out and vote your wishes on this bill. I believe if we want better drivers and safer roads we have to hold the bad drivers accountable. I believe tickets should be handed out to those people who are driving poorly or erratically – but not to someone simply because they have a phone or food in their hand.
It is unfortunate, but human nature is such that we are easily distracted and distraction comes in many forms. It is also human nature to pass the buck, responsibility or fault to someone else whenever possible. We do not need to pass another law like Bill 16 in its current state just so we can say we have banned hand held cell phones. Research shows there is very little difference between hand held and hands free. Instead, before bringing in a new feel good law, we need to look at other areas that have the law and see if accidents have truly been reduced and the law is effective. We need to ensure that this bill is targeted at poor drivers.
If we are serious about cell phones perhaps we should treat them and their use more like drinking and driving. If you are in an accident and have been texting or talking perhaps we should allow insurance companies to hold the drivers financially responsible and allow them to go after the reckless drivers causing accidents and recover their payouts.
I have sent out a mailer to you and am looking forward to your informative response. I will be meeting many of you at the doors this summer, and I am anticipating many great discussions. Please call my office or drop us a letter or email with your thoughts and concerns. www.paulhinman.ca
Together we will do better.
Your MLA Paul Hinman
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May 2010
Hello Neighbour,
When it comes to making a budget for our family or our business, we can look at it as an opportunity or an obstacle. I look at it as an opportunity and feel it is important that we use budgets as a tool to balance wants and needs. Typically we spend our own money better than when someone else spends our money for us. We are better able to judge best for ourselves our own priorities.
Whether I’m meeting you at your homes, in my office or out in our community, whether with business owners or the good folks at the various Seniors homes, I hear about the lack of priorities of the present government and how they spend our money.
We are abundantly blessed in Alberta – it has been estimated that Alberta will receive over 32 billion dollars in revenue this year alone. What I have been hearing from many of you however, is your concern with the governments estimated 7 billion dollar cash deficit.
Government often times seems to take a “buy now pay later” approach with our hard-earned tax dollars. Instead of sitting down and making priorities of the most important things, and budgeting accordingly, government often tries to be everything for everyone and spends your hard-earned dollars wastefully in the process.
When it comes to making priorities with tax-payers money government must budget responsibly – this involves proper discussion of the budget which the present government doesn’t allow. As an example last month the opposition parties were only allotted three hours to discuss a 15 billion dollar Health Care budget – no way for the taxpayers of Alberta to know what they’re getting for their money. The government, after all, should be open, responsible and accountable to you as the tax-payers of Alberta.
Albertans understand responsibilities, priorities and budgets, but government fails to inform Albertans with the details they need to make proper budgetary decisions.
Successful businesses and financially stable families look at budgeting as an important tool to prioritize their wants and needs. Balancing a budget is critical for long-term success. This is something that Alberta’s government must do if we’re to bring back the Alberta advantage.
Government must set priorities as we do for our own family or business. We need to assess what we can afford and what must wait, we save, we invest, we budget and we balance wants and needs.
I appreciate the time many of you have made to meet with me and I encourage each and every one of you to take the time to share your priorities with me. As your elected representative your priorities, are my number one priority. Whether you have a concern or some advice you’d like to share – my door is always open.
As always, I would love to attend any upcoming events you may have, so drop me a line or pay me a visit.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Paul Hinman
MLA Calgary Glenmore
#A210, 1600 – 90th Avenue SW
Calgary, AB T2V5A8
Phone: 403-216-5421
Fax: 403-216-5423
Email: Calgary.Glenmore@assembly.ab.ca
PS: Speaking of upcoming events, I invite you to join me this May 5th between 12 noon and one o’clock at the McDonald’s in Glenmore Landing to help celebrate McHappy Day 2010. Come join us and help support the Ronald McDonald House Southern Alberta and other local charities across Canada.
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April 2010
Hello Neighbour,
Though I did not get to go to the Olympic games myself, like many of you, I was able to watch them on TV. Many of the conversations I had with friends and neighbours involved the Olympic games in some form or another. Constituents would come to my office and inevitably the Games would come up in conversation.
Some of them would talk about what the games meant to us as Canadians, and what the games meant to Alberta during the Calgary 1988 Olympics.
What do the games tell us about Alberta now? And what is the lesson we can learn, as Albertans, from the Olympics?
The games, aside from everything else they teach us, convey to us the importance of competition.
In all walks of life – whether in sport, education, in health, or business – competition means the opportunity to excel and better our position – locally, provincially, nationally – competition enables us to better ourselves to the mutual benefit of all.
Just as “Own the Podium” had a vision “For Canada to be a world leader in high-performance sport” Alberta should “Own the Podium” to be a world leader in opportunity for achievement and availability of services. Legislation and taxes have to be balanced in order to be competitive. We must not be afraid to compete.
Competition in its various forms has lead to some of the greatest accomplishments of our age. Canada’s place as all-time gold medal record holder (14 in fact) is an accomplishment that without the desire to compete as never before, would likely not have been achieved.
Now, let’s do for Alberta what “Own the Podium” did for Canada in the Olympics and foster an atmosphere of success.
I appreciate the time many of you have made to meet with me and I encourage each and every one of you to take the time to share your thoughts and ideas with me as your elected representative. Whether you have a concern or some advice you’d like to share (or the Olympics!) – my door is always open.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Together we will do better.
Paul Hinman
MLA Calgary Glenmore
#A210, 1600 – 90th Avenue SW
Calgary, AB T2V5A8
Phone: 403-216-5421
Fax: 403-216-5423
Email: Calgary.Glenmore@assembly.ab.ca
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March 2010
Hello all,
Last month the government of Alberta laid out its year long plan in the Throne Speech. For those listening, the Throne Speech gave an idea as to just what exactly the government had made in the way of priorities and what government initiatives it considered the most important.
It was refreshing to hear an acknowledgement of the difficulty government red-tape has been in the way of attracting new business and that steps would be made to reduce this hindrance. It was also encouraging to hear that the government will carefully manage spending – a priority I hear time and time again at the doors here in Calgary-Glenmore – let’s hope we see real results.
Part of achieving those real results will be holding the government to account.
As I’m sure you’ve heard the Wildrose Alliance Party now has three elected representatives speaking up for the interests of their constituents – that’s at least three MLA’s that will be reigning in spending and taking the government to task should it fail to follow through on its Throne Speech promises.
I appreciate the time many of you have made to meet with me and I encourage each and every one of you to take the time to share your thoughts and ideas with me as your elected representative.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Together we will do better.
Paul Hinman
MLA Calgary Glenmore
#A210, 1600 – 90th Avenue SW
Calgary, AB T2V5A8
Phone: 403-216-5421
Fax: 403-216-5423
Email: Calgary.Glenmore@assembly.ab.ca
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February 2010
Here we are in the second month of a new year in a new decade. I always feel like the start of a new year is a good time to look back to review ones progress and goals and to set new ones going forward. Sometimes I have to look in the mirror and admit, that as one ages fewer things are easier to do than putting on weight and increasing ones girth!
While there are some things we all like to see grow such as our savings or our economy, we cannot allow the government in its’ complacency of rule, to put on unnecessary growth
Here in Alberta I feel this is critical, and we have some tough choices to make as we realize that our current spending and priorities are not sustainable.
This last year has been been difficult times for many Albertans and we must be prudent in going forward.
As I’m sure you’ve heard the Wildrose Alliance Party now has three elected representatives speaking for the interests of their constituents.
Former PC caucus members Heather Forsyth from Calgary Fish-Creek and Rob Anderson from Airdrie-Chestermere, officially joined our caucus on Monday January 4th.
During the Calgary-Glenmore by-election many of you expressed your concerns asking “what difference can a lone MLA make?” It always starts with one and now we have three MLA’s working to bring back the Alberta advantage for all of us. It all started here with you the good people of Calgary-Glenmore.
The growth of the Wildrose Alliance caucus enables us to ask more of the questions that matter to you – questions concerning the state of our economy, health and SW ring road. And enables us to propose the innovative ideas and solutions you have shared with me. Ideas and solutions that otherwise go unaddressed.
Coming up this month in the Legislature are the Throne Speech and the Budget. This is the governments blue print for the coming year. The Throne speech gives a glimpse into what programs and services the government will be doing for the coming year. The budget will go into the specifics of these programs. For example what services will be available, the costs of these services and what types of programs will be offered, etc.
I look forward to the opportunity the New Year presents to us to hold the government accountable.
I appreciate and encourage each and every one of you to take the time to share your thoughts and ideas with me as your elected representative.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Together we will do better.
Paul Hinman
MLA Calgary Glenmore
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January 2010
Happy Belated New Year!
I hope your Holidays were blessed with family, friends and good cheer.
With the Fall session of the Legislature ending, I have lots of time to spend in the community;
and as we begin this new year, I would like to invite you to drop by the office with any questions,
concerns or plain old advice.
There are several ways our office would be happy to help you and your family:
- Commission legal documents free of charge as a Notary Public, or Commissioner for Oaths.
- Provide official Legislature commemorative certificates for special occasions such as significant wedding anniversaries, birthdays and facility openings
- Help you resolve issue with any Government Department, or help you access assistance regarding social services, student loans etc.
- Provide you with information or material on Provincial issues, including copies of Hansard, Bills, Motions and News Releases.
- Have petitions presented to the Legislative Assembly on Provincial issues that are important to you
- Meet with you, your family, your co-workers, your organization, or your community league to listen to and act on your concerns and ideas.
- Assist organizations with provincial grant applications such as the Community Facility Enhancement Program (CFEP) OR Community Initiatives Program (CIP)
- Arrange for you to attend Question Period session, or any Legislature debates as well as tours of the Legislature
- Visit your School or organization to explain how the Government works and answer your questions
These are just a few areas we can offer assistance. Please make sure to contact our office if you feel there is something we can help out with.
I am looking forward to bringing the concerns of the community to the new session of the Legislature beginning mid February.
Paul Hinman
MLA
Calgary Glenmore
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December 2009
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah and Seasons Greetings to you and your family.
I would like to offer my sincere thanks for electing me as your MLA in the Calgary Glenmore by-election. I am honored to be representing the good people of Calgary Glenmore in the Alberta Legislature, and I pledge to work hard to do justice to the trust you have placed in me.
On my first day back in the Legislature I explained to Premier Stelmach the message that the people of Calgary – Glenmore sent him in the by-election.
“I have heard their concerns about Albertans’ economic situation and the lack of fiscal accountability from the Premier and his government. I have heard their concerns about government accountability and their muzzling of MLAs. I have heard their concerns that health care decisions should be returned to Local Boards in our Communities rather than Big Government Superboards. Indeed, I have heard from people all across this province, and they feel that their concerns are not being addressed by this government. I have listened, and it is their concerns that I bring to Edmonton. Their concerns are my priority.”
I hope to see many of you at some of the seasonal community events in the next months. I am planning to have an open house for the constituency sometime in December; and I look forward to the pleasure of getting to know you better.
If you have any advice, comments or questions please do not hesitate to contact me by email at calgary.glenmore@assembly.ab.ca or call me at (403) 216-5421 or just drop by the constituency office in Glenmore Landing, my door is always open.
Wishing each and every one of you a safe and prosperous New Year.
Paul Hinman
MLA
Calgary Glenmore
