Alberta Liberal candidate for Lethbridge-West hopes to see new voices in government

The Alberta Liberal Party candidate for Lethbridge-West says she wants every Albertan’s voice to be heard by the government. Pat Chizek says she believes the province sees much of the same from the two major parties and she wants new voices to be heard in the legislature. 

“Right now they are not listening to the people, they just follow leaders blindly and the majority of the people in this province are not being heard from and it’s very frustrating, but I think most importantly is that over the last little while, last two or three elections is that my living has gotten worse with higher taxes and higher utilities and I think it’s the same for a lot of people I have spoken with and the governments just aren’t listening,” she says. 

Chizek is focused on affordability and healthcare in her run for MLA. She says she would like to see a student loan forgiveness initiative for people training to become healthcare workers in the province. 

“We have to have the government open up more spaces in our universities and colleges for our doctors and our nurses,” she says. “We got to start graduating more nurses, graduating more LPNs, graduating healthcare providers and graduating doctors and this is not a short-term problem.” She added she wants to bring attention to the issue and encourage people to listen to new voices, rather than only the UCP and NDP. 

“They are dividing the province and people just want an alternative. Personally, I would like to see our legislature sit there with four or five parties in and I think it’s time that we need to have, in this province, a minority government so that all peoples’ voices are now heard,” she says. 

Chizek says it is important to focus policy to combat affordability on the Albertans who need it most. “We have to take a look at what can the government help the people who need it? People earning over $100,000 a year do not need it as much as people who are earning $50,000 or less,” she says. 

Election day will be on May 29. 

Read about other Lethbridge candidates in the 2023 provincial election here:

Lethbridge-East NDP candidate focusing on how policy affects individuals 

Lethbridge-West UCP candidate focused on healthcare, economy 

Phillips focusing on healthcare, economy, and leadership 

Neudorf focusing on affordability, jobs and healthcare