Leela Aheer is the first to admit that she was not expecting an Alberta NDP majority win in last week’s election but as the newly elected Wildrose Chestermere-Rocky View MLA, she is prepared to work collaboratively with the new government.
“This is one of those elections when we really didn’t know from one day to the next what would happen,” said Aheer, “But regardless, the whole point is to work together and I think that maybe that’s what’s been missing in the past.”
Although Aheer recognizes the NDP and Wildrose Party have different political ideologies, she says there are some things they do agree on. “One of the things that the NDP want to do which the Wildrose agrees with is to get rid of corporate welfare, and union and corporate donations.”
“It will change the dynamics of how you fundraise for your campaign,” stated Aheer, who added that she believes when a political party receives corporate donations there is sometimes an expectation that comes with it. “The expectation should be that you do right by the voters and not the pressures of where the donations come from.”
“We have specific things within the Wildrose that we want to accomplish and one of those things is transparency,” she said. “The movement of Wildrose is about fiscal responsibility, we also want to put in place the checks and balances to keep this government accountable.”
When asked about the two parties differences Aheer stated “There is going to be some strong discussions about taxes because my stance is that we do not raise taxes – instead we need to find out where our money is now.”
“A very intelligent friend told me once that corporations do not pay taxes – individuals do and that is so true, any tax that is put on the corporations will funnel down to you and I.”
“We need to look at the bureaucracy and look at where things are inflated immensely,” she said, “And we even look at how we pay ourselves, there’s a lot of things that are put onto the taxpayer’s backs that I do not believe is necessary.”
Aheer acknowledges that things like education, healthcare and infrastructure are all high priorities that the new government has a lot to learn about. “Brian Jean (leader of the Wildrose and former MP) knows that a lot of us within the Wildrose are relatively new to this as are the NDP and although there’s a huge learning curve I hope that we can do that together for a better Alberta.”
“We have been dealing with a government that was feeling entitled and there was a huge management issue – revenue has been spent and mismanaged.”
Aheer says it will be interesting to see what happens now that after 44 years there is finally a new government in place, “All of us have this interpretation of what the NDP is but we have to respect that is what Albertans wanted. At the same time we have a conservative government in opposition and we will watch them, we will work with them, we will help them – but we also have plans and those plans are to make this province reach its full potential.”
“I think what people voted for was equality but I believe equality means less government – more government can never produce equality because it creates an elitism, says Aheer, “Equality has to be created by your ability to make yourself be equal to your neighbor, it’s your decision and your prerogative.”
As an MLA, Aheer says that she wants to meet with the people she represents to find out more about what is important to them. “I want to talk to people because I feel the best way to be able to provide what people need is to listen to them.”
“I received less than half the total votes so I have a lot of people that I need to earn their respect and that is what I intend to do.”
Aheer won the Chestermere-Rocky View riding on May 5, 2015 by a mere 222 votes above Progressive Conservative candidate and incumbent MLA Bruce McAllister. She resides in the City of Chestermere with her husband and two sons. Together, she and her husband are small business owners and she is a musician / music teacher.
