Danny Hozack is a grandfather of eight and still keen to put his hat in the ring as he wants to send a message to Ottawa.
“Some people say to me they’re not interested in politics, but I say my grandpa wasn’t interested in war either, but he still went twice so we could have a better life.”
The family man who lives on a farm in the Streamstown area has hitched his wagon to the Wildrose Loyalty Coalition to run in the Vermilion-Lloydminster-Wainwright riding for the Alberta May 29 vote.
Hozack says he feels he needs to be involved so future generations can have a better life. He says he is happy that Danielle Smith won, but he sees the Wildrose remnant as “the real conservatives on the right.” He says Smith campaigned on Wildrose policies like having a provincial police force, collecting taxes and standing up to Ottawa. However, they “want to be out to the right to ensure Smith stays on Wildrose policies.”
When asked if the Wildrose Coalition is splitting the right vote, Hozack says they plan to run in 20-ridings and it’s the NDP that’s splitting the vote on the left on things like getting to net-zero.
“When it comes to carbon net-zero, the difference between Rachel Notley and Danielle Smith is Rachel Notley wants to do it in 2035 – Danielle wants to do it by 2050. So quite frankly I would say the NDP is splitting the left.”
Hozack contends the province has a moral obligation to develop its resources to feed a hungry world and that can’t happen in a net-zero environment.
Switching to the federal government’s 30 per cent fertilizer reduction target, Hozack sees that by using less fertilizer it means there will be less food and the price of food will go up. He relates this to the affordability question facing consumers.
“The people I’m talking to – they can’t afford to fill up their car. They can’t afford to buy groceries or at least they certainly can’t afford to buy as many as they used to. And more and more people are into this heat or eat conundrum. Those are the real down to earth pocketbook issues. If we shut down the oil industry, two things happen – one, the government has less money and a whole bunch of people that have jobs in this community won’t have a job. So, we are here to defend the oil industry – absolutely, unabashedly – and the agriculture industry,” says Hozack.
Turning to the health file, he says there are too many bureaucrats and not enough front-line workers. He also favours a mix of private and public delivery of healthcare.
As the community continues to grow and with about two-thirds of the Border City population being on the Alberta side, Hozack shares his thoughts on planning to build a new Lloydminster hospital, over the next 10-years ahead of the present facility ageing out.
“Absolutely. If there’s a constituency anywhere in the world that could afford a new hospital and needs a new hospital – it’s Lloydminster. And if we brought in our tax plan to keep a lot more of the taxes in the constituency – in the rural area; absolutely, we would have the money for it,” says Hozack.
The Wildrose candidate is also not averse to building the hospital solely with Alberta dollars on the Alberta side of the city. He’s happy to team up with Saskatchewan, but he says rural Alberta including Lloydminster sends sufficient taxes to Edmonton.
“My understanding from some of my friends in Saskatchewan, is that Alberta has been very difficult to work with over time – which I don’t understand. I don’t know if it’s an arrogance thing or we’ve just got too many bureaucrats. But the fact of the matter is, the Alberta side of Lloydminster sends enough tax money to Edmonton that if we used it wisely, we could build a new hospital – we could build it on the Alberta side,” says Hozack.
On what happens after the elections Hozack says time will tell. He jokes about the time that he drove to a cattlemen’s meeting with five people in his car and only got four votes.
He concludes the province is being governed by people who have spent more time studying how to get elected than studying how to govern.