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AUDIO: Wildrose leader looking to start riding nomination in Fort McMurray

The Leader of the Wildrose says the party wants to have a bigger presence in Fort McMurray.

Danielle Smith says she’s in town to meet with some potential candidates for the party.

“I’m very hopeful that we’ll be able to open up a riding in Fort McMurray for nomination in the Fall,” she continues, “part of the reason I’m here, is to meet with perspective candidates, and I’m encouraged by the number of people who are interested in potentially putting their name forward.”

Smith says this city isn’t a place where people just want to work.

“People want to live here their entire lives, to be able to move their families here, to be able to have their moms and dads come and be able to age comfortably, knowing they can get the health care that they need, and also know that they can get the support in their senior years that they need,” she adds, “all of those things have lagged behind in Fort McMurray.”

Smith also talked about how her government wants to make tailings ponds a thing of the past.

She says the government needs to work with industry to use cutting edge technology.

“What I’ve observed about the industry, is when they develop technology that becomes best-in-class, it becomes adopted very quickly. I think about horizontal multi-stage fracking that has given new life to a lot of our gas fields. This was brand new technology in 2009,” says Smith.

Smith was in town yesterday, and stopped into the studio to speak with the newsroom.

Hear our own Tyler King’s interview with Smith

[audio:http://pmd.country933.com/audio/ferne-news/tk&wildroseleaderdaniellesmith.mp3]