Alberta Premier Danielle Smith visited the town of Gibbons to speak with constituents.
On Tuesday (Apr. 11) evening, Smith met with Morinville-St. Albert MLA Dale Nally at the Gibbons Community Cultural Centre.
Almost 500 people attended the event, some of which travelled from as far as Calgary. The event began with speeches from Nally and Smith before continuing into a Q&A with Gibbons residents.
Some of the topics brought up included healthcare wait times, addiction treatment, accessibility to mental health support services, and rising energy costs.
"We object to asking Albertans to pay a carbon tax when they're heating their homes. That is fundamentally wrong," said Nally. "We should not be charging carbon tax at a time right now where we know Albertans and Canadians are struggling with high inflation."
Smith also compared politics in Canada with politics in the United States.
"I look at the Americans. I look at Ron DeSantis in Florida and Kristi Noem in South Dakota," said Smith. "They've been able to create little bastions of freedom, and we can create a little bastion of freedom in Alberta as well."
Many of the questions brought up by Gibbons' residents were about the World Economic Forum, the World Health Organization, and 15 Minute Cities.
"We invited people to come and ask difficult questions, and we certainly got that," said Nally. "There were times where it didn't feel like a town hall, but like a campaign rally. That just kind of happened."
The event also featured a small protest from educational support staff with Sturgeon Public School Division, who are demanding the provincial government raise their wages.