Sherwood Park News has reported:

Kyle Kasawski, the MLA for Sherwood Park, is urging Albertans to vote no on the first nine questions in the province’s referendum, arguing they shift blame for Alberta’s problems onto immigrants, Ottawa and federal institutions. Advance voting begins Oct. 13, and while much public attention has centred on Question 10, which asks about separation, Kasawski says the other questions deserve close scrutiny.

In a column published by Sherwood Park News, Kasawski says the first nine questions present a narrative crafted by the United Conservative Party government. He argues they encourage voters to look for causes of provincial challenges outside Alberta instead of pressing the provincial government for solutions. Question 10 is the ballot’s most dramatic question, he writes, but he says the other proposals also carry significant implications.

Kasawski says people in Sherwood Park raise practical concerns with him, including utility bills, health care, crowded classrooms, support for people with disabilities and the promised expansion of Strathcona Community Hospital. He says the UCP has had seven years to address those matters and has failed. His column calls for a government that concentrates on provincial priorities rather than what he describes as an imagined threat from newcomers invited to Alberta.

He says Premier Danielle Smith wants Albertans to believe newcomers are responsible for overcrowded classrooms, long health-care waits, housing pressures and rising costs. Kasawski argues the province knew its population was growing but did not build enough schools, hospital beds or public infrastructure to keep pace. He says growth supports prosperity and strengthens society, while immigrants come to build lives, contribute to the economy, work in communities and raise families.

Kasawski says everyone should have access to health care and every child should receive an education. Public health care and education, he writes, are foundational services that strengthen communities, not rewards for citizenship. He also says newcomers already pay taxes and that denying their children access to schools or charging additional health-care fees would produce larger problems and greater social costs in the future.

The column also criticizes Questions 5 through 9, which Kasawski says identify different scapegoats and offer no practical answers to daily concerns. He cites proposals involving added barriers to voting, changes to the role of federal judges, abolishing the Senate and reopening constitutional debates. In his view, the questions provide the UCP with reasons to keep fighting Ottawa instead of addressing provincial affairs.

Kasawski says the first nine questions move Alberta away from values he associates with Canada’s success: fairness, welcoming newcomers, universal public services, democratic participation, independent courts and strong national institutions. He describes those questions as “separation in slow motion.” He also says the government is spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on a referendum built on false premises, with the first questions intended to persuade voters that Canada is the problem before they consider separation.

He argues the money could instead go toward health care, education and help for families facing rising costs. Kasawski says Albertans can take pride in both Alberta and Canada, defend the province’s interests while supporting a strong country, and demand practical solutions in place of political scapegoating. “That’s why my message is simple: I am voting no to the 9 and yes to remaining in Canada,” he writes.

Kasawski is the MLA for Sherwood Park. He invites readers with questions about the column or provincial issues to contact him; his contact information is available at www.kylekasawski.ca.