Shawn Tylke is a businessman with farming roots from Ponoka. He is a candidate for the Lacombe and Ponoka riding running under the Alberta Advantage Party. This will be Tylke's first time running for a position in a provincial election. 

What policies are you looking to really stress during this election?

One major one is recall. The government party, MLA, even the leader of the party, or president, if they aren’t doing their job then they’re done. If we had that right now then we would not be in the position we’re in.

Another big one is equalization. Equalization has been unfair right from the start. Do you know who had a hand in equalization? Jason Kenney.

Immigration, I have got nothing against immigration. I have got problems with unvetted migrants and I’ve got problems with the way that politicians tell their stories about what they’re going to do. They use immigrants all the time. Are they talking immigrants or are they talking migrants? It’s not very clear.

There are so many problems. We need to get Albertans back to work. We need pipelines to tidewater. We have a plan for six pipelines. We have a plan to get Albertans back to work with the orphaned gas and oil wells and that will get Albertans back to work within three months give or take.

We have problems in healthcare. We have problems in education. Both of them, especially healthcare one of the biggest problems is money spent and wasted. It’s not spent in the proper areas it’s kind of like government they get the money and it just goes wherever you want it to go. We need to put our foot down on that and then we wouldn’t be in such a bad position.

Education, I have got two kids in grade school. Our education system? Not so good. Our math, what my sons been bringing home from grade five? Are you kidding me? Let’s just go back to basic math, we did that ourselves. He loves math now. 40% of students get basically failing marks, why? They know it’s a problem but nobody is doing anything. Another problem with our education system is some teachers. We had an incident where our high school teachers were now teaching grade school teachers and some of the stuff they were teaching them? Not good.

What is something you are most proud of about your party?

We all work together. We are all regular, everyday, hardworking people. We are not politicians. A lot of people don’t like that, but you know what, I run a business. I have been running a business for over fifteen years. I know and see where money can go, where it can’t go, and where it should go. A lot of these politicians don’t care. They see the money from all the taxpayers and they go on a spending spree. They’re making promises right now, where are they getting the money from? They don’t tell you that. Some of them want to kibosh the carbon tax instantly, how are you going to pay for the debt? We’re going to eliminate the carbon tax within three years. After the third year, it’s done. That’s going to help pay for our debts. Same with getting rid of equalization, that’s going to pay for our debts.

What is your area of expertise within your party?

It’s pretty much spread out because there are a few things that I am not too sure on and there are a few things that others aren’t sure of it’s all dependent on our backgrounds. So, everyone is different. We work together really well. We need that. If you can’t work together really well, within a party, it’s like a family, and if you can’t do it it’s not going to work. We can all sit down together and just have a normal conversation which is something that our governments have a problem doing.

What is your attachment to this area?

I grew up northwest of Ponoka. I went to school at Pigeon Lake Highschool and I know I’ve got relations within Ponoka as well as Wetaskiwin. I have contacts and stuff throughout Lacombe as well with my business. With my business, we basically run all the way from Leduc to Lacombe, Camrose to Alder Flats. With my business, with the water well stuff plus being a farm background, I’ve got to see and meet a lot of people. A lot of people know me for who I am and that’s what I want people to think about when they’re voting. They know who I am and they know the type of person I am. That’s a big thing and I know there’s a lot of people that don’t know me, but we change that.

Anything else you’d like to add?

Vote the Alberta Advantage Party because we are truly Albertans for Alberta and that is what is first and foremost and what’s important.