Last night, Airdrie-Cochrane MLA Peter Guthrie lead a toast to the truckers convoy that converged on Parliament Hill.

While bringing greetings at the annual fundraising dinner of the Grand Valley Safari Club, he raised his glass to the truckers, praising them for their efforts to protect our freedoms. It was met with widespread applause.

Guthrie praised the club for the countless worthy causes they aid with the dinner. It has raised about $250,000 for charity over the years.

With over 70,000 views of three social media videos Guthrie has streamed since November, he continues to reinforce his position on the need to transition away from COVID-19 restrictions.

In his latest last week, Guthrie said after nearly two years, enough is enough.

"We are now approaching two years dealing with COVID, and the time is well upon us to make a transition beyond restrictions, to move away from divisive policies and begin healing this province," stated Guthrie.

In a previous Jan. 18 video, he sought feedback on how to change what he considers a "bloated and underperforming health system."

"Our government has piled billions of additional dollars into the health system. AHS hired more doctors and nurses, yet health care capacity declined, and surgical wait times increased immensely with outright cancellations."

It's not an attack on frontline workers rather the senior management of Alberta Health Services (AHS). He says some of the ideas and criticism of the system by frontline workers have been not given fair consideration.

During the nine-minute video, he called for a search for high-calibre candidates outside of AHS to provide a fresh approach.

Guthrie says the video has created the dialogue he sought.

"The feedback I've been getting has been tremendous. One of the things that I'm particularly happy about is the frontline workers, physicians, nurses, even administrators, who have reached out, some with comments to my office, some in phone calls, and others in direct meetings.

"The dialogue that's been opened, I think, has presented some opportunity for us to have some open discussion and improve operations at AHS overall."