Airdrie-Cochrane MLA Peter Guthrie appears to have found his place in Danielle Smith's government as Alberta's Infrastructure minister.

He can look back at the rocky ride of 2022 and early 2023 within the United Conservative Party with satisfaction that it wasn't all for not. He was vocal in his dissatisfaction with how Jason Kenny was running things, worked to have him removed during a leadership vote, and became the first MLA to publically back Danielle Smith to take the reins. 

Upon a miraculous rebound and highly tactical win by the UCP, the newly elected premier referred to the victory as another 'Miracle on the Prairies', a phrase previously first coined by Ralph Klein. The UCP won a majority with 14 fewer seats, and Guthrie was returned for his second term with 60 per cent of the vote, fending off strong NDP opponent Shaun Fluker.

Shortly following the election, Guthrie was named Infrastructure minister, after having initially served as Energy minister, his first ministerial posting, leading up to the spring election.

"You know, whenever you have an election and you have a new leader, there's always that sort of uncertainty that you can be over your head," says Guthrie, "but I think one of the things that the general public has seen and the comments that I get back to me is how impressed they are with the premier, and impressed by how our government has been dealing with some pretty difficult issues."

He speaks directly on how the Alberta government is standing up to Ottawa, but he also includes the challenge of improving the healthcare system.

"We're tackling a pretty difficult situation with our healthcare system. There are healthcare issues across the country and, in fact, probably across the US and Europe as well. The general public I think wants to see something done differently.

"So you know, we have a restructuring and a reorganization that's just getting started there and it will take some time to be able to implement, but I think people are ready for it and they understand that these changes are needed. So we're jumping out there and taking the bull by the horns, and our premier is fully behind Adriana LaGrange, her health minister, in initiating that."

He believes Alberta is gaining grounds against Ottawa, particularly in their battle on energy-related and jurisdiction issues

"Well, if Justin Trudeau's popularity sinking is any indication, I think, yeah, we are making some pretty strong headway and the Supreme Court also agrees with our position on the plastic ban. They have agreed on C-69 that the federal government is overstepping its bounds, and they needed to be called out on it. I'm really happy to see what would be considered a left-leaning Supreme Court making the right call, and reaffirming the province's position. I think we're on really good footing to move forward."

Guthrie says he's enjoying the shift to Infrastructure from Energy.

"The position I'm in now is a completely different one. It's far more operational. You're dealing with landfills, land acquisitions, and government leasing of buildings. You're also dealing with large capital projects, planning, designing, and building."

Infrastructure is currently working with about a $24 billion three-year budget

"There's a lot of work to be done there, but I'm really enjoying it. It's one of those ministries that's a quiet ministry, but at the same time, it has a lot going on and a lot of responsibility. I'm pleased to be here, and I've got a great team around me, both with the political staff and a department that is very effective and truly knows their stuff, so that makes my job a lot easier."

His past careers have aided him in fulfilling the role. As a chemical engineer, he worked for several years in the chemical and manufacturing industries, He has operated both a ranch and a small business.

"This is far more of an operational role, and being in the corporate world, being in small business, even from a farming and ranching perspective, you know, you're hands-on. This role fits someone who has been in multiple disciplines. I think all of the experience that I've had helps to be able to step into this role in Infrastructure and be effective."

Turning to local issues, he continues to pursue further highway infrastructure projects.

"We have the 1A and 22 intersection project that is fully underway now and we'll be dealing with that for the next couple of years. We're now trying to look past that and be able to see the growth that we have coming and where are the next bottlenecks going to be.

"Right now, we're out there doing some planning for a new bridge across the Bow, and then some widening. You know, I think that that's going to be important, particularly with us being in the top 10 for growth across the country as a community."

Since first elected in 2019, he's been keen on seeing more senior housing available in Cochrane.

nixon Seniors minister Jason Nixon, right, and Peter Guthrie, local MLA and Infrastructure minister, were in town yesterday for meetings and housing facility tours in September. They're pictured here with Jennifer McCue, Bethany president and chief executive officer, and Monica Johnson, BethCochrane'srane site administrator.

"We need more facilities, and the Big Hill Lodge being one of those. We know that not only is it outdated, but it also has some structural issues and so I've been working very hard to try to draw attention to that within the Ministry of Seniors and Community and Social Services. We have a budget upcoming, and I've got my fingers crossed that we can get a contribution there to help Rocky View Foundation build that new facility."

Guthrie says his ministry will be putting forward some legislation during the spring sitting.

"Right now it's in the committee and cabinet process, so I can't speak too much about it, but I'd love to talk to you about it come spring. So that's sort of near and dear to me within the department of Infrastructure."

Other legislation will be coming forward in the spring, including changes related to healthcare, and there'll be more public consultation on the proposal for Alberta to establish its pension plan, something that isn't particularly being received well at this point. 

" What feels really good to me right now is that we're down to work, we're down to doing the business of government and that's what people want to see us doing. They don't want to see what happened over the last few years. They want us to be to be stable. They want us to bring forward ideas, commit to those, and implement them. And that's what we plan on doing."

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