The Alberta Rural Crime Tour will be hitting the road tonight in Bragg Creek.
Doug Schweitzer, Alberta Minister of Justice and Solicitor General, will take the tour across Alberta, visiting 18 communities in four weeks to address concerns, and make plans for the future regarding rural crime.
"First-hand conversations with Albertans will help ensure our actions truly reflect where Albertans are today," said Schweitzer in a statement released Sept. 4. "We recognize the unique vulnerability of Albertans in rural areas.
“We want to work with them to ensure our justice system reflects the realities of rural Alberta and has the tools and resources necessary to ensure rural Albertans feel their justice system protects them, their loved ones and their property."
The tour aims to meet with residents, business owners, rural crime watch groups and local officials to hear first-hand the concerns of rural communities.
Rural crime rates have continued to rise since last summer, according to Statistics Canada, where Alberta saw a 38 per cent higher rural crime rate over urban crime rates.
“That’s the only way we can address these issues, is if we listen and we’re actually willing to have those conversations with people so we can tell them ‘this is what we can do for you, this is what we’re planning, and how can we make this better,’” said Schweitzer told the Wheel when the tour was initially announced in July.
“That’s the only way that we can do our jobs effectively.”
Highwood MLA RJ Sigurdson is co-chairing the rural crime committee—along with Grande Prairie MLA Tracy Allard—and is co-ordinating the southern Alberta portion of the tour.
The tour is in keeping with one of the UCP’s campaign promises to crack down on rural crime through implementing a 16-point plan.
The tour will wrap up in Okotoks on Sept. 30, after stops in communities like Red Deer, Athabasca, Slave Lake, Grande Prairie, Cheadle, Lethbridge, Airdrie and Drayton Valley.
