It's only been just over a month and the constituency office is in full gear. Since my swearing in on May 15 there has been a major list of accomplishments both provincially and locally.

There is a newly elected speaker in the Alberta Legislature-Gene Zwozdesky who replaced the long term member, Ken Kowalski.

May 18 saw the opening of the local constituency office, located at #101-4892-46 Street in Lacombe. Office hours are 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays (closed over lunch hour). The phone number in that office is 403-782-7725. The Edmonton office is located at 714 Legislative Annex, 9718 - 107 Street, Edmonton and that phone number is 780-422-1149.

The spring Legislative session opened May 24 with the Speech from the Throne and the house sat until May 31. In that short time, we were able to accomplish the following:

We were able to convince the Minister of Culture to finally sit down with the Shen Yun Group. This group had been lobbying for a meeting with these officials for more than three years, to discuss their particular needs.

We exposed the government's gag law of the chief electoral officer and received a commitment from the justice minister to change it.

In response to the Justice Major Report, MLA salaries have now been set at a flat rate, not tied to committees, and shows transparency. This was done in the spirit of what the Wildrose Party campaigned for.

We raised the alarm on low gas and oil pricing, which will drop the governments revenues, thereby making the budgetary allocations impossible to achieve because of the lack of foresight. We also brought home the fact that there is no plan of how to deal with these lower revenues.

There has also been major discussion on Bill 1, which was introduced into the House during this sitting and will address concerns about first responders and health related issues in that field. The fall session of the Legislature will allow us more discussion on that particular issue.

In Lacombe Ponoka constituency this month, I have been pleased to attend several great functions. Everything from the Blackfalds Days parade in early June, to the opening of the Lacombe Skateboard Park. It has also been my pleasure to attend the Ponoka Stampede Parade and the Ponoka Stampede. It was also my honour to speak at the opening of the Canadian Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in Ponoka. I was also able to attend the presentation of the Diamond Jubilee Medal to two deserving constituents. In addition, I was pleased to serve coffee for the Tim Horton's Camp Day in support of the Tim Horton Summer Camp program, and participated in McHappy Day at McDonald's, also in support of less fortunate children.

School Tours of the legislative assembly have been both fun and educational for students in elementary schools. I have been able to visit with several of these school groups as they made their way through the legislature.

The DARE program graduation was another highlight of this month's activities, as was the 100th anniversary celebration of Burnco, who is a major employer in this constituency.

High school graduations at the schools in this constituency have taken place through the months of May and June and I have tried to send individual scrolls to those students who achieved the distinction of graduating from their respective high schools. Congratulations to all of those hard working students on their success and I wish them the best in their future endeavours.

The coming month looks to be filled with lots of summertime activities for the local communities including Lacombe Days, the Mirror 100th Anniversary, the Clive Centennial, Alix Aloha Days, Westerner Days and lots more.

I am looking forward to attending several of these events as time and scheduling allows, and also look forward to meeting more of you in the communities that I am proud to now serve as your sitting MLA.

It is my intention to be available to all constituents on an ongoing basis and invite you to contact the constituency office if you have concerns that you feel I can assist with.