Education, health care, seniors and infrastructure will continue to be the priority of the Conservative Party, according to MLA Robin Campbell.

While education might be a priority for the government, Campbell ruled out the chance of funding for a new high school in Jasper being part of the 2010 budget which he anticipates will be passed as early as March 2010.

Campbell was in Hinton last Sunday for the annual general meeting of the West Yellowhead Progressive Conservative Association, where a group of eight people attended.

However, he did not eliminate the prospect of funding coming through in 2011.

Reflecting on the year, the MLA said he thought the riding had had a “pretty good year” overall.

“We’ve been pretty lucky that the recession kind of missed us,” he said, noting that even Jasper – where tourism is the main economic engine – managed to survive a slower summer than usual.

From what he’s heard, only high end tourism was hit. Hotels may have suffered, but campgrounds were full, he said.

“If you owned a camping supplies and clothes store, you had a good summer.”

For the rest of the riding, he said the diversification of markets meant that while one industry slowed down, another could help people through the recession.

“We’re not in great shape, but we’re not in bad shape either,” he said.

Campbell also said that this week’s debate about Bill 50, the Electric Statues Amendment Act, was probably the most controversial act on the table at the moment.

Despite the controversy, Campbell said he was confident the bill would pass later this week after the latest amendments had been put forward.

“Transmission is a big deal for this riding,” he said, “we use a lot of power.”

He cited the influx of people to Alberta, which he said equates to two cities the size of Red Deer each year, as another reason for the need for more power.

Speaking from personal experience at Cardinal Mine, Campbell said he could remember the mine running at non-peak times to meet budget constraints.

“We don’t want to put undue hardships on industries,” said Campbell.

“We want to hear right from the industry.”

Another focus for Campbell was to bring a variety of ministers to the different towns within his riding and plans to organize a variety of meetings.

He hopes that finance minister Iris Evans will come to Jasper in time for the budget release early next year.

He also hopes to bring the sustainable resource development minister Ted Morton to Hinton to discuss the land use framework.