On July 16 and 17, local MLA Chelsae Petrovic travelled to different communities within the Livingstone-Macleod riding to host coffee talks with constituents and hear what’s top of mind for locals right now.

“I think going to local communities, and allowing access to myself is really important,” she says.

Though her office and resources are primarily in Claresholm, Petrovic seeks to travel around the riding to connect with constituents who don’t have regular in-person access to her.

“I need to be able to go to them to be able to make sure that their concerns are heard,” says Petrovic, noting that not being able to drive across a geographically large riding shouldn’t be a barrier to getting to talk to one’s MLA.

“I don’t think that there’s any way for me to represent the people of Livingstone-Macleod in Edmonton without actually being present in Livingstone-MacLeod and hearing what’s going on at a local level.”

As a rural MLA, Petrovic’s schedule looks very different from those of her city-based counterparts. The Livingstone-Macleod riding touches both the British Columbia and United States borders, and also stretches nearly to Calgary. 

Being a rural MLA certainly means more time behind the wheel, which is something that Petrovic feels is necessary to ensure all voices are being heard equally.

“Hopefully, through time and through continuously showing up, more people will feel comfortable coming in and expressing concerns,” she says.

In this round of Coffee With Your MLA, Petrovic visited Blairmore, Pincher Creek, Fort Macleod, Longview, High River and Nanton over two days. 

“Now we’re starting to get more and more engagement from people knowing that I’m just a person who is super accessible and genuinely cares.”

Petrovic’s former career experiences inform her approach to hearing from constituents.

When she worked as a nurse, Petrovic noticed how politicians rarely took time to connect with front-line staff and hear from them what was going on, something she then sought to prioritize in her political work.

As former mayor of Claresholm, Petrovic made a point of sitting on each community board once annually, to ensure the “voices holding the community together” were heard.

“I think it’s super important to hear what’s happening at that level in order to properly represent,” she says.

Petrovic has had conversations with constituents that have completely changed her mind on certain issues, one of the reasons it’s important to her to engage with her riding.

“I don’t think we get it right all the time, and so I think it’s really important to hear what we’re doing right and what we’re doing wrong,” she says. “The only way to do it is to actually sit down and to talk about it.”

“Whether it’s tourism in the area to the twinning of Highway 3 to health care, I think what people are saying across the board is that they just want to be heard and to have people understand that Livingstone-MacLeod is unique, and it should be treated as such.”

In addition to citizen engagement, Petrovic has an annual meeting with each municipal council in her riding to better understand local concerns.

“I think through that, and through the open communication, I’ve been able to build a really good relationship with them,” she says.

You can connect with MLA Chelsae Petrovic through her office at Livingstone.Macleod@assembly.ab.ca or by phone at 587-424-2004.

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