Bev Muendal-Atherstone – NDP – Little Bow

Birthdate: August 11

Family: Together with my husband, Hans-Henning Muendel, we have three adult married children and four grandchildren. We have lived on an acreage in the County of Lethbridge west of Lethbridge for 22 years.


Occupation before politics: Life time educator: teacher, counsellor, school psychologist, instructor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Lethbridge in Educational Psychology and Special Education. Contract school psychologist for Palliser Regional Schools and other southern Albertan school districts; supervised chartering for school psychologists.



Other community/non-profit experience: Past board member of the Lethbridge Chapter of Friends of Medicare; Current board member of Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs. As a volunteer with “No Drilling Lethbridge” I helped keep fracking out of urban areas and away from schools; past chair Children’s House Day Care Board. Volunteer with the Schizophrenia Society of Alberta, Lethbridge branch. Board member and Past President of the Rotary Club of Lethbridge East.



What is the most important issue facing the riding?: Little Bow is a huge geographical riding consisting mainly of farmland interspersed with many villages and hamlets with diverse needs. Proposed government cut backs to essential public services of education, senior care, mental health and health care impact accessibility greater in rural areas than in urban areas often leaving huge rural areas with little to no access. The 2012 closure of the Little Bow Continuing Care Centre in Carmangay in August 2012 right after the last provincial election was a prime example of the lack of government communication with rural communities and the needless loss of both long term care beds and jobs in rural Little Bow. We need to care for our aging population with compassion and quality care, keeping people close to their families, not moving them away from their loved ones, most especially not when they are sick and frail. 



What is the most important issue facing the province?: The most important issue facing this province is a lack of adequate leadership on what matters. We need leadership that listens to Albertans and puts the priorities of families first. We need a leader who will fight for and protect the services Albertans expect: schools, health care, job creation, and quality senior care. It is unfair to balance the budget on the backs of Albertans.


If you could change one thing from the budget released on March 28, what would it be?: It is unfair for the government to blame Albertans for government-made fiscal decisions. Albertans told the Premier they wanted the corporations to pay their fair share by increasing corporate taxes, but this government did not listen. It’s unfair for Albertans to have to compromise their health and education of their children because of PC government poor fiscal decisions. I would listen to Albertans first.
We need leadership that has the courage to create jobs, process our resources here and end corporate tax breaks. 



Why should the voters choose you?: The voters should choose me because I will listen to them and not only voice their concerns, but act in their interest, rather than out of corporate ideology. I am in the habit of speaking truth to power. I stand up for fairness. I am not afraid to speak out against injustice.



Favourite quote: You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time. By Abraham Lincoln



The last book you read: Roughing It, by Mark Twain

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