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Budget Committe of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic visits Alberta

From June 1 to June 3, 2017 the Budget Committee from the Chamber of the Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, led by Jan Bartošek, visited two of the most significant cities in the province of Alberta: its administrative centre, the city of Edmonton and the centre of the oil industry, the city of Calgary. The trip concentrated primarily on budget issues  at the municipal and provincial level; however the dialogue went beyond that and into political and economic issues and really reinforced the efforts of the Consulate General in Toronto to develop a more intensive political dialogue and economic cooperatioin at the provincial level.  In both cities, the delegation also met with representatives of the local Czech community and throughout the entire visit it was accompanied by the Consul General, Ivan Počuch and the Honorary Consul General in Calgary, Jerry Jelínek.

Other members of the delegation led by vice chairman of the Chamber of the Deputies, J. Bartošek were  budget comittee deputy chairmen, J. Klaška and K. Fiedler and comittee members F. Laudát and K. Rais. Apart from the budget committee other delegation members were vice president of The Chamber of Commerce, I. Bartoňová Pálková and Czech Televison business director H. Chudárek. In Edmonton, the delegation  was received by Scott Cyr, a chair of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts and by the deputy chair Lorne Dach as well as the Legislative assembly of Alberta support staff. During consultations the Canadian partners made a detailed presentation on the context and the course of the budget process and the role of the Legislative Assembly and the Standing Committee on Public Accounts in it.

Parliament of Alberta

The delegation was further received by the Legislative Assembly Speaker, Robert Wanner. The discussions turned towards the possibilities of strengthening Czech-Canadian cooperation and general issues of current developments as a result of pressures to restrict democracy in Europe as well as political developments in the USA with the arrival of President Trump. At the end of the visit to Edmonton the delegation met with representatives of the Edmonton Branch of the Czech & Slovak Association of Canada and the Czechoslovak Society for Arts and Sciences who H.Chudarek, from the Czech TV, gifted with a large number of DVD’s of Czech movies and children´s fairy tales.

Meeting with the Czech compatriots in Calgary

 

In Calgary, the delegation held talks with J. Kwong, finance manager from the corporate budget office and S. Deederly, the Senior Policy Advisor to the mayor, who was out of Calgary at the time. City representatives explained how budget sources are created and the fundamentals of long-term budget planning. As in Edmonton, in Calgary the Czech representation took part in a cordial and friendly meeting with members of the local branch of the Czech and Slovak Association of Canada and Czech Business Association of Canada. On the last day of the visit, the delegation visited the Canadian National park Banff located in the Rocky Mountains.

National Park Banff