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Citing serious deficiencies in basic health care, infrastructure maintenance and transportation funding, councillors from across rural Alberta grilled NDP government ministers Thursday on when they will get some relief.

“We only have one doctor, who works only one day a week, and we have no pharmacy,” said Joseph Shi, a councillor from the Village of Cremona, just north of Cochrane.

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“Our streets are rundown, we can’t get money for improvements, and it’s a shame because we’re a tourist town and our community just does not look good.”

Gene Sobolewski, mayor of the town of Bonnyville, northeast of Edmonton, added his community’s local hospital has been in need of an expansion for years.

“We’re literally bursting at the seams. We detest the fact we have to keep sending people to Edmonton, but we just have no more room.

“We very much need funding.”

But Brian Mason, the NDP minister of transportation and infrastructure, warned that as Alberta continues to struggle with slumping oil prices, he could not make any guarantees for funding for any expansion or capital projects.