The next Prime Minister of Canada may have been in Red Deer for a meet and greet put on by the Chamber of Commerce Wednesday.

Giving Central Albertans a rare chance to ask the candidates vying for the job of leader of the Conservative Party what they'd do to help Canadians.

For Lisa Raitt one of the most important things is getting our country's natural resources to market.

Raitt says she grew up in Cape Breton, and like most people had to leave because they lost their natural resources.

"They said new jobs and new companies would come in, and it never happened. Natural resources and agriculture are the best stabilizing economies for the local areas."

Rick Peterson meanwhile says his number one policy concern is attracting more jobs to our country, and says he'd do that by taxing all Canadians who make more than 12 thousand dollars a year 15 percent of their income, and giving corporations a hallpass on taxes.

"The GST will go up to compensate, but if you're taxing consumption instead of investment, investment will come in and that creates jobs. So after the GST increase, and tax cuts, the average Canadian family will have an extra $4,200 in their pockets every year."

8 of the 14 candidates looking to lead the Conservative Party to power in 2019 attended the event.

Aside from championing a transportation and energy cooridor, taking our resources to tide water, Andrew Saxton says he plans to balance the budget and erase the Liberals deficit within 2 years.

"I will freeze government spending for 2 years. I will get rid of the banked sick days for public service workers, either you're sick or you're not. It doesn't happen in the private sector, and it's costing the government hundreds of millions of dollars. I'll also get rid of the $5 bill and turn it into a coin, and I'll get rid of the nickel too. That will save us $100 Million."

Andrew Scheer meanwhile says he plans to scrap the federal Carbon Tax, but balancing the budget was also at the top of his priority list.

"The budget won't be balanced until 2055! Unless we do something to change that. A lot of Canadians find that unacceptable, that there's no plan to return back to a balanced budget. There's no reason for these deficits, it's spending money for the sake of spending money, and we know it's going to lead to higher taxes. Ottawa doesn't have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem."

Others candidates who attended included Deepak Obhrai and Steven Blaney.

Obhrai says he's been hearing the same concerns from differnet groups across the country.

"What I'm hearing from the young is that they like our policies, but they don't want debt. They want opportunities they can do themselves. That's what even the immigrants coming into our country are saying. Same message. Leave us alone, we will work hard, that's why we came here, like everybody else."

Obhrai says another concerning topic is immigration, and while many people sneaking into Canada seeking refuge from the U.S aren't bad people, it sends the wrong message to real criminals that our borders are easy to get through.

Stephen Harpers successor will be chosen May 27th.