Platform
Red Deer Can Be So Much More!
We live in an amazing place, but the status quo isn’t working. Taxes are going up and the city has largely stagnated, despite incredible growth throughout Alberta. Rather than continuing to do the same things that we’ve always done, we must make some changes.
We can unlock Red Deer’s potential by:
Pursuing Relentless Growth
Red Deer is poised to become the most strategically important city in Western Canada. The canvas of our city is primed for serious transformations, fueled by pivotal initiatives such as Red Deer Polytechnic’s Centre for Innovation and Manufacturing and the Regional Airport expansion. The vision extends further with the potential addition of a new highway linking Red Deer to Golden, BC, and the prospect of high-speed rail connectivity between Calgary, Red Deer, and Edmonton. These developments position Red Deer as a hub for innovation, logistics, and transportation, paving the way for a new era of economic growth.
Despite these promising prospects, there is a concerning plateau in population and housing starts, creating an urgency to address bureaucratic obstacles hindering growth. We must confront this challenge head-on. By cutting red tape, streamlining how the city does business, and admitting that the status quo isn’t good enough anymore, we can unlock the city’s incredible potential. Red Deer possesses all the elements for greatness, a city poised for unprecedented growth. But Red Deer will not get there without a serious focus on growth from City Council.
Building Compassionate Community
A city is only as strong as its communities. Young families are key to a city’s growth as they represent the future of our city. Recognizing that the family is the building block of society, we must work hard to make Red Deer a great place for young families. As a young father devoted to raising his five children, including 2 foster kids, Chad recognizes the challenges families face. Red Deer must become a premier destination, appealing to families of all types and configurations. Embracing our identity as a ‘City in a Park,’ Red Deer offers abundant opportunities for everyone.
Young families need a voice on city council, advocating for policies that support and enhance the family experience. Red Deer must become a compassionate community where all families can flourish. To achieve this, the goal will be to prioritize initiatives that keep taxes low and focus on key services that are essential for the well-being of every family. Raising a family is hard enough – we need to make sure City Hall isn’t getting in the way!
Embracing Incremental Improvement
To achieve our vision for Red Deer, we must commit to incremental improvement. The status quo isn’t good enough, but Red Deerians don’t want drastic changes or cuts to services. There must be a significant effort to improve things on the street level. We must consistently ask, “What is the next simple thing we can do to make this better?” By doing this, great ideas will emerge. This will involve actively seeking input from frontline staff, valuing their perspectives as catalysts for change.
Through this commitment to constantly seeking out new ways to improve, we must look at even seemingly trivial situations. For example, a city employee mowing the lawn at City Hall in the rain, becomes an opportunity for change, as that staff member might have some idea how to better use his time! By listening to feedback and experimenting with subtle adjustments, we pave the way for genuine and lasting progress. This idea showcases our dedication to ongoing improvements that collectively shape a city culture that continuously evolves and thrives. Naturally this works at the family level, the community level, and the city-wide scale.
Let’s commit to doing the next simple thing to make Red Deer better!
Your Questions
I would like to see a ward system that divides the city into quadrants and each quadrant has 2 councilors. Each ward would have a piece of downtown as city hall would be where all the four quadrents meet. Councilors would be required have their permanent residence within the area they represent. This will lead to better representation of neighbourhoods and give councilors more skin in the game for the people the represent.
Actually, I’d like to try to find bottom-up change first. Governments are structured as top-down organizations, but top-down change is always orderly but dumb. Bottom-up change is smart but sometimes chaotic.
I will ask the front line staff at the city ‘What is the Next Simple Thing we could do to deliver services better and more efficiently?‘. Those on the front lines are often the experts and have ideas of how to do things better. Not all of the ideas will work (that’s where the chaos comes in) but we need to find new ideas to try to get that smart bottom-up change.
I would like to see a block improvement grant program. If four (or more) neighbours on the same block invest in the frontage of their property, then the city will grant back a percentage of the improvements. The improvements could include sidewalks, landscaping, windows, doors, siding, etc. This would be a great opportunity to rejuvenate a whole block and encourage people to meet their neighbours.
The homelessness and addiction crisis in downtown Red Deer is a major challenge, one that has persisted through the entirety of the current City Council’s term and much of the preceding one.
As a single vote on City Council, I would tread cautiously in championing a single solution lest I overpromise and underdeliver. But, I can tell you that I will work tirelessly to address the issue – and I have some strong opinions about it.
The Province earmarked $7 million to establish a permanent homeless shelter in Red Deer. However, City Council has yet to secure a suitable location, after four failed attempts and countless hours of debate and deliberation.
Much of that debate has been behind closed doors, so I haven’t been privy to the details of those discussions. But, the delay in establishing a permanent shelter negatively impacts not only those people experiencing homelessness, but also the surrounding community and everyday citizens navigating their lives.
Recently, City Council made the decision to petition the Province to remove the Overdose Prevention Site downtown, and replace it with more recovery options – a move I fully support.
The fact that an Overdose Prevention Site – or, let’s call it what it really is, a drug consumption site – and a homeless shelter are across the street from one another only exacerbates the challenges faced by each.
For too long, the prevailing strategy in addressing homelessness has been a “housing first” approach that doesn’t adequately address underlying issues. This philosophy assumes that, if you just gave everyone a house, all of the other problems would go away.
The problem is that there are not enough houses to go around, so the available housing is given to people who need it the most. Unfortunately, the people who technically need it the most are also the people who face the most barriers to success and are least likely to succeed.
A more nuanced approach is needed – one that tailors interventions to the diverse needs of each person, including targeted support for addiction recovery, mental health services, and socioeconomic empowerment.
Those addicted to substances need recovery.
Those with serious mental health challenges need to access supports.
Those who are experiencing poverty through life circumstances – like a single mother – are actually the people who would actually benefit the most from the housing-first approach.
This is an oversimplification of a complicated issue to be sure, but our current approach is not working.
The Provincial government has invested significantly in recovery, and that investment can be seen in the new 75-bed recovery community in the city’s north as well as in the Dream Centre. Both of these options offer promising pathways toward meaningful change.
I look forward to advocating for a diverse – yet decisive – approach to solving these complex problems.
Celebrate all of the great things in our city. Brag to your friends and family about our parks. Support local businesses that are becoming the back bone our community life. Defend Red Deer from the doubters. Popularize the hashtag #LoveRedDeer
I would like to see businesses have a business liaison or a single point of contact with the city rather than having to navigate around all the different departments on their own. These business liaisons will become quick at navigating the city’s processes and will be the best source for identifying unnecessary restrictions that are simply red tape.
We should also ask front-line city staff, “How should we deliver services more effectively?” I’m sure they have some great ideas to make their jobs easier and business interactions better.
I’m in favour of lowering residential speed limits to 40 km/h while raising speed limits on arterial roads to 60 km/h. This will make our neighbourhoods safer. I also would like to see more street trees and curb extensions to help naturally calm traffic.
We need to take some little bets and invest in technology to make sure our police have the best tools available. Things like getting 20 GPS tracking ankle bracelets for the 20 worst bad guys in town so the cops can make sure they are where they are supposed to be or getting software for traffic cameras that can read license plates, make, model and colour of a vehicle to help track down stolen vehicles.
We as citizens also need to do our part and find the Next Simple Thing we can be doing like knowing our neighbours, reporting crimes when they happen, and making sure our property is not an easy target.