We simply cannot continue to tolerate dishonesty and deflection from our elected officials. As a citizen I do not expect perfection from our local administration and authorities, however I do not believe it is unreasonable to expect honesty and integrity, especially from our elected officials.
If I am elected to City Council I commit to act with accountability and transparency, and to advocate for policies and bylaws that guide Councillor conduct and require regular public disclosure.
“Anything can be solved in community” was the mantra of a personal development program I participated in, and I firmly believe this to be true. I also believe that local business and entrepreneurship are of significant benefit to our local economy and are a large part of what makes our community unique.
As a City Councillor I will support and advocate for policies and programs that cultivate community, support local business and investment, and inspire our citizens to come together within our neighbourhoods, associations, and organizations to create a community that works for all of us.
Real property taxes, user fees, and development charges are the primary source of revenues for most municipalities in Canada. I am of the opinion that these funds are to be managed responsibly, and that public expenditures should benefit all of the citizenry, directly or indirectly.
Another source of municipal funds are federal and provincial transfer payments, however there has been an ongoing trend in our country where responsibilities are downloaded from the federal and provincial governments without transfer payments to match.
If elected to City Council, I will advocate for responsible management of municipal funds, prioritization of expenses that benefit all of our citizens, and to lobby for provincial and federal funding at every opportunity.
Campaign transparency: My campaign for city council is completely self-funded; I have solicited for and accepted exactly $0 in donations.
I designed, printed, and cut my business cards on demand to generate as little waste as possible (no other real-world marketing materials employed); I did my own photography, some with the help of a good friend; I manage my social media accounts; and I host and coded this website myself (using UIkit open source front-end framework).
My response, published in the Lethbridge Herald on September 22nd:
“I believe diverting material from our city landfill is very important and many residents that I’ve talked with agree. I’m pleased that our city has moved forward with an organics collection program to complement the existing residential recycling and refuse collection. I would also like to see recycling and organics collection in our parks, public areas, and restaurants. The more material we can divert from our city’s landfill the better.”
I’d like to add that, having worked for a local manufacturer of waste/ cycling/ compost collection equipment, I’m aware of different approaches taken by other municipalities and organizations, and that I would work to implement any ideas to reduce the cost to residences either through increased efficiency or by offsetting costs with revenues for waste/ recycled/ composted materials.
I’m also not for moving collection from back lanes to streets. I believe that this creates more issues with collection, safety, and neighbourhood cleanliness than it solves.
My response, published in the Lethbridge Herald on September 28th:
“I take the crime rate in our community and safety of our citizens very seriously. Given the recent exchanges between the Alberta Justice Minister and our local chief of police regarding the serious allegations of corruption and the resubmitted improvement plan, I believe that our City Council would do well to exercise some patience before making any significant changes to the current police budget. Once we’ve seen that the issues raised by the Justice Minister have been adequately addressed and we can be assured that the alleged cultural and procedural issues within our police service are no longer a concern, then the budget and service level should be reviewed to see if a budget increase is justified. It may be that some issues traditionally handled solely by the police service might better serve our citizens to involve social and/or mental health services. It would be good to review best practices in other communities before processing one way or another.”
I’d like to add that concerns with our police service are still making headlines today, and I hope that they can address these issues meaningfully and for the good of all.
I missed responding to this question in the Lethbridge Herald. Simply put, this is a health issue and as such, is under provincial jurisdiction. The Province has an advisor on such issues in the Chief Medical Officer of Health which our City Council does not. For City Council to take this on without a comparable advisor appointed to consult is blatantly politicizing the issue and I would take no part in it.
If we look at how this played out, our municipal mask bylaw was put in place in August of 2020 (following the City of Calgary mask bylaw in July). The provincial mask bylaw in followed in December. In April of 2021 our City Council voted to extend our municipal mask bylaw until the end of 2021, however once the Province announced that its mask bylaw would be lifted on July 1, our City Council reversed course citing it “would have caused confusion and mixed messaging.” We have since left the issue to the Province, which to me shows that we were not qualified to get involved in the first place, and it appears were simply following the City of Calgary’s lead.
If anything, to me this highlights how politics need to be left out of such issues, and if our constituents feel that the actions (or inactions) of the Province are in error then we may lobby on their behalf and with their support.
My response, published in the Lethbridge Herald on October 2nd:
“This topic is an important one, and has certainly generated much controversy in our community in recent years. While I am in support of harm reduction, I definitely do not support a return to what we've had with the former Arches facility. I think that any new efforts to establish a supervised drug consumption site need to be well thought out and should involve a thorough investigation of best practices and results produced in other communities. I also believe that any free needle distribution should be exclusively for use within the facility. And, if a novel approach is put forward, then a serious and thorough exploration of the potential successes and failures. And whatever approach is decided upon, that strict controls and oversight are put in place to prevent any repeat of the abuses seen with the management of the previous facility and its funds.
“I acknowledge that there are many people in our community in need of help, and we need to seriously consider what form that should take such that it works for the good of all in both the short and long term.”
I missed responding to this question for the Lethbridge Herald, however I have answered a similar question posed by the Allied Arts Council, quoted below.
“I love the idea of a new performing arts centre in Lethbridge. I believe that a truly entrepreneurial approach to financing this project can make it a reality: lobbying for private, public, provincial and federal government investment, and exploring innovative ways to develop and utilize the space. Perhaps pooling funds by combining projects and/or other creative uses that can share the space would help to address capital requirements and provide for increased revenues to cover operating costs once the project is realized.
“However this project is to be funded, it should not come at any additional cost to the taxpayer, nor should it negatively impact any other community projects.”
My response, published in the Lethbridge Herald on October 7th:
“With the decision to approve capital improvement projects by the previous city Council coming mere months before our scheduled municipal election, it seems disingenuous to me given that the previous mayor and three of the councillors in favour are not up for re-election and therefore will not be among those to see these plans through. I can understand proceeding with decisions on projects with timing that calls for urgency, however the majority of the planned projects do not fit this criteria.
“Regardless, should I be elected to council I am committed to cultivating positive relationships and working with our future mayor, council, and city administration toward the best outcomes for our whole community.”
My response, published in the Lethbridge Herald on October 9th:
“I love what the City has done downtown with the 3rd Avenue project, which will serve the businesses in that area well. What we need to do now is employ solutions to address the homeless and drug crises.
“We need to look at solutions being explored by other communities and determine what fits with the issues we're facing and how to apply them in a way that works for our community. I'm inspired by the Homes for Heroes tiny home village in Calgary, Poundmaker's Lodge Treatment Centres near Edmonton, and the Village Project indigenous-led rapid housing initiative in Winnipeg.
“In addition to addressing these social issues, we should also consider commercial space, parking, and transit. Innovative solutions that focus on efficiency and instability could go a lounge way toward revitalizing downtown and I'm prepared to engage with colleagues and stakeholders in determining the best approach to each of these.”
You can contact me by emhaail at: robrobin@walkerin@robinwalker.cawalker.ca
©2021 Robin Ryan Walker