News profile1. What are your thoughts on city ownership of Saamis Solar, and what direction would you want to see council take with ownership of renewables?
IMO, negotiated climate change targets are going to force the creation of new strategies whether we like it or not. I have listened to the concerns of the “experts” who feel the Saamis Solar project was not handled correctly at all. That we have paid over 7 million dollars into it already seems mind boggling. On the other side, DPEnergy of Ireland, seems to be quite proud of the work they did to create the plan and in February, 2025 the Alberta Utilities Commission approved the ownership of it to the city. Yes, I think we need to retain ownership of all renewables. It may be a good time to commit to some of these carbon neutral initiatives as I believe there are many federal grants available re carbon capture at this time.
2. What are your thoughts on the future of the energy division, specifically the concept of turning it into a municipally controlled corporation?
If almost everyone I’ve spoken to, are against the MCC I must represent them first and I will. It is definitely one of the conversations our ratepayers are concerned about. A great majority are against it.
I have also said it is a concern to me that our energy dept have spent so much time working to offload it?
3. How would you look to balance taxation with the operation costs of running a city, as well as the services provided to residents?
Obviously we need to prioritize spending! Are we able to reduce or even eliminate non-essential services? Do we have property and assets we can sell? People have said they are very unhappy with the service fees being applied to their utility bills already, so I feel we can’t continue to add these to our income generating streams. Quite frankly, I feel our upper management salaries and benefits are a concern to me as these same ppl keep asking for consultants to advise them?
4. How would you approach economic development and any need to incentivize business to come to Medicine Hat?
I want to be on a “promotions and marketing” task force taking our CITY to the world! Whether we’re taking drone manufacturing or affordable housing solutions, we need to attract more investment and economic development from afar BUT before we do that we need to streamline the development permit and licensing process. Off-Site levies reductions are one way we could encourage growth.
