Kelly Allard is running for Medicine Hat city council this fall.--News photo Collin Gallant
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
Kelly Allard says the delay in bringing a vote on municipal mask mandate to council last year was the deciding factor in her seeking a seat on city council this fall.
“They put it off and put it off, and wouldn’t make a decision,” she told the News this week. “They held off, but why not just get it out there and debate it?
“I guess you could say that Ted Clugston pushed me to run.”
With case numbers rising in late November, a growing call across the province and locally for governments to bring in municipal measures in the absence of a provincial mandate, Medicine Hat council called a special meeting and passed local mask rules by a 6-3 count.
But Allard, who supports the mask regulations, said even the split vote was welcome, and was what she called a rare example of full range of opinion expressed on items before council.
“It’s good to see that variety of opinion,” she said. That leads to better decision making.”
Allard has lived in Medicine Hat since 1996, having moved to Redcliff several years earlier from British Columbia. She helped operate her husband’s owner-operator trucking business before he passed away, and has four adult children.
She filed her paperwork in early February under new rules that allow candidates to campaign starting January 1 of an election year.
The field for eight council seats has now grown to 14, including only one incumbent at this point.
Allard’s campaign this far has focused on improving services to residents, especially transit, which she says are a draw for those looking to relocate or settle in a new city.
She said a recent move to on-demand service on low-use route in off hours should be studied, but overall service should be expanded to help working people and those without cars.
“The transit system is the same as it was 30 years ago, it doesn’t run on holidays or after 11 p.m., when some people are getting off work,” she said.
Better city services need to be matched with job opportunities and a strengthened sense of activities and events, said Allard. In a current budget crunch that means stricter control and prioritization.
She sees the city’s land department’s “Waterfront District” as having great potential to improve downtown and drive economic activity, making the core a destination and drawing new investment and new jobs.
The city should do a better job of helping private groups organize conventions and events that would draw tourist and
“It could be a real bonanza for Medicine Hat and it should have been done years ago,” she said, adding the city should also take a stronger hand with property owners and landlords to make improvements.
“Other cities have remedies for vacant buildings,” she said. “We should, too.”
The final day to submit nomination papers is Sept. 20. Advance polls will take place in early October before the general election on Oct. 18.
