Alex McCuaig, a local parent and longtime journalist, hopes to earn a trustee seat on the Medicine Hat Public School Division.--SUBMITTED PHOTO
Alex McCuaig hopes to bring a fresh perspective to the Medicine Hat Public School Division.
McCuaig began his career in journalism at the Brooks Bulletin in 2007, after which he came to work for the Medicine Hat News. After about eight years with the News, he took a job as chief of staff to former MLA Robert Warner for three years. McCuaig returned to Medicine Hat in 2019 when he started working for CHAT News. He did some work for the Medicine Hat News this year before taking a position with the Western Producer.
McCuaig praised the current school board for their navigation of COVID and the challenges that came with it, but hopes his voice will earn him a seat.
“I am a working parent with a young son in the school system and I believe that perspective is critical for any school board,” said McCuaig. “Not just a working parent inside the education system, but a working parent who’s outside the education system who might be able to provide perspective that those within the school system might not have.”
McCuaig says he has two main points in his platform. The first is to add more curriculum requirements on Indigenous cultures, saying that education about Canada’s past should start in your own hometown.
“There is no place where a Canadian lives right now that wasn’t part of an Indigenous community at some point, and I think learning about the local history of Indigenous cultures is the best place to start,” said McCuaig. “If you don’t know the difference between a Cree and a Blackfoot, how are you ever going to manage reconciliation?”
McCuaig promises to encourage taking what has been learned during the pandemic and applying it to a post COVID school system.
“I believe it’s imperative that the school board has the perspective of working parents,” said McCuaig. “If you have a school board made up of teachers, you’re going to get a very similar perspective, and that’s not going to be necessarily positive in the end. I think you have to have that diversity of opinion.”
