Rooke says Hatters, region need voice in Ottawa

By BRENDAN MILLER on April 12, 2025.

bmiller@medicinehatnews.com

During an campaign open house Thursday evening, Tom Rooke, Liberal candidate for Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner, told supporters he is running in this election to ensure voters in the riding are heard in Parliament if another Liberal government forms office.

“We want to have somebody in this particular riding who can carry the message to the government in power, rather than the backbench opposition,” said Rooke. “We want somebody who can stand up and say, ‘I’m not just a back bencher, I’m from Western Canada, and we want some things.’

“We want to change it so they (in Ottawa) are looking at us as Canadians, rather than separatists.”

Rooke said it’s important Canadians stand together during ambiguous times and says he will stand up for local ranchers and producers as well as local businesses and organizations to make sure southern Alberta’s concerns are heard in Ottawa.

“Hopefully I can carry a message from the West that says, ‘You’re treating us a little strangely here,’ and we need a little bit more of this, a little bit more of that,” explains Rooke. “But it’s not going to happen if we keep voting people in the Opposition.”

Rooke told supporters that the current day Conservative Party, helmed by Pierre Poilievre, stands on the far-right side of the political spectrum, while the current day Liberal Party is moderately left.

“That’s an extreme right – we spent that time in the United States, and we learned what Trump and Trumpism is all about, and it’s not pretty. I don’t want to see our country going in that direction, we are Canadian, we’re not separatists.”

Rooke, 81, is known for promoting a number of local charity drives and served as a public school board trustee. Rooke also wrote a weekly column for the News more than 25 years ago.

Albertans will hit the polls in the next general election April 28.

11
-10