UCP candidate wants a course correction for Lethbridge West

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on October 1, 2024.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

United Conservative Party candidate for the vacant Lethbridge West seat in the Alberta legislature John Middleton-Hope says he hopes for a course correction for citizens in that riding.
“I am certainly excited to be the candidate. We have a lot of work to do. It is an important course correction for citizens of West Lethbridge to have adequate and effective representation,” says Middleton-Hope.
He says he intends to be working hand-in-glove with MLAs in Edmonton to provide the services and the supports that Lethbridge needs to continue to grow and prosper as the third largest city in the province.
 When talking about how he intends to persuade residents of Lethbridge West to vote for him and leave behind multiple years of New Democratic Party support, Middleton-Hope said it comes down to giving them an option.
“The citizens of West Lethbridge have a choice. They can vote for a person who has the ability to ensure that the citizens of Lethbridge are heard, or the other option is to elect a New Democrat who is going to sit in Opposition for the next three years, who’s sole job is to criticize the government,” says Middleton-Hope.
 He adds that citizens have a clear choice. They can either vote for someone who can fix the problems or someone who will be only able to point them out. But even though they are on opposing sides, Middleton-Hope says the campaign will be respectful.
“Rob Miyashiro reached out at the beginning of this phase of the campaign and I appreciate Rob’s comment about being interested in running a respectful, interest-based campaign,” says Middleton-Hope.
He adds that one way he will be campaigning is by engaging with the riding’s citizens and learning what the challenges are.
“And working collaboratively together to ensure that those issues are advocated strongly to the provincial government, so that we can get the resources that we require,” says Middleton-Hope.
He says as member of Lethbridge city council he is already familiar with some of those issues and he will be addressing them during his campaign.
“Public safety which is a critical piece for us and it is fundamentally important to the citizens of Lethbridge – everything from the development of the shelter, to the supervised consumption site, to police resourcing ” says Middleton-Hope.
He adds that education is another critical point of his campaign at all levels from kindergarten to post-secondary.
“I just had a meeting with a number of university students who expressed concerns about loans being released from the province and I intend on making that very loud and clear to the provincial government,” says Middleton-Hope.
He adds that it is critical for students to receive their loans so they can pay rent and buy groceries as it is already October.
“I also have meetings with school boards and I anticipate I will hear about class sizes, about schools needing to be built, about teachers and about teacher assistants,” says Middleton-Hope.
Another issue he will be addressing is healthcare, says Middleton-Hope, especially in regards to a cardiac sciences facility at the Chinook Regional Hospital.
“What we want to encourage the government to do is to ramp the timeline up so that it’s delivered much sooner,” says Middleton-Hope.
He says that one more issue among many others that he will be addressing during his campaign is about water and wastewater when it comes to drought, water conservation and water management.
“That’s important because that drives economic demand in the region. We can’t encourage McCains or Cavendish to expand bookstands or any of the numerous businesses that are trying to locate in both the city and the county, unless we have an effective water treatment facility that provides that water resource to our citizens as well as our neighbours,” says Middleton-Hope.
Middleton-Hope won the riding nomination on the first ballot with 249 votes. Erin Leclerc had 193 and Shauna Gruninger 51.

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