Council candidate Stuart Young poses for a portrait in the Kinsmen Skate Park on Monday. The local husband and father is a founding member of the Medicine Hat Skateboard Association who made the choice to raise his family in the Gas City. Among other priorities, Young wants to make sure the city's youth get a voice.--News Photo Anna Smith
asmith@medicinehatnews.com
Looking to pay forward the life-changing sense of community he’s experienced, Stuart Young adds his name to the council candidate roster.
Young explained that after coming here in his youth from northern Alberta, he felt the welcoming community he found within the city to be one of the strongest assets that Medicine Hat has to offer. As such, it’s something he deeply wants to help build upon.
One of the founding members of the Medicine Hat Skateboard Association, Young has experience both on the non-profit side and within larger industries such as oil and gas, where he would describe his job first and foremost as bringing people together. This creates a set of skills he believes would be able to make a strong, positive impact within local government.
“Four years ago, my wife and I decided to move back here to raise our kids here,” said Young. “I want to run for council, purely because I really care about this city. I know everyone who is running for council cares about this city, of course, but along with caring about this city, I feel like I just have a good mix of experience that puts me in a position to be able to help.”
Young hopes to lend his voice to the younger residents and families that call the city home, though he stresses he has no intent to advocate for any group at the expense of another.
“I really believe that we need at the municipal level a voice and an advocate for youth issues, because I believe that youth issues are community issues,” said Young. “The youth don’t live in a vacuum, and the health of our youth really points to the health of our community. And obviously families are a huge part of that.”
This, says Young, could take a variety of forms, such as the city partnering with existing services, as well as ensuring affordability, allowing families and young people to come to Medicine Hat and be able to see themselves here long term.
“My other pillar would be economic development,” said Young. “We can talk all day long about the importance of youth and the importance of families, but if we don’t have a strong economic engine in our city, well, we’re not going to have the base to be able to deliver what we want to deliver.
“For me, as I look and I decide what I want to see for my family, personally, I want to see a thriving city from an economic point of view that’s able to support the needs of its citizens.”
He says that people beginning to choose to come to the city, he would like to take a look at what is bringing people to Medicine Hat as it is, and build on that strength to continue to grow and to thrive while still embracing the culture and community with makes the region so unique.
“What brought me to this city is 100 per cent community. The strength of our city is in the small community and how we’re able to support one another,” said Young.
As a councillor, Young said he would focus strongly on teamwork, and embrace the vast variety of backgrounds and ideas both on council and within the larger city to bring the best possible foot forward as a local government.
He believes that making sure residents feel heard, regardless of the issue, is one of the most important things council can offer, and promised to work hard to be a representative not only of the people he already knows, but all of the city; this work is already underway, as well, as Young works to talk to as many Hatters as possible leading up to the election.
“We need people who will listen to people and then make decisions based on that, you know, based on all the information,” said Young. “Along with being approachable, I want people to know I can make decisions, but those are going to be made in a collaborative way. Whatever happens, I fundamentally believe in the power of community and I’m so thankful for the opportunity to be able to come back and represent this city.”
