Barnes Vision Is To Refocus City Priorities

Mayoral candidate Drew Barnes is no stranger to politics, running and winning in three straight provincial elections in the Cypress-Medicine Hat riding. Now he wants to take that experience to the municipal level.

“My platform is simple: It’s time to refocus Medicine Hat and refocus Medicine Hat on what’s truly important rather than the internal issues we’ve seen,” said Barnes.

Based on his discussions with Hatters, Barnes says one of the main issues is the lack of jobs and opportunities in the city. And he’s prepared to act as the head of the city to go out and sell Medicine Hat to investors and job providers.

“That’s number one,” he said.

Addressing the increasing cost of living faced by Hatters is also high on the list of tasks he’d like to accomplish if elected.

“It’s sad but at least a third of Medicine Hatters have told me at the doors or in coffeeshops that they are having some kind of affordability crisis,” said Barnes. “Some have said they may have to sell their houses because property taxes have risen so substantially.”

To that end, Bartnes is pledging not to raise property taxes in the first three years of the next council term if elected.

“I understand the city pays over $10 million a year on out-of-city consultants and reports. Just not doing that would allow me to freeze your property taxes,” he said.

On that topic, Barnes stated in response to a question regarding the Master Transportation Plan, that the re-designed Division Avenue project is an example of this council not getting it right.

“When I look at the current mayor and councillors say, ‘well, we’ll get it right next time, at least we learned something,’ get it right the first time and don’t waste our money,” said Barnes. “That starts with talking to and listening to Medicine Hatters.”

Barnes said when it comes to finding a new city manager and filing other vacant administration positions, he’s committed to locate an eligible individual from within the community.

“We’re going to be looking for the very best from Medicine Hat,” said Barnes. “It seems too much of what’s been happening is this current administration is focused on people that are not from here, don’t understand us. And that’s important to get back to, to more Medicine Hatters involved in our government.”

Drew Barnes speaking at the Alberta Legislature in May 2018. (Photo Courtesy of the Legislatative Assmebly of Alberta)

When it comes to crime and homelessness, Barnes says Hatters are tied of not being able to use ATMs downtown after banks close and feel unsafe in the city.

“My plan is to accept homelessness is here and it’s our problem – even though other levels of government caused it, it’s our problem, it’s our problem to solve,” he said.

Barnes says he’ll approach local service providers to give those who are homeless the assistance they require. But if that doesn’t work, he says a tougher approach will be required.

“If you don’t accept our help, we can’t accept vagrancy,” said Barnes, adding he’ll be approaching Crown prosecutors and local police to, “crack down on all criminal activity – break and enter and theft for sure but also trespassing and vagrancy as well.”

He said he supports Premier Danielle Smith’s suggestion that third-time drug offenders are forced into a recovery program and he’d, “like to see some action on that.”

On the issue of economic development, Barnes said moving that ball forward will be largely dependent on having a council which isn’t focused on infighting, again noting his top priority of encouraging more job growth in the community.

And his goal would be to see manageable growth in the city’s population of about two to three thousand people a year. In addition to freezing taxes for three years, he said he’d also like to see a temporary development levy reduction.

He also said the city can help develop the local economy by leaning on its utility division.

“In a world where electricity demand is going to grow, the fact the City of Medicine Hat can guarantee reliable electricity is a real opportunity to attract some of these businesses,” said Barnes. “We need a mayor who can sell this. We need a mayor that cares. We need a mayor that is connected to business, who is connected in Edmonton and Ottawa and makes sure that investors and job creators are given opportunity here.”

When it comes to the Saamis Solar Project, Barnes said he’s not against solar, just taxpayers’ funds going into an initiative that could end up being a liability for the city.

“Let’s put it out there for one of the big players, like the federal government, like Amazon, like Brookfield or Suncor to come and do it,” he said. “Let’s turn that area into a property taxpayer.”

Barnes added If decarbonization is an issue, the city can enter into its own power purchase agreement to garner the necessary credits.

“Let’s take all the risk out of it but not the opportunity,” he said.

Drew Barnes speaking at his campaign office near the begining of his bid to become mayor of Medicine Hat. (Photo Courtesy of Drew Barnes’ Facebook page)

When it comes to the formation of a municipally controlled corporation running the city’s utility, Barnes says there isn’t a good reason to change anything about how the utility is run.

“The fact that our electricity generation department, our good city workers made $300 million in the last couple of years, generating electricity and selling it on the grid – that’s wonderful,” he said.

He noted the city is taking advantage of extremely low natural gas prices and turning that around to generate electricity and profit and, “we don’t need to change that part.”

The focus should be on giving Medicine hat and regional customers the lowest prices for power as possible while continuing to garner profits selling to the rest of the province, Barnes said.

Getting rid of the municipal consent access fee (MCAF) would be something which Barnes said he’d like to do away with right from the start of a new council.

“It was put in as a temporary measure. It’s just a tax,” he said.

When it comes to working with a diverse set of councillors, Barnes says he would put in the time necessary to build consensus amongst council while respecting what they have to say and the perspective of the electorate they represent.

“I’m going to communicate openly and effectively, I’m going to keep a positive culture and I’m going to be absolutely fair to everyone,” he said.

He later added that while council will oversee setting the direction for administration, it will be up to administration to run the day-to-day city operations.

“They are in charge of providing the services that you and I and all of Medicine Hatters rely on. Making sure, right off the bat, we’re not going to be in their way, we’re not going to be obstructive,” said Barnes.

Barnes said he’s campaign has put an emphasis on placing signs on private property, utilizing technology to get out the vote as well as utilizing traditional door knocking and literature techniques.

Regarding some backlash regarding automated text messages Hatters have received, Barnes said people like to be communicated with in different ways.

“I just want to give every single Medicine Hatter the opportunity to communicate with me and tell me what is important to them,” he said.

And his main message to citizens is the city needs to be more visible and proactive in growing the city.