Yusuf Mohammed Wants to Bring a World of Experience To The Local Level

Yusuf Mohammed has lived in Medicine Hat for the past two decades but his path to the city came through Nigeria, South Africa, Switzerland and Edmonton, picking up a wealth of both international and local experience along the way.

“I love this community,” said Mohammed who was previously the operations manager for the former Central Neighbourhood Hub which hosted an indoor skateboard park, the Prairie Gleaners, boxing and roller derby clubs.

Mohammed says he’s currently working as a consultant helping businesses with workforce development along with inter-cultural education and management.

His top priority would be to re-establish trust, confidence and leadership at city hall.

“There’s a missed opportunity when leadership does not have that togetherness,” said Mohammed.

That leadership aspect of public governance doesn’t necessarily need to come solely from council but needs to include both social and economic groups within the community.

“That ensures there is trust. That ensures people feel heard,” said Mohammed, adding that by including community leaders in decisions, whether it’s for a new park or business development, promotes a better understanding. “We pull leaders together, we pull community together and that builds trust.”

Building a fair and equitable economy that engages medium and small businesses and encourages local hiring is also a key priority of Mohammed’s.

“I believe that municipalities are responsible for economic development, private sector is responsible for economic growth,” he said. “We need to figure out a way to stay in our lane as a city and make sure we’re driving that.”

A city’s contribution to economic development includes making sure people can access their workplace by city transit.

“There might not be (monetary) gain in running our city transit business but we’re enhancing economic growth by doing what we need to do to make sure people get to work on time, people are not stressed by transportation,” said Mohammed.

Protecting the city’s energy production while ensuring Hatters are charged fairly for electricity and gas is also a priority, he said.

“There are the right questions leaders can ask, there is the right expertise we can hire around the table that will benefit the public,” said Mohammed.

As for what skills Mohammed said he’ll bring to the table if elected, he cited his leadership along with workplace experience as well as having worked at both the local and international level applying those skills.

“I’m a big local believer but I always think how can we look at other models and then what can we do here and make sure we here and make sure we work with the right people to bring ourselves up to par to what is done locally and around the world,” said Mohammed.

He also stressed his experience with the Medicine Hat Skateboard Association and that work which has helped young Hatters stay out of trouble and become the backbone of the community.