Questions & Answers
People who run for public office have a duty and a responsibility to accurately respond to inquires to the best of their ability. This may not always hit the mark so follow-ups are entirely within scope.
fIRE AWAY WITH YOUR BEST QUESTIONS
I’ll respond as promptly as possible by email and post the responses here for everyone to see.
1. WHAT IS MY POSITION ON THE HOMELESS AND DRUG ISSUE?
We have significant addiction, homelessness and crime issues. These need to be addressed without delay in order to minimize the harm being visited on the entire community. At the same time we also need to being planning the intermediate and long term measures that will make for meaningful, long-term, positive change. Failure to address this issue impacts our ability to attract businesses, professionals and investment. A complete position paper on this very serious issue is being prepared but a footnote has been posted on this site under the heading of PUBLIC SAFETY.
2. WHAT would I do about the growing amount of petty crime?
I have a number of measures which, taken together, will make a big dent in petty crime.
a). Lobby the LPS and the Provincial Ministry of Justice to stop “Catch and Release” and start prosecuting petty crime again.
b). Bolster the LPS with a contingency of Peace Officers empowered to make arrests.
c). Equip the LPS with a fleet of eBicycles and motorcycles so they can keep up to the perpetrators on their bicycles.
d). Plant Bait Bikes to flush out these petty thieves.
e). Shut down the chop shops, fences and online marketplaces which facilitate petty theft.
3. WHAT would I do about our high property taxes?
This is spelled out in a bit more detail as this is exactly what my Platform sits on.
a). Economic Growth: By expanding the economy and the tax base we can benefit from greater revenues and lower taxes.
b). Governance Transparency: Too many of the City’s spending decisions are made without public consultation or justification.
c). Administrative Accountability: Once the decision to spend has made there should be a set of performance metrics to ensure we are getting good value for money.
4. What are your thoughts on Lethbridge’s Safe Consumption Site?
It’s quite understandable that many of our citizens involved in the use of opioids would like to see a return of the SCS as it was. However, there is no appetite for the kind of free-for-all that was foisted on the community by Arches. That program provided a false sense of safety that actually increased the level of risky behavior without providing any measurable reduction in opioid use. If there is a return to providing supervised consumption services it must be carried out in a manner and place that is acceptable to the community. This means it has to be part of an entire program from emergency services through to detoxification, counselling that is optimized for the individual and comprehensive rehabilitation. The goal has to be assisting individuals to break out of their chemical prisons and come to know the sense of well-being associated with sobriety.
5. What is the first thing you would work on if elected?
The “First” thing I want to tackle is the awful C.I.P. to re-prioritize that spending for more productive purposes. Good bye electric busses, bike paths, performing arts centres. Hello adding $2.0 million to LPS, $2.5 million to Choose Lethbridge, planning for a 3rd bridge and so forth.
We also need to undertake an entire review of all the programs provided by the City for purpose, cost, effectiveness and applicability.
6. Do you support the building of a peforming arts centre?
Thank you for your great question. My short answer is “no”. A study was undertaken that says we would have to subsidize it to the tune of about $6.0 million per year. Add to that the $3.0 million per year we are subsidizing the Yates plus the money we are subsidizing CASA, SAAG ansd forth and it’s pretty clear we need to get our house in order before any more unnecessary spending. Ron Sakamoto, the world renowned impresario from Gold and Gold productions, says we would be far better off to make some upgrades to the Enmax Centre. This is a case where I’m inclined to take an experts advice. Maybe in a few years we can revisit the idea but first we need to grow our tax base and lighten the burden on property owners.