The three declared candidates in the federal Red Deer-Mountain View riding are all planning to visit communities in the constituency this week as the campaign enters its second week.
Canadians go to the polls on Oct. 21, with 338 seats up for grabs. A number of candidate forums are in the works in Red Deer-Mountain View with dates and locations to be announced.
As of press time Monday, the local candidates were Paul Mitchell from the People’s Party of Canada, incumbent Earl Dreeshen from the Conservative Party of Canada, and Conner Borle from the Green Party of Canada.
The nomination deadline is Sept. 30.
Earl Dreeshen, 66, was elected MP in the Red Deer constitutency in 2008 and re-elected in 2011 and 2015. He has served as a member of the standing committee on agriculture and aboriginal affairs, and has also chaired the post-secondary education caucus.
He said if re-elected promoting the region’s economy will be a priority for him.
“The oil and gas industry and the agriculture are so important in our area,” said Dreeshen. “We need to get our natural resources out to markets around the world. We’ve seen that neglected so that will be one of the key things for me."
He said he would also work with other stakeholders to reduce rural crime in the region.
“There is a little bit of concern that there has been a lack of respect by government, whether it be the institutions or the rule of law or other issues,” he said.
“These are the kinds of things I am hearing. The key message is that we have common sense solutions to those things that we feel are important.”
Paul Mitchell, 50, lives in Didsbury and is a businessman and entrepreneur. He ran a professional golf instruction studio and was a competitive shooter for years.
He has worked on Parliament Hill as a Reform Party foreign affairs researcher and with former Red Deer MP Bob Mills in the 1990s.
He is running for public office for the first time.
“Our current government is about to drive our country off a cliff,” said Mitchell. “I’m going to be fighting for the people here, for their interests.”
He says if elected he would work to reduce rural crime, get pipelines built, reduce immigration, withdraw from United Nations agreements such as the Paris Accord, reduce taxes, and balance the budget in two years.
He says he would also introduce a private member's bill called the Protection of Preborn Children Act that would end late-term abortion in Canada.
Conner Borle, 27, lives in Red Deer. He is a teacher with the Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools division.
Borle says if he is elected one of his main focuses will be to work to diversify the economy, both in this region and nationally.
“I believe that our current strategies for stimulating the economy rely too heavily on large corporations or interest groups receiving cuts and then rewarding us by bringing in investment,” said Borle. “To me, this is too inconsistent and volatile a system to build the majority of our economy around. A way to avoid this is by investing more in small local businesses; the majority of profits from small businesses gets reinvested back into our own economy, not to mention providing jobs to Albertans.”
He also says if he’s elected he will work to promote what he calls grassroots democracy and plan for the future.
Borle is also seeking public office for the first time.
All three candidates said they will take part in candidate forums in the region during the campaign.
