SUNDRE – The Conservative Party of Canada candidate for the new Yellowhead federal riding introduced himself to Sundre's municipal council Monday, hours after Parliament was prorogued and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he would resign once a new Liberal Party of Canada leader was chosen.
Sundre, along with former Red Deer - Mountain View federal riding municipalities Carstairs, Cremona and a portion of Mountain View County are now in the new Yellowhead riding.
The riding also includes Banff, Canmore, Jasper, Crossfield, Edson, Hinton, Rocky Mountain House, Caroline, Municipal District of Bighorn, Clearwater County and portions of Municipal District of Greenview, Rocky View County and Yellowhead County.
“In this massive riding, I’m almost a neighbour,” said William Stevenson, a chartered professional accountant by trade who has a practice in Carstairs and lives on a farm east of Highway 22.
Although Stevenson – who this past spring earned his party’s nomination – had already been previously scheduled and included on the Jan. 6 meeting agenda to address council, the timing ended up coming on the heels of Trudeau’s announced intention earlier that same day to resign once the federal Liberal Party has selected a new leader.
Anticipating a spring election and fully confident of winning the riding, Stevenson said his background in working with both personal and corporate tax portfolios as well as dealing with the Canada Revenue Agency has given him the kind of experience that will be a major focus of what he can bring to the table.
Presuming council was familiar with Conservative Party of Canada Leader Pierre Poilievre’s positions, Stevenson recited the oft-repeated campaign’s sloganeering to “axe the tax, build the homes, stop the crime.”
“There’s a lot on the agenda that we’re going to try to change,” said Stevenson.
But from his perspective, the prospective MP said his focus will primarily be the Yellowhead riding.
“I’m planning on trying to work with all the communities as best we can,” he said.
And while Stevenson said he figures there will “be a pretty large majority,” he does not expect to be appointed to any particular ministry.
“So I’m going to be representing you guys to Ottawa, and not be running around on some sort of other issue,” he said.
Further elaborating on his background, Stevenson also said he has extensive experience “working behind the scenes with the Conservatives and MPs for the last 30 years.”
“I have heard of a few comments of past MPs and what their shortcomings were and what some of them have done well,” he said.
Among the roughly half dozen different MPs he’s worked with over the years were the late Myron Thompson, who Stevenson served as a financial agent during Thompson’s last few years as an MP prior to switching gears into provincial and later municipal politics.
“I’ve seen a lot of the MPs and how they operate both with their constituents and with their boards and how they work in Parliament.”
Concluding his address, Stevenson invited council to ask questions or share suggestions that he could in turn take to Ottawa if elected to “hopefully get things done on a fairly rapid pace over the next year and a half.”
Coun. Chris Vardas wished him luck and said, “It’s kind of nice to maybe have an MP close to us for a change.”
The councillor also said he looks forward to collaborating.
“Don’t forget little old Sundre,” added Vardas.
Mayor Richard Warnock said Sundre is among all of the municipalities that are concerned about the cost of housing.
“It always becomes a federal situation when we talk about climate change and our environment and our building codes,” said Warnock.
“And when we keep adding regulations onto new housing, we will have great houses that will be great for our environment, just nobody will be able to afford to buy them,” said the mayor, adding he hopes to see new homes being built that people can actually afford to buy and live in.
Stevenson recognized housing as being “probably one of the biggest (issues) for our riding,” he said.
“We have Banff, Canmore, and Jasper, and their tourism requires staff which requires housing.”
Stevenson suggested that “getting rid of the carbon tax will make things a little more affordable right off the bat.”
Without further conversation, council carried a motion accepting the presentation for information.
