Morinville mayor Lloyd Bertschi is the fifth and latest candidate to announce he will run for the Progressive Conservative party nomination in Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock.
“I think this province has just got so much opportunity in it and I want to join the government to bring that to fruition,” Bertschi said.
He made the announcement Jan. 3 to local media outlets, saying his municipal political experience makes him a good candidate for the job.
“I’ve lived in Alberta my whole life and have been the mayor of Morinville for the past decade and had six years on council before that,” he said. “I also had the opportunity to be the president of the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association, the AUMA, for a couple of years and through that work, I got to meet a lot of ministers and the premier on a regular basis and was really impressed with their commitment to Alberta.”
Some issues he said he would like greater commitment to are seniors’ issues and the ongoing work with the Municipal Government Act.
“The most obvious (issue), to me at least, is the fact that the government is going to be opening up a Municipal Government Act,” he said, adding that Minister of Municipal Affairs Doug Griffiths said the process would take three to four years at minimum. “Some of the experience I have in that world would certainly help on that, recognizing now that it would be from a provincial perspective as opposed to a municipal perspective.”
He said he has a good understanding of seniors’ issues, largely due to his wife’s position as manager of the seniors lodge in Morinville for the past 16 years.
“I think housing for seniors and of course, the continuum of care between the lodges right up to long-term care needs to really, seriously be taken a look at as well,” he said.
He said the biggest challenge — and one that is echoed by several other candidates — will be reaching out to the different municipalities in the constituency to get his name known.
“I think that’s going to be the biggest challenge by far,” he said. “There’s some events coming up in Barrhead and Westlock that I hope to attend and just get to meet a few people and introduce myself.”
Town of Westlock Coun. David Truckey, Westlock County deputy reeve Maureen Kubinec, Barrhead’s Tim Schultz and Westlock County Coun. Bert Seatter are also vying for the position.
The nomination period officially opened on Jan. 3 and closes Jan. 16, after which time candidates will have two weeks to campaign before the nomination goes to vote on Jan. 28.
