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Seatter will shoot for PC nomination

The line-up to replace MLA Ken Kowalski just got a bit longer. Westlock County Coun. Bert Seatter said he’ll seek the Progressive Conservative nomination for the Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock constituency. He made the announcement on Thursday, Dec.
Bert Seatter
Bert Seatter

The line-up to replace MLA Ken Kowalski just got a bit longer.

Westlock County Coun. Bert Seatter said he’ll seek the Progressive Conservative nomination for the Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock constituency.

He made the announcement on Thursday, Dec. 29, adding he wanted to wait until after the Christmas holidays.

“I’ve been thinking about it for quite some time,” he said. “When we sat down and looked at it — the community involvement that I’ve had over the years and experience — I was quite surprised to see how many different types of committees and things I’ve been on.”

Seatter has been a Westlock County councillor for seven years and said his involvement with municipal politics is a “plus.”

“On a council, no one is representing a party or a party platform or a party philosophy,” he said. “Provincial and federal are both very similar in that now you are part of a group that has policy, that has a philosophy, that has a way that they want to do things.”

He said there is no party that one will agree with 100 per cent of the time and that it is of utmost importance to represent ratepayers — something he said is the same in municipal politics.

Since the race began Dec. 9 when Kowalski announced he would be retiring from his post, three other candidates have announced their intention to seek PC nomination.

Town of Westlock Coun. David Truckey, Westlock County deputy reeve Maureen Kubinec and Barrhead’s Tim Schultz are also vying for the position.

“You’ve got (four) candidates all trying to cover the constituency and it can only be good for the exposure of the party,” he said. “I think for as many people that want the job, it keeps everybody on their toes.”

He said one of the biggest challenges for each candidate is reaching out to each geographical area. He said Morinville will be the most challenging for him.

“The Morinville area, (I don’t have) quite as good a connection,” he said. “I do have some relatives in Morinville, but not as strong a showing as some of the other areas.

Through council, he has sat on a variety of boards, like Family and Community Support Services, the Yellowhead Library, the Westlock Foundation, GROWTH and a handful of others.

He said, through these boards, he has learned what the constituency needs, adding main concerns are rural education and healthcare.

“(The education system) is still right near the best, if not the best, education system in the world,” he said. “But you have to stay a step ahead all the time and the rural school system, especially is really starting to hurt.”

Other issues he said were of importance to him are 10-digit phone numbers and daylight saving time changes.

The decision to run was one he said that was not taken lightly, but one he said he feels he is ready for since he is familiar and cares about the needs of the area.

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