A new candidate has announced his intention to run against twice-acclaimed Division 7 Councillor Lois Habberfield.
Stirling Vance, a third-generation acreage owner in Balzac, said “it’s time for a change.”
“I’ve been involved with different levels of politics for quite some time, but municipal politics is where the rubber hits the road,” Vance said about his experience in the past working on federal and provincial constituency boards, and volunteering with provincial candidate campaigns.
“I decided this is the year to run in Rocky View County. I’ve received a lot of encouragement from the people I’ve talked to,” Vance said.
With a background in design and integration technology, Vance said the skills required to deliver projects on time and within budget will serve him well when dealing with council proceedings and proposals.
“Because the County has such a huge land mass and is so different in each area, every proposal that comes before council needs to be weighed individually but fairly and looked at with some creativity,” he said
He added while development is important to RVC to continue strengthening its tax base, council needs to respect the majority of the residents’ wishes by not approving high-intensity development.
Vance said he’s seen “enormous amounts of changes in Division 7 with Calgary and Airdrie expanding in the last several years.”
“There’s a lot of pressure on this area, but that doesn’t mean that decisions don’t have to be made sensibly.”
He added he thinks the County needs to continue focusing on bringing in revenue by encouraging building-out of the industrial areas in East Balzac that were slated for non-residential use but have not yet met their full potential.
With that development comes issues such as traffic, safety and providing services, said Vance.
“Those need to be handled in a sustainable way,” he added that market demand should be one of the driving factors.
Vance said the County’s debt is a sensitive issue for many residents he has talked to.
“There’s a big debt creep and that needs to be taken care of … At the end of the day, there’s only one taxpayer, so we need to be creative and focus on what we can do to utilize the assets we have.”
Vance said while there may be a slight learning curve if elected to RVC council, he has “a good connection to the residents” and is prepared for the challenge.
“The thing with local politics is that it deals with a lot of little issues that come up over the course of the term, and it’s a matter of having the ability to deal with them in a responsible way,” said the father of three.
“There’s a lot of work that needs to be done and I’m not afraid to do good work.”
