Ron Richardson said he decided to run to be the Progressive Conservative (PC) party candidate for Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills in the next provincial election in part because government needs more people like him.
“I think agriculture is really important,” he said. “I’ve been a farmer all my life and we need some farmers in there, too. I’ve worked in the oil field and in road construction, too, and I’ve been involved in helping development in Olds. I have a fairly broad range of experience.”
“I’ve been through the ups and downs of commodity prices and all those kinds of things,” he said.
Richardson, 56, served as a councillor for Mountainview County from 2001 to 2004 and said he gained important insight into government through that experience.
“As a county councillor I saw the trouble that happens when infrastructure isn’t planned out and thought forward a few years,” he said.
Richardson is hoping his way of working with others and for others will resonate with voters.
“I feel I’m just a common sense sort of person and I’m good to work with. I like to work with people and have them get along and draw out the ideas from people so you can get something done,” he said. “I’m not someone to want to cause a bunch of trouble just for the sake of causing trouble. I think you can accomplish so much more when you take the right kind of approach to things.”
Richardson has been involved with the PC Association for the last six or seven years and said he’s impressed with Premier Jim Prentice.
“I like Jim Prentice. I think he’s the kind of guy that we need and I just wanted to do what I could to support him,” he said in explaining another motive for his decision to throw his hat in the ring.
“Fiscally, he’s more along the lines of how I think; you have to watch what you spend and also you have to plan for the future. I just see those kinds of characteristics in him,” he said. “He’s not a spend and try to pay it later kind of guy; he’s a guy who tries to figure out what we can spend and if we have to cut back some on expenses.”
Richardson said he thinks he understands what constituents in Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills want in a representative at the Legislature.
“They want the government to be operated properly and to live within its means and also provide the services that we’re supposed to provide and infrastructure, health care, education - those basic things,” he said. “You can operate properly within the tax monies available if it’s managed properly.”
Current MLA for Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills Bruce Rowe announced on Feb. 5 that he would not seek re-election. Rowe, who won the seat in 2012 as a member of the Wildrose Party, was one of nine Wildrose MLAs to cross the floor to join the PCs on Dec. 17, 2014.
Voting in the Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills constituency takes place on Mar. 14 at the Olds Legion located at 5241-46th Street. You must be a member of the PC Party to vote and memberships can be purchased that day. An advance poll is also taking place on Mar. 14 from 9 to 11 a.m. at the Super8 Motel in Three Hills.
So far, Richardson is the only candidate to step forward to run for the role. The date Albertans will go to the polls in the next provincial election has yet to be set, however, unless Prentice calls an early election, it will happen sometime in 2016.
