| Position | Candidate Name | Responded |
|---|---|---|
| Mayor | Wes Brodhead | ❌ |
| Rick Dory | ✅ | |
| Jared Eglinski | ✅ | |
| Bakhshish Singh Kang | ❌ | |
| Scott Olivieri | ❌ |
Question 1
What work experience do you have that’s relevant to the role and how do you feel the skills and perspective you have gained will help you in your role?
Mayor
1 To Be Elected
Wes Brodhead: No response.
Rick Dory: Business owner for 30+yrs. of which most of that experience has been building infrastructure.
Jared Eglinski: I noticed our city was at risk over a decade ago, so I spent the following years studying abroad (Permaculture Design Science course) and then personally designed, built, and tested pilot projects of low-tech solutions that can be scaled up to our city. My personal experience has left me confident that we can generate our necessities within the St Albert area, instead of spending half a billion each year importing these inputs. My 11 minute candidate video "VoteForJared" can be viewed on odysee.com
Bakhshish Singh Kang: No response.
Scott Olivieri: No response.
Question 2
What do you think are the biggest issues affecting St. Albert are, and how would you approach these issues?
Mayor
1 To Be Elected
Wes Brodhead: No response.
Rick Dory: I foresee debt and the cost of servicing that debt as issues moving forward if the planned NE Development comes on stream. With $60M+ being front loaded by the city for the Lakeview Business District and another $70M+ for the NE Development, tax increases will be unavoidable with the timeline for return on our investment forecast as possible decades.
Jared Eglinski: We produce less than 1% of our food, water, and energy (for heating and cooling) within our city, leaving us not only vulnerable, but these inefficiencies are an endless cost that we have to make up for. Our CADs purchasing power to buy Gold and Silver dropped by almost 50% in one year which reflects current food prices. Pensions wont be able to keep up, and jobs are being replaced. Using techniques and strategies within the Permaculture Science and Design Manual contains solutions so we can meet these needs locally. Most, if not all city staff will be required to take the Permaculture Design Course, so they have the practical knowledge of how we can solve these problems at home.
Bakhshish Singh Kang: No response.
Scott Olivieri: No response.
Question 3
What do you think is the role of a municipal government? Do you think the City does too many things, not enough, or just the right amount?
Mayor
1 To Be Elected
Wes Brodhead: No response.
Rick Dory: The role of the municipal government in my opinion should be to prioritize proactive infrastructure building with high quality maintenance of existing assets. Discretionary spending should be aligned with community engagement on where the monies add the most value in the minds of the residents.
Jared Eglinski: First and foremost, I think the role of the Government is help facilitate the people so they can generate the necessities they need to survive, or at least have these necessities ready in case of global economic/logistic collapse. Once these basic needs are secured, surplus energy can go into Quality of Life aspects (services, recreation, arts, etc) So whatever the city has been doing, it is clear that none of these things have reduced your monthly bills, or will aid us in an emergency.
Bakhshish Singh Kang: No response.
Scott Olivieri: No response.
Question 4
Do you think property taxes are too high, too low, or just about right?
Mayor
1 To Be Elected
Wes Brodhead: No response.
Rick Dory: I believe they are slightly high and with incentivizing saving over spending within city departments we can maximize our value for the dollar.
Jared Eglinski: I think the current governments are bloated with inefficiency, however with the current rates set, instead of wasting them on frivolous projects, those resources and should be redirected into high ROI projects that are centered around self sufficiency. But yes the taxes are too high, and I wholly believe that with innovation and tech that our taxes should have been going down each year since we adopted computers and the internet decades ago. If taxes go up, generally it is a sign that your government is incompetent, or doing things that are not in the peoples best interest.
Bakhshish Singh Kang: No response.
Scott Olivieri: No response.
Question 5
Over the next four years, should the City spend less in absolute terms, increase spending but by less than the rate of inflation and population growth, increase by the rate of inflation and population growth, or increase faster than the rate of inflation and population growth?
Mayor
1 To Be Elected
Wes Brodhead: No response.
Rick Dory: I believe the city can spend less in absolute terms with the right fiscal policies and priorities.
Jared Eglinski: The bank said inflation is around 2%, yet global markets of Gold and Silver imply the inflation is closer to 50% (in just the last year). Cramming more people into a dense area may increase tax revenue, but at a cost of diminishing returns where services cant keep up (sewer upgrades in high density are expensive, especially since we send it all to Edmonton) I think increase in spending could be justified if it is towards resiliency projects. Otherwise, we should be finding bloat and trim it to reduce taxes, or redirect it to resiliency projects.
Bakhshish Singh Kang: No response.
Scott Olivieri: No response.
Question 6
The City often claims that they’ve found savings in various budgets, but instead of actually cutting spending, they just put the savings into a reserve account and then spend that money on other things. If there’s money left over at the end of a financial year, do you think that money should be saved up by the City to spend in future years? Or should it be returned automatically to taxpayers the following year through some kind of rebate?
Mayor
1 To Be Elected
Wes Brodhead: No response.
Rick Dory: I believe saving for a rainy day is just common sense. Let any surplus funds pay us interest rather than eventually having to borrow and pay interest out. If the reserve fund were to become large enough we could look at maintaining or lowering our taxes.
Jared Eglinski: The answer depends on what the "other things" are? If resiliency projects, then yes. if its anything else, I yield to what the people want, because it was there money to start with. The city staff are your employees. What you say goes, *unless* it impedes with our ability to generate the food, water, and energy (for shelter) which are priority.
Bakhshish Singh Kang: No response.
Scott Olivieri: No response.
Question 7
Everyone says they support affordable housing, but what does that term mean for you? Do you think the City should be subsidizing housing for lower-income residents? Or focused on keeping the cost of all housing from getting out of control? Or perhaps some combination of the two? If so, how?
Mayor
1 To Be Elected
Wes Brodhead: No response.
Rick Dory: I believe a combination of the two. The law of supply and demand will always be with us while unchecked growth creates a burden on existing infrastructure. Proactive, well planned expansion is key for the community.
Jared Eglinski: My strategy for this question requires much more explanation, but to summarize, our city is beyond its sustainable holding capacity (as all cities are, intentionally pushed by higher levels of influence). Adding density only creates cheaper "economic prisons" for the resident, because there is no point putting someone in an affordable apartment, if they still can not afford the electric, grocery, and heating bills. It is my end goal to inspire and enable rural homesteading, where people will have self sufficient homes (Term: Earthship Global Model architecture) within "food forest" landscapes. People living here will be pseudo retired (not requiring an employer to thrive) while by default, producing a surplus of organic food that will supplement St.Albert and Edmontons food security. Tl;Dr We have a ton of land in Alberta, its time we used it efficiently, we can not keep adding people to a cruise ship without it eventually sinking
Bakhshish Singh Kang: No response.
Scott Olivieri: No response.
Question 8
How do you view the role of public sector unions in City operations, and what steps would you take to ensure union negotiations do not compromise fiscal responsibility?
Mayor
1 To Be Elected
Wes Brodhead: No response.
Rick Dory: Fair wages while maintaining necessary service levels should be the goal. Remaining within the budgeted amount or as close too will be part of any negotiation.
Jared Eglinski: I do not think the unions have come to the realization about the current state of the Canadian dollar and its trajectory. The end goal for most union jobs is the pension, but pensions are static, and the dollar value keeps dropping. My long term goal is to get these essential staff into more efficient structures, or retrofit their current ones so their monthly bills will drop so rising utility bills are less impactful to their pensions. I wont be pushed around to get them higher wages, but I also do not want them going broke, we need to find ways to reduce their cost of living through efficiency. Also, I am aware that most jobs are being replaced by software and automation, there will not be more jobs in the future, only less, so we need to strategize for this shift.
Bakhshish Singh Kang: No response.
Scott Olivieri: No response.
Question 9
Do you think the City should be making long-term climate commitments like “net zero by 2050”? How much of a priority should climate change be for Council compared to other issues like affordability, public safety, or infrastructure?
Mayor
1 To Be Elected
Wes Brodhead: No response.
Rick Dory: I believe council should be more concerned with infrastructure, public safety and affordable housing as those items can be directly dealt with. With emerging technologies in synthetic and hydrogen fuels Net Zero may come sooner than 2050 and municipalities should welcome these alternative fuel sources.
Jared Eglinski: I am aware of the climate change debates online nowadays containing both fact and fiction, my goals for a resilient city is not just Hippy talk about improving nature, my strategy is both ecologic and economically beneficial for the people and the environment. (my previous projects have all drastically increased in biodiversity and biomass) Also "Permaculture Swales, and Keyline Plowing" and "Earthship Global Model" meet or exceed 80% of UN target goals, but we are not informed about them, I assume because they do not want the world to know how easy it is to fix these problems, because this topic is a tool in their method of control. If we fix it, the UN looses their leverage, or even their reason to exist.
Bakhshish Singh Kang: No response.
Scott Olivieri: No response.
Question 10
Businesses are facing rising costs and supply chain challenges due to escalating U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods. What, if anything, should Council do to help local businesses manage these impacts?
Mayor
1 To Be Elected
Wes Brodhead: No response.
Rick Dory: Unfortunately tariffs are harming our export markets. Internal trade barriers must be addressed. Canadians buying Canadian products and creating new export markets isn’t optional anymore. This is a provincial and national issue. Other than supporting Canadian made products over imported products I do not believe there is much any local municipal government can do.
Jared Eglinski: I do not fully understand the legalities for incentivizing tax breaks, but I will finds ways to support local production, services, and locally owned and operated businesses. When under economic siege, the baseline is to work with what we got, and we have plenty of green space, organic waste, sunlight, and a river. Primary producers are the foundation of most economies and is the first step to mitigate the effect of tariffs, so I would like to start there and see some of these products trickle up into the food service industry (value adding).
Bakhshish Singh Kang: No response.
Scott Olivieri: No response.
Question 11
What steps should Council take to reduce regulatory burdens and support small businesses?
Mayor
1 To Be Elected
Wes Brodhead: No response.
Rick Dory: Let’s expedite projects that bring value to the community and offer mentorship to local startups.
Jared Eglinski: I have received complaints from people dealing with permits, I would suggest the public put together a list of regulations that they think are "government overreach". I will present them to council, find compromises, then work on the next list that the public presents. If you provide more specific examples I will give a more concise answer.
Bakhshish Singh Kang: No response.
Scott Olivieri: No response.
Question 12
Do you believe St. Albert City Council made the right decision in renaming the Grandin neighbourhood to The Gardens? Why or why not?
Mayor
1 To Be Elected
Wes Brodhead: No response.
Rick Dory: A symbolic gesture that may appease some but true reconciliation would be supporting the Indigenous residents in finding the root cause(s) that see their suicide rates 4x as high on Reserves and nearly 2x as high off Reserves as non Indigenous residents. This is an ongoing tragedy that needs to be examined and brought to light.
Jared Eglinski: Not in support, it cost over $20,000. That could have been 1,000 fruit trees that would be producing more than $20,000 in food every year for decades. Not to mention the thousands of hours of human-time wasted for each resident having to get documents changed. Council debating over a name while people cant afford groceries is ridiculous.
Bakhshish Singh Kang: No response.
Scott Olivieri: No response.
Question 13
Council recently decided not to adopt multi-year budgeting for now. Do you support moving to a multi-year budgeting system, or keeping the current annual budget process?
Mayor
1 To Be Elected
Wes Brodhead: No response.
Rick Dory: I believe annual budgets are more fluid and much preferable over multi- year budgets.
Jared Eglinski: I can see the value of penciling in budgets years in advance. This gives the public time to asses how we are doing in the current year so they can provide input on what they want to see changed in the following years.
Bakhshish Singh Kang: No response.
Scott Olivieri: No response.
Question 14
Municipal elections have historically been contested by independents, but many of our supporters have told us that they’d like to know the political alignment of the candidates as it helps them get a better feel for a candidate's beliefs. So, are you are affiliated with any provincial or federal political parties and, if so, which ones and why?
Mayor
1 To Be Elected
Wes Brodhead: No response.
Rick Dory: I’m not affiliated with any political party but if I were describe myself I’d consider myself Center, Center Right. I believe in social safety nets and universal healthcare but at the same time I believe Capitalism has provided us with the high standard of living we’ve enjoyed for decades.
Jared Eglinski: Canadian logistics ran out of toilet paper 2020 which is non-perishable compared to food, so I do not have faith that either party within The System will prevent us from a famine or collapse, while the cards that they have played would indicate they are actively steering us towards one. I would affiliate myself to any party that priorities regenerative agriculture, watershed management, and self sufficient structures, which is none of them.
Bakhshish Singh Kang: No response.
Scott Olivieri: No response.