St. Albert city councillor Wes Brodhead has declared he will seek re-election this fall.
Currently serving his third term on council, Brodhead was first elected in 2010 and is now the third incumbent to add their name to the list of candidates for this year’s Oct. 18 municipal election.
“I have a passion for our community, and there’s a lot of exciting things happening in the city of St. Albert,” Brodhead said. “I want to see that momentum continue.”
Looking back on his term, Brodhead said he was particularly proud of the creation of the Edmonton Metropolitan Transit Services Commission (EMTSC), a non-profit organization with the goal of rolling out an integrated transit system to improve services while saving costs.
Formed by the Government of Alberta in January 2021, the EMTSC consists of eight municipalities. As the current co-chair of the transit commission, Brodhead said the project was “near and dear” to him.
“There was a long gestation period, because there was a lot of work that had to be done building the relational foundation,” Brodhead said. “It’s quite an experience to build something from nothing, and I’ve learnt a lot."
Beyond the EMTSC, Brodhead listed progressing development in North Erin Ridge and Jensen Lakes, the expansion of Ray Gibbon Drive, and having Range Road 260 “shovel-ready,” as aspects of the past term he sees as paving the way for St. Albert’s growth.
“When the city is in the spotlight for commercial entities, we want to make sure we have service land available from them,” Brodhead said. “We want to be ready to be welcoming, and part of that is having something on offer for them.”
Brodhead said in the future, it will be important for St. Albert to “wrestle with what it means” to be a growing community.
“Right now, I know there’s been some angst around generating new revenue streams,” Brodhead said. “In the end, it’s really important to acknowledge peoples’ concerns, and look at what’s best for the community while taking a deep-dive into the information.”
In addition to supporting growth, Brodhead said ongoing reconciliation work will also be a priority for him if re-elected, highlighting the healing gardens, as well as council’s past work in engaging Indigenous citizens.
“We have to capture this awareness of the residential school system to go through the hard work of reconciliation,” he said. “St. Albert’s a unique place to be able to do that, given our history and some of the things we’ve done.”
