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Mayor Veer outlines the 6 themes of her election platform

Published

7 years ago

8 minute read

From Tara Veer…

Platform 2017

Our community has made significant progress in many areas over the past four years, but we still but we still have serious challenges to address and emerging new opportunities to pursue together. If you choose to renew my mandate to serve you on October 16th, I will continue to work with our community, Council and City staff to effectively strengthen our city in the following themes throughout the term: 

 

Theme #1: Citizen & Community Safety

Red Deerians have identified crime and public safety as their priority concern, so it is imperative that additional strategies are undertaken to ensure crime prevention and enforcement efforts are effective to respond to the safety challenges Red Deer is faced with. If re-elected as Mayor, Tara will continue to actively work to:

Ensure that local community policing priorities are established and enforced through the RCMP’s annual policing plan.

Strengthen the integration between municipal enforcement units and the RCMP to ensure common objectives, efficiency, and quality of service in all delegation of duties.

Prioritize reduction of organized crime, persons crime and property crime in the policing plan.

Identify consistent service standards for non-emergency calls to police.

Reduce the case load per officer and improve officers to population ratio by supporting the addition of new officers.

Reinforce enforcement allocations to foot patrols downtown and in the parks system.

Support the safety continuum from crime prevention through to emergency enforcement.

Increase citizen reporting to help inform crime analysis, intelligence-led policing and patrols.

Establish a strong local and regional regulatory response to the Federal Government’s legalization of marijuana.

Advocate for additional Crown Prosecutors to prevent criminal charges from being “stayed” because of capacity issues at the Red Deer Courthouse.

Hold the Provincial Government accountable for drug needle debris causing general community safety risks.

 

Theme #2: Fiscal Responsibility & Stronger Economy

Alberta’s recession has affected everyone in our community, and sound financial decision-making of City Council is essential to protect the stability of our local economy. If re-elected as Mayor, Tara will continue to actively work to:

Protect the affordability of living and/or doing business in Red Deer through responsible capital and operating budgets.

Preserve recently established financial strategies such as: the reduced debt ceiling, the capital savings plan, and competitive industrial and commercial tax ratios.

Ensure budget transparency through citizen input and by adopting operating budgets aligned to service standards.

Resolve the current price elasticity challenge to improve citizen access to City services such as recreation and transit.

Ensure City policy is business friendly and enhances our regional & provincial economic competitiveness.

Pending provincial legislative amendments, use new municipal tools to incentivize business attraction in areas of the City needing revitalization.

Position Red Deer for economic development & diversification by actively pursuing grants from other orders of Government, supporting the revitalization of existing community assets, and leveraging upcoming major events to maximize economic spin-off.

Solidify work underway with community partners to establish a strategic means of securing tourism and economic development opportunities for Red Deer.

 

Theme #3: Citizen-Focused Government & Service Improvements

The City’s daily purpose is to build quality of life for all Red Deerians. Citizen-focused local government & continuous improvement of City services for Red Deerians are strong priorities for Tara. If re-elected as Mayor, Tara will continue to actively work to:

Pursue the next phases of core public service improvements in areas such as (but not limited to): snow and ice control, transit route efficiency, and transportation integration and efficiency.

Proactively communicate to increase accessibility and transparency of local government.

Purposefully engage with citizens to ensure public feedback informs Council decision-making.

Modernize government services to make interactions with City government easier for citizens.

Support strong maintenance of existing City assets as an ongoing priority.

Build upon Council and City staff commitment to find operational efficiencies, innovations and savings that improve service to Red Deerians. 

 

Theme #4: Protect Our Natural & Built Environment

Red Deerians are proud of the fact that we are a city in a park and that we accept responsibility for environmental stewardship. If re-elected as Mayor, Tara will continue to actively work to:

Support environmental modernizations and efficiencies throughout City operations.

Elevate Red Deer’s capacity to respond to extreme weather events by resolving the storm water infrastructure deficit.

Identify key areas for environmental protection before development conflicts occur.

Support the extension of the park system through trail development and winter clearing.

Emphasize food and water security in general and for citizen emergency preparedness for extreme weather events.

 

Theme #5: Build Community Life

The City’s primary mandate is to provide foundational services to our fellow Red Deerians, but the Mayor is also expected to build partnerships with and for our community in general. If re-elected as Mayor, Tara will continue to actively work to:

Build on our City’s prime geographic position by actively promoting Red Deer to fulfill our potential for business start ups, retention & expansion as well as trade & meeting, culture & heritage,  and nature, sports & adventure tourism.

Work with indigenous community to implement municipal aspects of Truth and Reconciliation.

Work with community partners and the Provincial Government to mitigate the emerging risk to Red Deer’s net affordable housing stock and integrate related support services.

 

Theme #6: Advocate Our Community Needs

As Alberta’s 3rd largest City and region, Red Deer has critical infrastructure imperatives our community needs the Provincial Government to address. If re-elected as Mayor, Tara will continue to actively work to secure:

Expansion for Red Deer Regional Hospital

Polytechnic University status for Red Deer College

Addictions Treatment and Emergency Shelter capacity

Re-purposing of vacated Michener lands and the former Valley Park Manor

Protection of regional ambulance dispatch service and Advanced Life Support ground ambulance service.

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Liberals, NDP admit closed-door meetings took place in attempt to delay Canada’s next election

Published on November 12, 2024

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Pushing back the date would preserve the pensions of some of the MPs who could be voted out of office in October 2025.

Aides to the cabinet of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed that MPs from the Liberal and New Democratic Party (NDP) did indeed hold closed-door “briefings” to rewrite Canada’s elections laws so that they could push back the date of the next election.

The closed-door talks between the NDP and Liberals confirmed the aides included a revision that would guarantee some of its 28 MPs, including three of Trudeau’s cabinet members, would get a pension.

Allen Sutherland, who serves as the assistant cabinet secretary, testified before the House of Commons affairs committee that the changes to the Elections Act were discussed in the meetings.

“We attended a meeting where the substance of that proposal was discussed,” he said, adding that his “understanding is the briefing was primarily oral.”

According to Sutherland, as reported by Blacklock’s Reporter, it was only NDP and Liberal MPs who attended the secret meetings regarding changes to Canada’s Elections Act via Bill C-65, An Act to Amend the Canada Elections Act before the bill was introduced in March.

As reported by LifeSiteNews before, the Liberals were hoping to delay the 2025 federal election by a few days in what many see as a stunt to secure pensions for MPs who are projected to lose their seats. Approximately 80 MPs would qualify for pensions should they sit as MPs until at least October 27, 2025, which is the newly proposed election date. The election date is currently set for October 20, 2025.

Sutherland noted when asked by Conservative MP Luc Berthold that he recalled little from the meetings, but he did confirm he attended “two meetings of that kind.”

“Didn’t you find it unusual that a discussion about amending the Elections Act included only two political parties and excluded the others?” Berthold asked.

Sutherland responded, “It’s important to understand what my role was in those meetings which was simply to provide background information.”

“My role was to provide information,” replied Sutherland, who added he could not provide the exact dates of the meetings.

MPs must serve at least six years to qualify for a pension that pays $77,900 a year. Should an election be called today, many MPs would fall short of reaching the six years, hence Bill C-65 was introduced by the Liberals and NDP.

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Trudeau’s popularity is at a all-time low, but he has refused to step down as PM, call an early election, or even step aside as Liberal Party leader.

As for the amendments to elections laws, they come after months of polling in favour of the Conservative Party under the leadership of Pierre Poilievre.

A recent poll found that 70 percent of Canadians believe the country is “broken” as Trudeau focuses on less critical issues. Similarly, in January, most Canadians reported that they are worse off financially since Trudeau took office.

Additionally, a January poll showed that 46 percent of Canadians expressed a desire for the federal election to take place sooner rather than the latest mandated date in the fall of 2025.

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International

Trump takes Arizona, completes swing state sweep

Published on November 10, 2024

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According to the Secretary of State’s office, Trump leads Harris by 184,935 in a 53%-46% split.

Former President Donald Trump was declared the winner Saturday night in Arizona, marking the final swing state for the Republican to collect in his landslide victory.

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All but Coconino, Apache, Santa Cruz, and Pima counties favored Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris. Maricopa County, the source of dozens of electoral challenges including a partisan ballot review of the 2020 election, is currently favoring Trump by more than 78,000 votes. Trump lost the state to President Joe Biden in 2020 by little more than 10,000 votes.

According to the Secretary of State’s office, Trump leads Harris by 184,935 in a 53%-46% split.

Complete election results aren’t expected for at least another week, which is no different from previous cycles. Two-page ballots with dozens of judicial retention races and ballot propositions led to slower results in the days after polls closed. A new election integrity law enacted this year requiring polling stations to count envelopes before they can send off ballots added to the lag in results.

Both the Trump and Harris campaigns made Arizona a priority throughout the election cycle, either hosting rallies themselves or sending big-name surrogates.

Campaign volunteers descended on Maricopa County to join local activists who knocked on thousands of doors in the days before the election. Many residents complained about the barrage of phone calls, texts, emails, and flyers from numerous organizations.

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