[We sent five questions concerning green living, local economy and inclusiveness to all of the Election 2017 council candidates. We are posting their unedited responses in the order that they’re received. – Ed.]
What is the biggest challenge your Ward faces? What policy solutions would you seek if elected?
The most conserning issue is quality of life for residents of Ward 8 which no one is talking about in their plnforms. My priority is to open court sealed documents, which is a ballzy request that will give the citizens of Edmonton the tools to get accountabilibty for the mismanagement of our tax dollars. I’d like an unobstructed view of documents envolving our city of Edmonton negociations for all development projects and services and to closely review directives issued by our city manager and past councillors. We truely need a citizen lounge not a councilor lounge in our city hall and we must have all city documents and recordings readily available in multiple formats for public review in our citizen lounge. I would put a motion through city hall to out law and to insure no future candiates who run for city council in Edmonton receive the campaign donations from illegal sources or, developers.*** I further believe it is essential for a community based commitee to be created by residents in every community impacted by 25% infill overlay plans. This commitee would be individuals who have the support of their neighbours. Further this commitee of reisidents will have ‘veto powers’ for any project or development, within the community they live, in early planning stages to insure that developers or the city of Edmonton do not bring hidden agenas durring planning negociations.
How will you help Edmonton become a greener / more environmentally friendly city?
When I think of a Greener city my first thought is to have the goal to improving our quality of live index. We live in a culture with a great focus on increase of GDP and also immediate gratification. We have many small and medium sized bussiness close due to our economy slowing down. Our infrastructure that is currently being build to assist reducing our ‘carbon foot print’ is in my opinion a disappointment. I am disapointed because I do not want our bike infrustructure to fail or be underutilzed. So, if we are to shift peoples travel options to include bicycling we cannot over spend or create any intererence with existing motor vehicle infrustructure. And for goodness sake where are the bike racks and lockups for charriots? I’d like to think of being green as living within our means taking a minimalist approach to spending and refocus on investing in our communities and the people who live in them.
I believe that quality of life in Ward 8 could be influenced by: leisure on lightly groomed trails in our Edmonton River Valley, good governence and protections of citizens basic rights, access to healthy foods and homes that are not inflated in value. All these things are at risk and we did not ever have a public debate in Ward 8 for this 2017 election.
Every project the city of Edmonton green lights should have a list of variables/probabilities for the build and work those factors into a budget before approval from city hall which council should have been all over. As an example building codes of past builds need to be considered and if over looked or missed in plans presented to city hall fines should be isssued to all players including the city manager. As a very clear example is the accidental beach which under provincial law should see major fines and clean up ordered as well as recognising a breech of contract. If the builder did not know sand would not be contained what other unknowns are part of our infrustucture build?
How will you strengthen Edmonton’s local economy and support our city’s independent, locally-owned businesses?
To be fully honest our city administrators and especially city council knew that an economic down turn was forcasted well in advance and from what I have observed many small and medium sized businesses have closed their doors or stopped opperating in 2016 and in 2017.
Our city needs to make a swift priority to support Edmonton bussiness and further insure the City of Edmonton hiring practices are revamped. Edmonton residents are paying our taxes, they spend locally and local residents must represent ‘a minimum of 70% of our city of Edmonton departments and workforce/staff including administration , contractors and support staff’.
There is not going to be any improvement if voters coninue to vote for big budget campaigns which have payed staff managing their social media page, writting responses for candidates who also demonstrate at forums they read from the page and trust only their close allies.
How will you make this a more inclusive city and support Edmonton’s marginalized communities?
A big priority of mine is to address social justice issues and reduce potential for revictimisation due to how our service providers interact with our Edmonton public. I have learned that directives can be given by city administration at the to citizens right to participate in the democratic process such as this 2017 election. I have an outstanding issue with the Edmonton city manager who sent me a defamatory letter within weeks of turning down campaign funding and provincial voter lists. We have a very unapollogetic system that at times appears to be run by puppeteers and not individuals focusing appologising and correcting an error.
How can our readers learn more about your platform, contact you with questions or concerns, or get involved in your campaign?
My web site is www.heatherworkman.ca and my phone number is 780-475-9198 my email is info@heatherworkman.ca
My greatest wish is that voters cast their ballot and Think about 10 full days of early polls for voters to access. Think about the cost of staff, equipment, rental of space and Ward 8 and Ward 6 combined produced only 2,527 votes.
Also I wish to thank the city of Edmonton employee who stepped up to the plate on October 3, 2017 to add my contact information to the city of Edmonton elections office information so folks can get ahold of me.
I am the only self funded candidate canidate in Ward 8 and I refused donations from organized crime and deleopers. And I am writting this from an iphone.