Why am I running?

When my family emigrated from the Netherlands to Canada in 1975, we were sponsored by a local family here in Red Deer. Over time, my father opened a store and served the community for many years. Red Deer has been my home since I returned in 1997, after university and my first teaching jobs. I want to give back to the community that has given me so much to me and to my family. I want to be a part of the new Red Deer, once that will be stronger coming out of a post-COVID world. Red Deer has seen many changes and difficult challenges in her long history. I believe that we are at such a crossroads right now; we need to work together to create a stronger community based on closer collaboration between various stakeholder groups within our city. We look to our business community to foster economic growth and development for our citizens. We look to the public services that will help our community to be proactive and adaptable to many changes that we will see in the next few years. We look to our arts and entertainment industries to revitalize many areas of our city and see a further enhancement of Red Deer as a tourism destination rather than just a stop over between our two major metropolitan areas. All of these things need to have clear guidance from our civic leaders, who will communicate a clear vision and mission for all sectors of our community and seek to renew our city and grow into our future. I want to be one of those civic leaders.