Elevator Pitch

Airdrie is a beautiful city with generous individuals and organizations. Because we attract amazing families and working professionals, Airdrie has grown faster than its resources can keep up. As a city, we need to focus on elevating Airdrie and showing residents better value for every tax dollar.

What that means:

1. Intentional Growth

Our city is growing fast. In less than a decade, nearly 30,000 new people have moved here. That growth brings opportunity — new neighbours, new cultures, new businesses — but it also brings challenges. Schools are overcrowded. Roads are jammed. Recreation facilities are stretched thin.

Too often, the answer we hear is simple: “Stop building.” But the truth is, we can’t. We have legal obligations to the province and promises made by past city leadership. Growth will continue; the question is whether it will be responsible growth or reckless growth.

I believe in responsible growth that puts families first.

That means:

• Holding developers accountable to contribute their fair share toward roads, schools, and recreation.
  
• Ensuring that neighbouring communities that benefit from our schools and services also help fund them.
  
• Planning smartly so that growth strengthens our city instead of overwhelming it.
  

We can’t afford leadership that says what we can’t do. We need leaders who will plan for what we must do because our kids deserve spaces to play, safe streets, and vibrant communities.

2. Building an Economy for Families

Right now, 87% of our city is residential. Only 13% is business or industrial. That imbalance leaves us commuting to Calgary every morning, losing hours with our families and spending too much of our paycheck on gas.

It doesn’t have to be this way. We can build an economy right here at home.

That means:

• Attracting new industries and businesses so families can live and work in the same city.
  
• Advocating for a public post-secondary satellite campus in our city, so our kids can get an affordable education close to home.
  
• Fighting for a public health care hub while we secure a full hospital.
  
• Expanding our tax base with business and industrial growth, so the burden doesn’t fall unfairly on homeowners.
  

When families can find work, study, and access health care right here in our city, everyone benefits. Less time commuting means more time for kids. More opportunities here mean our youth can stay and build their futures with us.

Let’s stop exporting our workers, our students, and our tax dollars. Let’s bring opportunity home.

3. Regional Transit

Every parent knows the struggle: a teen who wants independence, a young adult who can’t afford rent, a family that spends hours in traffic. Right now, our city has no direct transit to universities or colleges, limited options inside the city, and no affordable way to connect to regional opportunities.

That’s holding our families back.

I believe in regional transit that connects people to opportunity.

That means:

• Expanding local bus service across our neighbourhoods so families can get where they need to go.
  
• Building direct transit links to Calgary, the airport, and regional attractions like Banff and Edmonton. Plus, it saves fuel and helps the environment.
  
• Creating reliable, affordable routes so youth can attend post-secondary while living at home — saving families thousands in rent and parking.
  

Transit isn’t just about buses and trains. It’s about freedom for our youth, affordability for our families, and opportunity for our whole city.

4. Health Care Advocacy

We are the largest city in the province without a hospital. Families know what that means: long drives in an emergency, crowded waiting rooms, and hours of uncertainty when every minute matters.

Health care may be a provincial responsibility, but as Mayor, I won’t stay silent while our families struggle.

I will fight for public, accessible, and free health care solutions because that’s what our city deserves.

That means:

• Demanding provincial investment in a full regional hospital now and not in another 40 years.
  
• Advocating for public, people-first solutions instead of private, for-profit health care.
  
• Supporting new community health clinics to bridge the gap while we fight for a better solution.
  

Health care is about dignity. It’s about every parent knowing their child will get care without delay. It’s about every grandparent knowing they can age safely and with support.