The Lethbridge-East candidate for the Alberta NDP says he believes his experience in human services, and two terms on city council, gives him a strong understanding of what the community needs. Rob Miyashiro says he was not planning to continue in politics after his time on city council, but his wife encouraged him to run for the MLA position.
“I want to make sure that we have a good government in place,” he says. “I want to make sure that someone like Rachel Notley can lead Alberta because I believe in the ideals she set forth and the party set forth and I see the damage the UCP has done to our province over the last three years and we need to stop that and it’s not damage just to the province, it’s damage to people and I think people, citizens, forget that you can’t just talk about hurting the province—you have to think about the effect on individual people.”
Miyashiro says he wants to focus resources on Albertans who need the most help. He has spent the past 40 years working in human services with various organizations. His work has included running an adolescent treatment centre for Kainai Children Services, developing employment programs for people with disabilities and developing services and support for seniors at his current role at the Lethbridge Seniors’ Citizens Organization.
“All of that background gives me, I think, the ability to say, ‘hey I think I have kind of an idea of what people in our community need,’” he says. “Not just people in general but people that need the most help and I think that’s what we forget sometimes—what do the people that need the most help need?”
He adds his experience on city council showed him the importance of the relationship between the province and municipal governments.
“I think people need to really take a hard look at how they are going to vote—this isn’t just a, ‘I always voted this way,’ it’s look at what we have to offer the province and what I have to offer this constituency,” he says.
Election day will be on May 29.
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