A former journalist in Lethbridge is hoping to sit on the other side of the table as he runs for Lethbridge City Council.
Tom Roulston says that after many years of working in journalism, he not only has the fundamentals but also understands the importance of hearing all sides of a conversation or issue. He says the difference between working in news and being a councillor is that in news, you look at all sides and bring the pieces together without bias, while as a councillor, he will ultimately need to make a decision.
“Like a news consumer, I want to be able to make the best-informed decision I can. So, I’m somebody who wants to listen to all sides of any given issue and then try to make the decision that I feel is in the best interest of the community,” Roulston says.
He adds, he also thinks his age is something he can bring to the table. Roulston, who is 39 years old, says he thinks there is a large age demographic in this city that is not represented around the council table and that the younger voting block is looking for somebody who can relate and be familiar with some of the issues they’re facing.
“I think if there’s a younger perspective around the council table, it will give a lot of the younger families, you know, the 25 to 40s, a face that they can relate to, somebody who probably understands what they’re going through. Affordability is obviously a big issue, and then perhaps maybe help with engagement too.”
“I think disengagement is a big problem, especially in municipal politics, and I think a lot of that is because a lot of the prospective voters maybe don’t see themselves represented.”
Roluston says he hopes to see the city grow but in a sustainable way, which he believes means creating jobs and retaining talent in the community. He says something he is hearing from post-secondary students is that their teachers are telling them they can give them the tools, but the students will probably have to go to bigger centres like Calgary and Edmonton to get the career they want.
“I think that’s a disservice to the community, I think we need to have opportunity, and I’m not saying the professors are doing a disservice, but I think there’s maybe a lack of opportunity here for some of the skills that we are sending people out into the workforce for, and I’d like to see more of that local talent retained.”
“I think anything we can do to retain our talent is a good thing, and I think that starts with looking at ways we can, you know, grow our tax base with business, commercial, industrial investment. I don’t know whether incentivizing is needed or not to get more companies to start here, but I think we need to take that into account when we talk about the city growing.”
When it comes to the discussion of a third bridge, the city council candidate says in short that he is in favour of the project with the caveat that the cost is not solely placed on the municipal taxpayer. Roulston says he does not think it is a sustainable ask.
“So I think pro third bridge with conditions, one key condition on top of the not being squarely on the shoulders of the taxpayer is we need help from the province, the federal government. I think there can be a sustained lobbying effort to share with the province how important this is.”
“I don’t necessarily think we need it today, but in 10, 15 years, I think we are going to need it based on growth and I think we need to take an approach of looking not four years down the road, but looking eight, 12, 20 years down the road and creating infrastructure that we can grow into as opposed to be trying to catch up.”
Roulston says if elected, he will be one of the voices working to lobby other levels of government for the funding that is needed.
He adds taking a look at situations that have happened in recent history, any major infrastructure projects will need more oversight and transparency.
“I think there needs to be some public auditing as well, kind of periodically, maybe not quarterly because we know auditing can be expensive, but I think there needs to be quarterly reporting to municipal officials as to what’s going on.”
Roulston says if elected, his focus will be on serving the people of Lethbridge and getting up to speed on what needs to be done as a municipal official. At the same time, he says he will listen and make time for those who have put him in office, as they are the boss.
