The recent Provincial election dramatically changed the face of the Legislature for the Greater Edmonton Area with thirteen out of the twenty-four constituencies in the area changing hands. This is the second of a number of columns I’ll be writing as we get to know those new MLA’s.

You have a lot of years in public service that range from City Council in St. Albert to planning commissions and Hospital Boards. What made you decide to try provincial politics?

I’ve always been interested in politics – particularly at the municipal level – and that is where the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Planning Commission and the Hospital Board come in. I ran for the Reform Party in 1988 and had a little taste of federal politics but my mind has really always been more focused on local things like provincial and municipal. So I decided now was probably a good time to run for it.

I know you have a real interest in land use planning from your career. How does the provincial perspective differ from the civic?

Well, the municipalities are creatures of the Province to start with. So anything that the municipalities have the authority to do comes from the Municipal Government Act and provincial legislation.

Now in 1995 the Planning Act was scrapped and it was put into the Municipal Government Act. But a key part of eliminating the Planning Act was the elimination of the Regional Planning Commissions. And in my opinion that was one of the biggest mistakes of the Government of that day because since the Planning Commissions have disappeared, at least in the Capital Region, we’ve seen a lot of inter-municipal problems.

Each municipality has been given the authority to do what they think is best without agreement with their neighbours whereas in the regional planning concept all the municipalities in the region came together and prepared a regional plan that was best for the region. And that worked very well.

Just as a for instance. Quite a number of years ago there was a restriction on any subdivision within five miles of a city. And before a planning body could approve a subdivision they had to consult with that city. And so that sort of left a ring around a city for urban expansion which is going to happen. There is no way we can stop it so we’ve got to plan for it. Now one of the major functions of the Regional Planning Commission is to plan for urban expansion among other things.

You also have a background in dispute resolution and I’ll bet that has been a very helpful skill in political life. How do you see your role as a MLA when you encounter constituents who are just plain unhappy with government policy?

Well, that’s always difficult but I think the big thing is that I am here to listen to them and to see if I can help them to resolve their problems. Some problems just cannot be resolved because they just aren’t in the greater public interest. We live in a democratic society and the majority rules by and large.

There are some issues that a minority can expect to get resolved but we have to live by the law and we can’t change the law for one person necessarily. In some cases maybe the law needs to be changed and those issues can be taken forward so that the Legislative Assembly can decide on that.

In your opinion what is the biggest challenge facing your party’s government over this next mandate?

I think the biggest challenge, in view of the very limited opposition we have, is to govern for all Albertans – not just govern for the party. And that is the case for any government but it is even more sensitive when you have got a very limited opposition. We have to really listen to the opposition and we have to be our own opposition within caucus and make sure that the decisions that are made are the right decisions. We have to explore all alternatives and sometimes you have to be the devil’s advocate and make people think outside the box about some of these decisions.

I think the final results of the recent election were a pleasant surprise for your party to at least some extent. What is your take on why things went so well?

Right from the very start of my door knocking – and I started in December and I probably knocked on 10,000 doors – I got a real sense of satisfaction with the Premier. He’s a doer – not a talker. He’s got a lot of integrity. He’s really down to earth and I think people were really comfortable with him.

He was certainly a dramatic change over the previous Premier who had a lot of charisma whereas Mr. Stelmach is not quite so outspoken. He thinks things out and he plans for the future. And I guess that is what I like about him. He is a planner in the broad general sense of the word. He likes to address the issues, he likes to analyze them, he likes to consult and then he implements.

I think that people like that style. And I think in the fourteen months that he was Premier before the election was called I think he demonstrated a number of accomplishments and I think the Public was quite receptive to that and I was very encouraged by the response I got by and large.

And maybe the people who voted were just a lot more perceptive than a lot of the media.