COCHRANE— Town of Cochrane incumbents will be facing newcomers Bruce Townley and Brandon Cruze in the upcoming municipal election.
Townley and Cruze join Dan Cunin in the race after submitting their nomination papers for the election.
Bruce Townley is running for a position on council.
He served as a senior police leader in Ontario for 32 years. The last 15 years of that time were in a senior management role.
“My sense of duty to the community is very, very strong— I have that in my blood and I have a lot to offer,” Townley said.
While Townley has never served as an elected official his role with the police exposed him to the interworking of government operations. Townley spent several years on the chief’s executive team which helped him foster an appreciation for the different levels of government.
“You get a lot of exposure and a lot of opportunities to learn about what politics is all about,” Townley said.
He moved to Cochrane last year after visiting the community many times. He had his heart set on retiring in the community and had the dream of moving to Alberta after falling in love with Cochrane.
“We love the town, we love the history of the town,” Townley said. “That sense of community was huge for us, it’s very, very strong here.”
Townley is developing his platform based on conversations with residents to better understand the needs of the community.
“Before I determine what my more detailed platform was going to be I wanted to get the input of the taxpayers,” Townley said.
The three highlights of his platform are accountability, accessibility and financial responsibility, he said.
“We’re in a very difficult time right now across this country and the general themes that I would say from 80 per cent plus of the amount of people that I’ve spoken to is taxes,” Townley said. “They expect and demand more accountability in relation to how their money is being spent. People are concerned.”
Townley said one of his biggest concerns is the amount of money being spent on capital projects in 2021. He worries about the timing given the unstable financial future many Cochranites are facing.
Townley cited the Social Recovery Task Force survey indicating 40 per cent of respondents were concerned for their financial future and 46 per cent had applied for financial relief during the pandemic.
He added he has spoken with several businesses in town who are very concerned for the future and for the most part are consistently anxious with the amount of red tape they face.
Townley would like to see an expansion of commercial business in town to build a tax base to support future growth in the community.
“We need to make Cochrane a much more business-friendly community to help build the infrastructure,” Townley said.
Brandon Cruze is also running for a position on council. He was born and raised in Cochrane and was inspired to run because he wants to “get things done” in town.
“People have campaigned on certain things and they're literally just not getting done, and as we grow the community, we need to look at new innovative ways that we can really start getting things done,” Cruze said.
His campaign involves several goals, he said, including crime reduction and establishing 24-hour urgent care in the community.
“It’s really important for us to band together as a community to get those things done,” Cruze said.
The wheels can turn slow in government, he said, and the only way to create change quickly is through active community involvement.
“Once we get into Town council … It comes down to they get into the jobs and, obviously they’re appointed to different boards, but I think they kind of lose steam and they're not necessarily out there in the community more championing a lot of these initiates that actually will work,” Cruze said. “Working for the public is not just getting voted in and going to two council meetings a month. It’s getting out into the community and actually involving the people.”
Cruze has no experience in government but has been a community advocate in the lower mainland of British Columbia and Kelowna.
One of the major factors in Cochrane is finding ways to reduce crime in the community and he would like to introduce community policing using marked vehicles.
As part of this initiative, Cruze would like to see Town Council collaborate more with RCMP to reduce crime, and champion these initiatives as a Town Council.
“It’s putting boots on the ground and getting out there and actually making a difference,” Cruze said.
A second aspect of reducing crimes is supporting community youth. He noted it estimated there can be up to 20 to 30 homeless youth in the community at a time, which can lead to property crime.
“These kids will often turn to things like this to get some sort of money, some sort of income to support themselves,” Cruze said.
He would like to see the old RCMP building converted into an emergency temporary shelter for youth up to the age of 17.
Another area of concern for Cruze is the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board and its potential impact on population density in Cochrane.
The Board's interim growth plan would see Cochrane double in size adding 30,000 more people to the population, Cruze said, along c;aiming to practice responsible land use, reducing emissions and water conservation.
“That's going to really put pressure on the current infrastructure,” Cruze said. “We just need to take a step back and see what kinds of resources are available to us in terms of funds.”
He noted this will also impact schooling in the region, an area already pushing capacity limits.
“There is room for development but it needs to actually be responsible,” Cruze said. “I’m not against development but it needs to be responsible development.”
Municipal elections across Alberta will take place on Monday, Oct. 18. Alberta School Board Trustee elections will take place in tandem with the municipal election.
Municipal election and board of trustees' candidates were able to begin submitting nominations on Jan. 1. Nominations close on Sept. 20.
Nomination papers can be submitted in three ways— By mail or courier to the Town of Cochrane Returning Officer, by secure 24-hour drop box at the RancheHouse or in Person at the Cochrane RancheHouse.
For more information on the municipal election visit cochrane.ca.
