One term on council isn’t enough for Malcolm Parker.
The 70-year-old announced this week he will be running for another term, saying he only came to the decision in the last couple of weeks.
“I believe if you’re going to do something, you have to know why you are doing it, feel committed to it and know what you can provide that’s not there now,” Parker said.
His election win in 2010 was his third run at a council seat after losses in 2004 and 2007, and the first successful bid. Retired from a lifelong career at Imperial Oil, Parker said his greatest accomplishment was helping get the city moving on economic development.
“I really wanted us to move forward on our economic development initiative,” Parker said. “When I got on council I was very passionate on moving this forward.”
Economic development is also one of the planks of Parker’s current platform, saying the city has to keep up the momentum if it wants to bring in more business and take some of the property tax burden off of homeowners.
“I think the next two years will be critical for (economic development) for them to see what kind of progress we are making.”
Parker is also proud of and wants to keep working on the medical office building as part of a city effort to bring more physicians to St. Albert. There is now a parcel of land next to the Sturgeon Community Hospital that will become a medical office building in the future.
“Hopefully as we move into 2013 we can finally get to a point where they can start building,” Parker said.
He also trumpeted his sense of fiscal responsibility, saying he used “common sense and logic” in budget deliberations to try and minimize property tax increases.
“I felt really good in terms of what we are able to do in how we spend money here,” Parker said. “I think it allowed us to close the gap.”
The Sturgeon River will be important in the coming years and it features prominently in Parker’s 2013 campaign platform. He wants to bring together all of the public input and studies and surveys that have been done on the river in the last few years to come up with a strategy for how it can be improved.
“We really need to clean it up, stabilize it and develop it so it can become a year round attraction for tourists and residents.”
Parker said he hopes voters will give him another chance because of his track record on council.
“I said (in 2010) this is what my platform was and I delivered on what I said I was going to do,” Parker said. “I think I’ve been able to work with other members of council. I am an independent voice on council – I won’t follow the majority if I’m not convinced it’s the right decision.”
