By Submitted

Gwendoline Dirk: NDP Brooks-Medicine Hat

May 2, 2023 | 11:06 AM

Pattison Media is helping voters get to know the candidates vying for your vote in the provincial election.

We provided the candidates with the same list of questions and here are their responses:

Tell us a little about yourself:

Raised in rural Saskatchewan, I have never forgotten my rural roots – always the farm girl at heart! With nine siblings, life on the farm taught me the values of family, hard work, collaboration, empathy, helping others, honesty, integrity, and dedication to community, which includes people of different ethnic, cultural, or religious backgrounds.

Although the bulk of my career was in education, I understand the rewards and challenges of family farming and small business. Having to rely on unpredictable variables like the market and weather for income, are realities I have lived with.

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Why did you decide to run in this election?

When I retired from teaching, I felt I had much left to offer my community. Therefore, I began to join various community organizations to volunteer. I became a member of the Medicine Hat Rotary and the Golden K Kiwanis Club, as well as the Medicine Hat Art Club. I serve as a member of the Medicine Hat Police Commission and the Palliser Triangle Health Advisory Council. I also volunteer at Saamis Immigration.

I also began to dig into learning more about political platforms and realized that my values align with the centrist and practical views of the Alberta NDP. In the last four years, politics have changed in Alberta, and I fear that we are no longer helping to build a strong and robust middle class. More and more are slipping into desperate times, and fewer people are contributing members of the middle class – the sign of a healthy and thriving society. The present government seems more intent on padding the pockets of the wealthiest in this province than supporting and building the economy (which includes an educated and/or trained workforce).

I had to step up and do my part, so I became the candidate for the Alberta NDP.

What do you believe is the biggest issue facing the constituency right now?

There are many issues, but the one that is most obvious from talking to hundreds of people at the doors is our crumbling public healthcare system. Four years of cutbacks, fighting with health care workers, and chaos has left people without a primary care provider. As a result, diagnosis’s are being missed, emergency rooms and ICU’s are swamped, and people are getting desperate.

How do you plan on addressing that issue

I support the Alberta NDP plan to connect a million Family Health Teams. A detailed look at this plan can be found on the Alberta NDP website.

If elected, at the end of your first term, what do you hope to have accomplished?

I hope to have thriving Family Health Team Clinics in Medicine Hat, Brooks, and Bassano and possibly in some to the smaller towns in the riding. By the end of my first four-year term, more people will have access to a primary care provider when and where they need.

More affordable housing will be available in the riding, especially in Medicine Hat and Brooks where there is a desperate need.

Medicine Hat and area will be put on the map and no longer be forgotten. I will work with local leaders to bring innovative solutions to the area to grow and expand our industries, support our training and education facilities, develop our resources, and attract investment to our area!

If you could have dinner with three people living or dead who would you choose and why?

My Mom and my dad – because I miss them every day and I want to thank them for giving my courage, integrity, and values.

Mahatma Ghandhi – to relish in his selflessness and his wisdom!

Oilers or Flames?

Oilers