Stuart Young seeking seat on Medicine Hat City Council with focus on trust, growth and collaboration

“Then I went to Medicine Hat College, and I finished one year at the college, and then I transferred to the University of Alberta and got my business degree there,” he added.

“I met my wife in Medicine Hat when we were at college, and after getting my business degree, I worked in the energy industry in Edmonton and Calgary for 12 years.”

Young and his wife decided to move back to Medicine Hat to raise their family.

“Medicine Hat is really where the foundation of my life was built. And so I wanted to raise my kids here,” Young said.

“All of the wonderful things that Medicine Hat has to offer, I really felt like this was the best place for us to raise our family. So we’ve been back in Medicine Hat for five years now.”

Young said he thinks he would be a good person to lead the council on conversations about homelessness in the community.

“I do have lived experience in that area. I also grew up with a father who was battling addiction and homelessness my entire life, raised by a single mom. So I think I have a unique perspective, but I want to be clear that I have a perspective, but not the entire perspective,” Young said.

“I think we have to tackle this with getting a lot of people around the table. It’s going to take the whole community. It’s not me or one other person that’s going to solve it. It’s really going to be the community coming together. But we need a diversity of perspectives to tackle that.”

Young said he feels like his balanced experience helps to give him a perspective that’s not leaning too hard one way or another.

“I think my experience in the energy sector, my business degree, couple that with my experience in the non-profit and the grassroots sector. I think those two experiences really come together to help create a balanced perspective on how to grow and sustain community,” Young said.

“I care deeply about our community and recognize that for our community to thrive. We really need a strong economic driver. We also need really strong grassroots support.”

Building culture at City Hall is a top priority, according to Young.

“It’s restoring partnerships and trust at City Hall. Right? Like, we have lost trust in City Hall. And I’m not pointing the finger at anybody for that. It’s just a reality of our current situation. And we have to, we have to build that trust back,” Young said.

“Because without that, a lot of our issues are coming from trust. When there’s no trust, even if a good idea comes to the plate, even if council has a great idea, but the trust isn’t there, they’re going to have a really, really difficult time delivering on that because people don’t trust them,” he added.

“I think number one is rebuilding trust. And then number two, it’s economic growth and stability.”

Young adds that he cares deeply about social issues, but we aren’t able to grow socially if we do not have a thriving community.

“If people can’t afford to live here, it doesn’t matter how much we care about social issues,” Young said.

“So we really need to see growth and stability in this city. And I think it’s absolutely possible.”

Young sees a safe and connected community as another priority.

“Going back to the addiction and homelessness. We need to tackle that collaboratively as a community. I want to see us focus on the well-being of families, of youth and our seniors,” Young said.

This is the first time Young has put his name forward for the city council, but he has experience on boards.

“I actually founded what’s called Cousins Skateboard Community, the nationally recognized nonprofit. We’re a big organization. We have a ton of sponsors. I chair the board there as well. I work with very senior-level individuals on that board,” Young said.

“I also sit on the Medicine Hat Resiliency and Inclusion Task Force. And then in my corporate world, the majority of my work is senior leadership. So I’ve spent a lot of time in senior leadership boardrooms, leading and guiding meetings. Not just meetings, but initiatives,” he added.

“Meetings are important, but the initiatives behind the meetings are really what we’re after.”

by Jesse Gill

Stuart Young seeking seat on Medicine Hat City Council with focus on trust, growth and collaboration

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