By Scott Roblin

Clugston pleased to see change at the provincial level

Apr 17, 2019 | 12:17 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – A change at the top of Alberta’s political sphere is being welcomed with open arms from Medicine Hat’s mayor.

Ted Clugston sat in on the local UCP election party on Tuesday night, seeing incumbent Drew Barnes and newcomer Michaela Glasgo win the ridings of Cypress-Medicine Hat and Brooks-Medicine Hat.

Clugston has been vocal about his issues with the NDP government over the years and following the United Conservative Party majority government announcement said Medicine Hat’s voice will finally be heard.

“I’m going to be very, very honest,” said Clugston. “If I picked up the phone yesterday, the premier [Rachel Notley] wouldn’t have taken my phone call. Tomorrow, the premier [Jason Kenney] will.”

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Kenney was one of two party leaders to visit Medicine Hat either during or just before the election, along with Alberta Party leader Stephen Mandel.

Clugston said he was disappointed to see Notley bypass this corner of the province and hopes the United Conservatives will make Medicine Hat more of a priority.

“Jason Kenney has been down here 12 times in the last three or four years,” he said. “Obviously, Rachel [Notley] didn’t even come down during the election campaign, she left her candidates out to dry. But, I really think that we can work with Jason, Drew [Barnes] and Michaela [Glasgo], and we’re on the map now.”

The UCP won a majority government thanks mainly due to their economic stance, which includes focuses on scrapping the provincial carbon tax and getting oil to tidewater by way of pipelines.

Both aspects that Clugston said he’s a fan of, but said Medicine Hat is better off than other areas of Alberta thanks to a diversified local economy with Aurora Cannabis, Folium Biosciences, and HUT 8 coming to town.

“In this last downturn, we really have diversified,” he said. “So, I think we’re poised to grow better than just about any other region in the province right now.”

Clugston also said communication will be key with his provincial politicians, something he didn’t believe he had with former NDP MLA Bob Wanner.

“My previous MLA, he was impossible to find, we couldn’t find him,” he said. “Supervised consumption sites, as soon as Bob Wanner announced that the guy disappeared and we couldn’t find him. So, I expect that my new MLAs will be available and when I call them, they’ll show up.”

The future of Medicine Hat’s supervised consumption site is also up in the air with the major shuffle in the legislature.

According to the UCP’s election platform, they said they would endorse supervised consumption sites only if there had been extensive consultation with the communities they were proposed in.

While Clugston said he hasn’t heard anything official from the new government, he isn’t totally confident about its future.

“The ones that are already open in Alberta I would think may continue on,” he said. “But, Medicine Hat is unique in that ours isn’t open yet. I could see the new government maybe cutting funding to those that aren’t already open. So, we’ll see about that.”

Clugston said he has a strong relationship with Barnes and is building one with Glasgo, and said he’s hopeful that the change will breathe some new life into the province.

“I think it’s a good night for Alberta, it’s a good night for Medicine Hat,” said Clugston.