Time for Lethbridge to try something new?

After 50 years of complaining and arguing, it seems we are back where we started. Fifty years ago, the Lethbridge Herald undertook a study of the Lethbridge electoral system, concluding that, with the exception of the Catholic School Board, now known as the “Holy Spirit School District,” north Lethbridge had been consistently under-represented.

When Jim Anderson, a school teacher at Winston Churchill, discussed this issue with students, they urged him to run. Many of them reportedly knocked on doors in north Lethbridge the night before the election, and, yes, he was successful

After two terms on council, Anderson stepped back from politics and north Lethbridge was again without a voice on council. 1974 was an encouraging year for north Lethbridge in that two candidates were elected. However, the following year Tony Tobin resigned from city council so that he might accept a job in Medicine Hat, leaving north Lethbridge with a single representative. Since that time, north Lethbridge has had to make do with one or, at the most, two members of council.

Is there an alternative? Well, yes there is. Many cities throughout Alberta and Canada have adopted the ward system of municipal government, sometimes known as “area representation.” And having once adopted it, I don’t know any that have gone back. Perhaps it is time for Lethbridge to try something new?

Robert Tarleck

Lethbridge