Former alderman will run for city council again
After registering as a municipal election candidate some time ago with the possibility of running for mayor, Phil Turnbull has decided to run for council.
Scott Raible has already declared he will run for mayor and that factored into Turnbull’s difficult decision.
“I still have a yearning to be CEO of the city,” he said on Thursday in an interview.
In-depth research and a thorough understanding of issues in order to ask the right questions, is one of Turnbull’s trademarks.
“I will always ask the hard questions. I will strive to put Medicine Hat back of track and back in the black,” he said, noting he is not afraid to disagree.
Publicly debating issues at council is necessary so the public has an understanding of all sides of an issue. Turnbull says if there is no debate in public you may as well make all the decisions in secret.
“You need to be informed in order to debate,” said Turnbull. “If you want to be on council you need to do your research.”
Turnbull served one term on council and was unsuccessful in a bid to be mayor in the 2013 municipal election. He says he has missed council and has continued to do research and access data to gain a thorough understanding of all the issues that affect Medicine Hat.
Someone who has never used transit before was starting on Thursday. Turnbull calls it an “essential service.” This week he saw first hand the problem for college students in a work placement program who could not get to work on time because the bus system was unreliable.
Public education became an essential service in order to provide education for everyone regardless of income, said Turnbull who feels the same applies to transit.
“It’s our obligation as a society,” said Turnbull, who suggests there are other ways to save money such as not paving the parking lot diagonally across from city hall because any developer will simply tear it up again.
In the 2013 municipal election replacing the Veiner Centre, which had been damaged in the flood that summer, was one of the defining issues of that campaign. Turnbull believes many seniors have not forgotten the process over the past four years to get to the point of redeveloping the Veiner Centre. He feels seniors will be happy to see alternatives on the ballot and that there will be a protest vote.
He has lived in Medicine Hat since 1980 and before retiring operated three Canadian Tire stores, including handling development activities.