Marlo Raynolds said he plans to bring back a voice for the voters of Banff-Airdrie in Parliament – something he claimed has been missing from the current MP’s office.
“I think people understand and realize that Mr. (Blake) Richards in his own government has not had much influence. He will have essentially zero influence in a Liberal government. I think we have to ensure that we’re at the table.”
The Liberal candidate maintained that Richards has been neglecting representing the riding’s constituents by simply following marching orders from the Prime Minister.
“Far too often we’re getting notes from the prime minister’s office; that’s just not good enough.
“To me that level of facilitation and engagement at the local level to solve some of our challenges has just not been there. It’s been a one-way system from Ottawa, instead of the other way around.”
Raynolds said he proposes to remedy that through having “consistent and regular” meetings with mayors and councils, First Nations, non-profit organizations and business associations, as well as “quarterly town hall conversations on key pieces of legislation.”
When asked how Raynolds intends to maintain the riding’s representation within Parliament and how Justin Trudeau would respect that, Banff-Airdrie’s Grit said that his party’s leader has committed to providing more free votes.
“I plan on exercising that and holding Mr. Trudeau to that commitment.”
Raynolds said his experience in working with various sectors in his career –nonprofit, corporate and government – have instilled a universal approach in facing challenges.
“I approach all these things with ‘what are we trying to achieve, what are the objectives we’re trying to achieve and how do we actually work together to achieve those?’”
Much like the NDP and Green candidates, Raynolds is aware of the challenge of waging a campaign in a Tory stronghold.
“I’ve never shied away from challenges in the past, in most of my schooling and career. I went into this knowing very well I would be the underdog. That to me is no reason to shy away from the challenge to do everything possible to make it a competitive race.”
But, he said that the Alberta NDP’s landslide victory in the provincial election proves that a change of fortune against low odds is possible.
“I think that one never knows how that change can unfold. When we look at the provincial election, people were very surprised and shocked at how quickly change occurred.”
Although he acknowledged the residual resentment felt in Alberta towards federal Liberal governments during the 1980s and 1990s, he holds that “most Albertans are looking more to the future than the past. We’re really pushing and encouraging local voters to... look towards what kind of future we want to create here in Alberta and in Canada.”
Raynolds admitted he’s “in no shape or form a career politician,” but said he’s determined to make the most of this “break” from his work to tackle the issues of the riding if elected.
“I’m very successful in business and I’m stepping away from that to have this opportunity to serve and try to move some of these solutions forward on some big challenges that together we can all try to solve.”
