Noon today was the nomination deadline for the Oct. 16 municipal election. By the time it passed, two candidates had stepped forward at City Hall to run for mayor of Red Deer.

Mayor Tara Veer is seeking re-election for a second term and says she is not taking an election victory for granted.

"I've worked hard over the past four years as mayor and I've also worked incredibly hard in terms of my experience on council. I trust the electorate will trust the work ethic and passion for the community that I've brought," Veer says.

Veer was first elected to city council in 2004. She served three terms before winning her first as mayor in 2013.

If re-elected, some of the issues she'd raise on council include matters of community safety, fiscal responsibility through the recession, protecting the environment.and improving core services.

"In light of the economy, the challenge of the next council will be moving forward on community expectations but balancing that out with the affordability of living in and doing business in Red Deer," Veer says.

She says the city also needs to raise its voice and push the province for hospital expansion and polytechnic university status for Red Deer College.

Burke enters the race

Mayoral candidate Sean Burke signs his nomination papers at Red Deer city hall on Sept. 18.

 

Sean Burke, a 36-year-old resident of the city's Riverside Meadows neighbourhood, is also running for mayor.

He's the owner of AMLT (A Moment Like This) Productions, a digital advertising company that plays ads on TV screens installed in various locations including Cosmos Bottle Depot and Woody's Bar-B-Q.

Burke is running because he sees a general lack of compassion for the disadvantaged, especially the homeless.

"If we go on our social media pages, the way they speak about them, it's like they've been convicted of a crime," Burke says.

"I do live in Riverside Meadows and what I see in this area, and what my neighbours see, and what we've talked about, it is a real problem and it is starting to get scary. I think compassion needs to come forward. Honesty needs to come forward."

By his own admission, Burke is not a typical candidate and is wide open about his past, which most others would find politically crippling.

Burke says he dropped out of school in Grade 10, running away from home. When he was about 20 years old, Burke says he became addicted to crystal meth, experimenting after meeting a couple at an Edmonton hotel where he was working.

It was a phone call from his father, imploring him to return home, that set him straight, he says.

Burke is convinced that his life experience resonates with many residents.

"The residents of Red Deer have gone through this. We have a homeless problem here right now ... we have people that are addicted, that are lost (as) I once was," he says.

On the campaign, he's aiming to court swaths of people in the city who are upset but don't vote, saying he's up against "corporate Red Deer."

"I'm looking for the citizens that are fed up and the citizens that are ready to take control back of our city," Burke says.

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By the deadline, there were 29 candidates registered to run for council, 16 for public school board and six for Catholic school board in the Red Deer area ward.