Darrell Dunn is taking another run in the political arena as he enters the contest for Lloydminster City Council in the Feb. 13 by-election for the vacant seat.
The family man brings a broad career range from being a police officer in Calgary to involvement in the ag industry, along with financial and legal consulting. He says government has always interested him in terms of how people manage themselves.
Strengths of Lloydminster
Dunn lists the economic framework around Lloydminster from agriculture to energy as being a strong point.
“We have a very active business sector – retail is strong. Several different segments of the city are doing well financially, and the city has strong infrastructure which gives it tremendous stability,” says Dunn.
Challenges facing Lloydminster
Under challenges, he says a poll he conducted before making his decision to run for council brought up nine issues that people felt were important, with the matter of the unhoused and homelessness being at the top. The other issues were healthcare, taxes and affordability, seniors’ housing, independent living, public transportation, crime, roads and infrastructure, and downtown redevelopment.
On the unhoused, he says having money in the right place is part of the solution.
“The Olive Tree is a wonderful model of things that could be done. There needs to be some ability to bring the various community organizations together to take a look at different ways the issue could be approached.”
Dunn advocates for foot patrols by RCMP and bylaw officers not to enforce laws, but as he reflected on his days doing foot patrols as a police officer in Calgary, it was to check in with the people who were living on the street, especially during the cold weather. He again sees the benefit of bringing all the community groups together and learning from their experience.
While recognizing the Charter of Rights of the unhoused he still says he understands “the outright fury” of businesses and homeowners who have “their property abused.”
Dunn concludes while the problem of the unhoused is provincial and federal, if someone freezes to death in Lloydminster “they are on our streets.”
Provincial issues affecting Lloydminster
On healthcare, Dunn shares that his wife broke her leg very badly in June, and because of the severity, they were sent to Edmonton where she waited for seven days before getting surgery. He says the medical staff are some of the most impressive folks he has ever dealt with. He noted that his wife was triaged, but she kept getting bumped.
“So are we short doctors. Yes. But more importantly, we are short of anesthesiologists. And in talking with those folks, I heard the comment time and time again that if administrators would listen to us. So, there is a lack of communication between the political hierarchy and the people working on the ground.”
On the upside, Dunn reflects that his wife will need a knee replacement at some point, but if they were in Calgary they would have to wait for five years, but being in Lloydminster that wait time could be about two years.
Reason to vote for Dunn
Responding to why people should vote for him, he describes himself as a centrist – not far right or far left, but more concerned with pragmatic good-result governance.
“If any candidate thinks they are going to go in with their passionate purpose and they are going to change everything, that tells me that they don’t know a whole lot about how government operates. And at this stage of the game with what we have to deal with, I would prefer to have competence in there.”
He reflects that when it comes to council documents, one’s ability to go through those documents ahead of time, assess the information, formulate the questions that need to be asked at the next council meeting, and then follow through on the decisions.
By-election information
Advanced voting takes place on Saturday, Feb. 3, from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. at Council Chambers, City Hall.
Election day is Tuesday, Feb. 13, and voting will take place from 9 a.m. – 8 p.m., also at Council Chambers, City Hall.
MyLloydminsterNow has profiles on the other candidates who are Leo Aguinaldo, Stan Bugiera, Ben Harrison, David Lopez, Corey McKee, Hamid Rahmanian, and Fred Sirett.
