David Lopez is entering the Lloydminster political landscape seeking the vacant council seat in the Feb. 13 by-election.
The business and family man is a first-generation Canadian whose parents moved to Lloydminster via Edmonton from Spain. He contrasts wants with needs saying he brings common sense and “if we want something, how do we pay for it.”
However, his pragmatism sees the new event centre and hockey arena as a done deal.
“How do we make sure that it’s not a burden on the taxpayer? The arena is here, it’s being built. Now what does this cost us every year? How do we make sure that we don’t get into projects where we can’t afford it any more?”
The micro-computer specialist has been a member of the Conservative Party since he was 18 years old and says he loves politics. He volunteers with numerous groups including the health foundation, hockey, and lacrosse and he put his body on the line to cycle and raise funds in the Bike for Breakfast trek for school programs in 2021.
He loves the community and wants to help in building the legacy.
“Now I want to keep this community as something I’m proud to send to the next generation. I hope my kids want to move back here because we have got a vibrant community that has everything they want to come back to,” says Lopez.
Strengths of Lloydminster
Looking at what Lloydminster has going for it, Lopez says he loves the fact that the city has all the amenities like rinks, baseball diamonds, soccer fields, indoor pool, and Bud Miller Park among others.
“We have got world-class facilities. We have got one of the top golf courses in Saskatchewan. We just had the Astec Safety Curling Challenge and nine of the top ten curlers in the world were here in Lloydminster.”
Challenges facing Lloydminster
Returning to challenges, he sees the loss of WestJet flying to Lloydminster as topping the list.
“If we want to bring doctors, professionals, and large companies, we need to have some way for them to travel. And if we don’t have it, then it’s going to be one of those marks on us that people don’t want to bring business to Lloydminster.”
With his background in business, real estate, and construction, Lopez asks whether a consultant must always be hired or whether staff can be empowered to make decisions without fear of losing their job.
“I have talked to staff at the City who have concerns and they have solutions. They feel they can’t talk to anyone because if they say something, they could potentially lose their job.”
Lopez says he wants to work with Administration to empower staff “instead of spending money on consulting fees.”
Provincial issues affecting Lloydminster
Turning to issues that are provincial but affect the municipality, he says Lloydminster needs a new hospital.
“When you talk to the doctors in this community, they say that we need a new hospital. If that’s true or not, I don’t know. I don’t know all the background information.”
He continues it may be possible to fix the hospital, but as he has seen in construction, sometimes it’s cheaper to build brand new.
“At the end of the day, it costs us more than if we had torn down the old one and put up a new one.”
On housing and the plight of the unhoused, Lopez says, “Lloydminster must “push on the two provinces to help us figure out how we fix this problem. I don’t think we can go at it alone. We don’t have the funds and the dollars. We have to be advocates for the unhoused. There is no silver bullet.”
He sees getting the unhoused into housing then the downtown core can be revitalized as well. He likes to attend the YourVoice forum and he has engaged with the consultants on downtown, but says there’s still not anything that is attracting anybody downtown. He says he loves downtown and owns property there. He sees some type of area that is available with activities like live entertainment after 5 p.m. that will bring people downtown.
Reason to vote for Lopez
Responding to why people should vote for him, Lopez says he brings some common sense. He looks at things from a business lens. “If a group wants something, then find solutions that we don’t burden ourselves with taxes,” says Lopez.
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, Darrell Dunn, Ben Harrison, Corey McKee, Hamid Rahmanian, and Fred Sirett.
