Bradley Whalen. (Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Bradley Whalen running for mayor of Lethbridge

Mar 25, 2021 | 3:39 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – “How can I help?”

That is the campaign slogan for Bradley Whalen, the first candidate to officially file his nomination papers to run for the mayor of Lethbridge this fall.

Whalen is a father of five and the owner of a local restaurant, residing in Lethbridge since 2014.

He says he has been thinking seriously about running for office for around the last six months.

“I tried to reach out to some councillors, and in fact, it’s quite disturbing for me because I opened last January and I can tell you for certain that I have not had one councillor nor the mayor even walk into my small business. That’s the lifeblood of your community, that’s what’s fueling the economy of this community, and if your mayor or council can’t even come into your business, that’s a serious problem for me. That was the final straw.”

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Having been in the service sector for several years now, Whalen believes being able to connect with each and every one of the people you serve is vitally important.

That is why he committed to having a busy 2021 leading up to the municipal elections.

“I’ve spoken to a lot of small businesses and my plan is to visit all of them. I have just over seven months before this election happens and I’m going to take the time to visit all or most of the small businesses in the city that I can take the opportunity to see.”

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, he says he will not be able to do a traditional door-knocking campaign, but encourages anyone who would like to meet with him to reach out.

Whalen has three top priorities for if he would be elected the city’s next mayor.

One is to create a ward system, essentially meaning that Lethbridge would be divided into different districts and each ward would have a certain number of elected representatives specific to that area.

Another would be to create a third bridge to the west side. He says West Lethbridge is the largest sector of the city and the fastest-growing, so people need to be able to get from one place to another in an appropriate amount of time.

The final is to build a “sustainable rehabilitation community” on the outskirts of Lethbridge, somewhere that “would not affect residential neighbourhoods, would not affect industrial neighbourhoods.”

The city is guaranteed to have a new mayor this fall after Chris Spearman announced back in January that he would not be seeking re-election.

READ MORE: Spearman not running for re-election

The 2021 municipal elections take place on October 18, 2021.

More information on running for municipal office and submitting nominations for mayor, city council, or school board here.

Residents can view a list of everyone who has filed nomination papers for the election here.