Jerry Firth running for Lethbridge City Council this October

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Firth told LNN, “What it’s about is, paying attention to how we can create spaces and opportunities for people to come together, and create that stronger sense of community so that we can have more fruitful conversations with each other about our issues and concerns but as well as leaning towards solution-based approaches for any of those issues.”

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Firth believes supporting local is very important and can help a community thrive economically. He noted that, “local business provides a grassroots approach that has that local flare that not only drives the economics of community but also creates that culture of community, and that’s really important to me.”

He referred to local businesses as the “backbone to a community.”

ENVIRONMENT

Firth wants to start discussions environmental issues impacting the local region, saying, “with a lot of the conversations that people are having about global change and global warming, it’s important that we have conversations about what does that mean at a local level?”

“What can we do as a municipality to address those issues, as well as just any general environmental concerns. It’s important for me to have conversations with folks about environmental reforms and environmental management from that local level.”

DEMOCRATIC INTEGRITY

The fourth plank in Firth’s platform focuses on democracy.

He said, “what’s key there is that we open up as many opportunities as we can for voices to be heard across the city and that we’re paying a little more attention to that, but also holding each council member and the mayor accountable to the pledge that they make being members of council, as elected officials.”

BACKGROUND

Firth was a past president of the Rotary Club of Lethbridge Mosaic and spent about 15 years as a Canadian Armed Forces member. He retired from the Armed Forces as a Captain. In his time, he was a Commanding Officer of a Cadet Unit for seven years, and he believes his experiences in various leadership roles would be an asset as a city councillor.

Currently, Firth works in social services and said, “helping people has kind of always been my career path and it’s important to me in the work that I do that it’s always done in a way of service for others.”

As a councillor, he said it’s important to let all members of the community speak and share their opinion.

“Even if it’s not something that may be my opinion or value or perspective, it’s important for me to be open to and hearing what that means for others and valuing that. I truly believe that each person matters, it’s why I do the work that I do and that’s what I hope to bring forward as a city council member – that I can be a voice for the community and help navigate some of the difficult conversations and decisions that we are faced with.

Prior to general election day on October 18, there will be three weekends of advance voting:

October 1, 2 – City Hall (Downtown)
October 8, 9, 10 – Exhibition Park drive-through (East)
October 14, 15, 16 – ATB Centre (West)

For more information on voting in the municipal election in Lethbridge, use the city’s website here.

For more coverage from Lethbridge News Now, visit our Municipal Election 2021 page here.

by Justin Goulet

Jerry Firth running for Lethbridge City Council this October

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