By Aaron Mahoney (@Mahones93 on Twitter)

Lethbridge Housing Authority CAO joins five-person race for Lethbridge-East UCP nomination

Dec 13, 2018 | 12:02 PM

LETHBRIDGE – Lethbridge Housing Authority’s Chief Administrative Officer Robin James is throwing her name into the race for the United Conservative Party’s Lethbridge-East nomination battle.

She joins City of Lethbridge Project Manager Bryan Litchfield, Business Owner Nathan Neudorf, entrepreneur and motivational speaker Kimberly Lyall, and Lethbridge College Development Manager Angela Zuba who have already announced.

James, at an announcement on Thursday, Dec. 12, said her purpose in running is to continue serving the community, just at a different level.

“I’ve been working in housing and homelessness for the last 12 years, as well as being a local business owner, so I have a passion for our community,” she continued. “I’ve grown up here, lived here my entire life here, and I want to be able to give something back at a policy level to create some change at a higher level of government.”

Having experience of what people on the front lines deal with when it comes to the homelessness issue and the drug issue is something James believes can differentiate her from the other candidates.

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“I understand how the social policies of government are rolled out. I also understand that even the most well-intentioned pieces of legislation when they’re implemented on the front line can look very different,” James said, adding the experience dealing with social policy makes her strong contestant for the nomination.

One of the main criticisms of the UCP is on the social issues side in the province, and that’s another area where James believes she would have a valuable voice.

“I know they [the UCP] have a very strong economic policy and they’re looking forward to that, but with any good government, you always need balance. I’m excited for an opportunity to be able to provide that balance and have my voice heard on a Lethbridge level.”James says she would look at creating legislation if elected that could be implemented on the front lines to lift people up.“If we don’t create legislation and policies that help people with an exit strategy to the situations they’re in, then we can’t help them have a better life and a better future,” James said.

While there is still no confirmed date for when the UCP Lethbridge-East nomination contest will take place, it’s believed it will happen in January.