Kelly Allard
For Council

Thank you for stopping by! This website is currently being updated, more articles will be added over the coming days and weeks. I'm a long-time Medicine Hat resident. I’ve worked, studied, and raised a family here — I'm once again running for Council. I've learned much over the last 4 years when covering Council and local events as an Investigative Journalist for the Medicine Hat Owl. 

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Platform - Top 3 Issues

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• Restoring Power to Council​ In 2008 Council held the power to create department and divisions, hire and fire the City Clerk, the City Solicitor as well as the top administrators (aka Managing Directors). The City Clerk and the City Solicitor reported directly to Council; Council was expected to consider the advice of the CM.
  
  That changed in 2015. Over the past ten years, power has shifted from Council to the City Manager (CM). Part time Council members saw fit to delegate their responsibilities to the CM believing they could trust the CM implicitly.
  
  Spoiler - they could not.
  
  We've had too many City Managers abuse their power. I've personally heard many stories of the fear and incredibly low morale that runs rampant at City Hall among staff members. That needs to be remedied; people should not have to work in fear. It's time to step up and protect our employees from petulant, grudge holding City Managers.
   

• The Unhoused and The Mustard Seed The Mustard Seed has failed the residents of Medicine Hat and the Unhoused. We all deserve better. We don't have to reinvent the wheel. Here's an article I wrote about one possible solution which has been proven successful.
  
  The City has also failed our residents. As of late June, the Resilient and Inclusive Task Force has yet to produce any visible results. We heard at a Public Services Committee meeting in May that the Mustard Seed was still viewing potential locations; that makes it very difficult to have a shelter set up in time for cold weather. 
  
  People are dying on our streets. Yes, housing is the responsibility of the Province but these are our residents. The City of Medicine Hat has set an example before, we can do it again.
   

• Better Money Management We can no longer rely on gas and oil. This city has never learned to balance a budget on property taxes alone. They've always used the revenues from oil and gas to pay for their overspending. Our oil and gas is now gone; we face hundreds of millions of dollars in costs for our asset retirement obligations. Now we are using the electrical profits and dipping into our reserves - this is unsustainable. 
   

• The Rest of My Platform
   

• Better Transit

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• Attracting New Residents
   

• Improving Downtown and the Waterfront
   

• Changing Part Time Council Members to Full Time

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• Ensuring Integrity and Fairness In City Hall
  I've discovered some disturbing things after hearing stories about nepotism, cronyism, toxic workplace and fear of reprisal. It all sounds like a bad movie, it’s surreal. To combat that, I will take an all anonymous tips. Tips sent to this website are anonymous, just enter in a fake e-mail address. ​​

 

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TESTIMONIALS