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Municipal election: Red Deer city council candidate Sarah Harksen

Sarah Harksen is a Red Deer city council candidate.
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Sarah Harksen, Red Deer city council candidate. (Contributed photo)

Sarah Harksen is a Red Deer city council candidate.

The City of Red Deer has been my home for 17 years. In that time, I met my husband, and we have four wonderful children. Our oldest at 18 just graduated from high school this year.

I have a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology as well as a Diploma as a Legal Aid. I am an active citizen of Red Deer. Our family enjoys camping, fishing, walking and sports. During the winter you will often find me at various sporting events for our kids and their friends. Often while out and about in the community I am the one to start up a random conversations with everyone.

This year I am running for council to promote change and positive direction for our city. If elected I will address areas of concerns that I have seen throughout our community. I will address taxes for property and small business. I will advocate there be a freeze on taxes for two years both on small business and property taxes. With COVID-19 many businesses took a hit both financially and economically. We need to help bring revenue back into our community by providing the support the small businesses need. We need to start shopping locally. Personal taxes fall into this category as well. If we rise the taxes on homes and such, we will be putting stress on the citizens who are already struggling due to the ongoing pandemic.

The City of Red Deer needs more affordable housing as well as transitional housing for those who have completed their first step to recovery. At the beginning of my campaign, I advocated that I would like to see Red Deer with a municipal police force. This is something I will continue pushing for the City of Red Deer. However, our city has a high crime rate including assault and property theft. We need to combat that issue right away. I would budget for more police officers on the streets and in areas that are of high concern. With more RCMP officers on the streets monitoring high risk neighbourhoods we will hopefully see a change in some form. There should never be a price on our safety as a city and we need to put that at our most importance.

If elected I would budget more general maintenance of secondary roads in Red Deer. We have so many roads that need to be fixed, and that have been left over the years. If elected in council, my values will align those of someone who has integrity, committed to change, respect, accountability, honesty, and who will fight for the rights of our citizens.

It’s time that the voices of our citizens are heard. No more promises, but actions are needed to make change.