Candidates share their vision for Coaldale at municipal election forum

Posted on October 16, 2025 by Sunny South News

By Kristine Jean
Sunny South News

Candidates seeking a seat on Coaldale council in the upcoming municipal election shared their views, their vision and their ideas on the Town of Coaldale during a municipal election forum at Civic Square Atrium on Oct. 7. 

The all-candidates forum was hosted by the Coaldale Chamber of Commerce and was moderated by Wayne Street and Duncan Lloyd, who lead the discussion and  question series throughout the two-hour evening event. 

A total of 11 candidates in this year’s election took to the podium Tuesday evening including nine who are running for councillor and two that are running for mayor. 

Those running for mayor are Jack Van Rijn and Henry Doeve, while those running for council include Jacen Abrey, Jason Beekman, Eric Berns, Bill Chapman, Brent Ginther, Dale Pickering, Lisa Reis, Jordan Sailer, and Gary Scherer.

Prior to the start of opening statements by mayoral candidates Jack Van Rijn and Henry Doeve, moderator Wayne Street informed the audience that with the ongoing labour dispute in the Town of Coaldale, they wanted to be respectful to both sides and would not be engaging in any discussion on the topic. 

“We’re not going to address that. That’s not the Chamber’s business, that’s not our business in a political forum,” said Street. “It’s in process. We’ll let those two sides work it out as they need to and will work it out, and we respect both sides.”   

The event began with mayoral and councillor candidates opening statements, that included candidates answering the question, “What is your vision for Coaldale over the next four years, and how will you lead the community toward it?”

That was followed by a four-part question series – two series of pre-selected questions from the Chamber and two series of random questions from members of the public, both that asked questions on a variety of subjects.

Questions from the Chamber included those on attracting new businesses to Coaldale and supporting existing ones to ensure a thriving economy, balancing infrastructure investment with keeping taxes reasonable, how candidates would encourage sustainable transportation options such as cycling, walking or public transport, what initiatives they would prioritize to support families, seniors and youth in the community, how they would encourage new businesses to set up in Coaldale, priorities for municipal spending over the next four years, how they plan to manage future growth in Coaldale to avoid congestion and over development, how they would address the problems of nuisance pests, and what their vision is for public spaces, parks and recreational facilities.  

Following the pre-selected questions from the chamber, candidates were asked questions submitted from residents, either electronically prior to the forum or those submitted that evening during the event.

Those questions asked about balancing low and high density with regards to residential planning, how the pace of town growth would look under their leadership, if significant budget cuts were necessary, where would they prioritize reductions – administration, services or capital projects, would they vote based on their own judgment or vote in line with what the majority of their constituents want, what their plans are with regards to seniors’ housing, how they would work with provincial counterparts to improve medical facilities and bring in more doctors, do they support an independent Alberta, do they have a plan to cap residential tax rates, what additional recreational services would they like to see in Coaldale, what they would do to reduce red tape to grow the commercial tax base, asking to describe Coaldale’s character and culture from their perspective and what their vision is for Coaldale’s character and culture. 

Each of the mayoral candidates gave closing statements as did the candidates for council. Coaldale Chamber of Commerce president Robert Woolf also provided a few closing remarks and thanked everyone in attendance for being there. 

“I think it’s a credit to this community that we have the ability to have differences of opinions but we can come together, united as a community for the betterment of this community. I really appreciate this community and the members that are here,” said Woolf, noting the division that’s happening across this country and others, as people share differences of opinion. “I would like to see personally, and as president of the chamber, that we can put our differences aside, sit down together and listen to each other. Just listen to each other,” he added, as the audience broke into applause. “And if we do that, there’s many things this town can accomplish.”      

Coaldale resident Kathy Pitcher was attending her second municipal forum and said the event was informative and a great opportunity for residents to hear directly from the candidates. 

“I think it’s great that they have these kind of forums that residents can come to and listen to the people that are running (for council) and get involved in the electoral process, be informed on who they’ve voting for and what they stand for,” said Pitcher. “It was a great event. A lot of work goes (into) things like this and I wish more people could have come out and enjoyed it, but the ones who were here all benefited from it.”