By Nick Kuhl on December 26, 2019.
Herald photo by Ian MartensNathan Neudorf took the riding of Lethbridge East as a first-time MLA for the United Conservative Party in AprilÕs provincial election. @IMartensHerald
Dave Mabell
Lethbridge Herald
It’s been a challenging year for Nathan Neudorf. After campaigning for the United Conservative Party nomination in Lethbridge East, he’d been asked to step aside for a big-name candidate to challenge the New Democratic Party incumbent.
Changing his focus, Neudorf bid for the Livingstone-Macleod nomination, finishing second. Then suddenly, the Lethbridge East competition was open once again.
“I came back and redoubled my efforts,” starting just before Christmas and topping a field of five in February.
“And then within a week or two we were into the provincial campaign.
“We didn’t have very many funds raised, the platform wasn’t quite rolled out yet . . .”
And Neudorf found his background in construction didn’t relate that much to the rigours of an election.
“So (it was) a very steep learning curve, and really the campaign ramped up very quickly — probably one of the most contentious in Alberta’s history.”
In recent decades, he points out, most of the opposition to the long-ruling Conservatives came from the right, from Wild Rose and its precursors.
“So we have a very interesting and unique history in Alberta, going from many, many years of Conservative government to an NDP government, which was a surprise to many — possibly even the NDP – and then to go back to Conservative.”
Two major “swings” in less than five years is unprecedented in Alberta, and Neudorf says it’s been hard for some people to adjust. But the change has been positive, he believes.
“I know I probably in the past voted PC and then I was one of the number that went to Wild Rose. I was very concerned (about) the direction of the PCs, I felt that they had lost touch with what I view is the role of government, it’s to represent the people.”
After being elected last spring, “I find that my biggest challenge is to adequately walk the line between the party and the platform, and the role that I see as a Member of the Legislative Assembly to represent the people of that constituency.”
But party politics has its constraints, he’s learned.
“Lethbridge is … one of the most diverse populations in Alberta. Because we’re a constant and sustainable landing place for many immigrants.
“We are a small community, so the cost of living is comparatively low. We have the advantage of having both the college and university, we have a tremendous school system here with a diversity in school choice …”
And Lethbridge offers “some really attractive opportunities for people to move here.”
The diversified economy is based predominately on agriculture and public sector, he notes — not oil and gas.
“We’re working on developing our destination for tourists, as a gateway to the south and southern Alberta.”
There’s also a future in mining, Neudorf adds, “if we can do that sustainably and preserving our environment.”
“We’re one of the most generous cities in all of Canada,” he points out. “It speaks volumes about our community.”
One of the challenges when becoming an MLA, he says, is learning “to understand deeply the motivations of all those associations and individuals who work there — to understand the need and expectations of government, government programs, government funding and how that works with private industry in a community like ours.”
And to respond to the community’s problems, he adds.
“I don’t think it would be inappropriate to say that over the past couple of years the supervised consumption site, the mental health and addictions challenges that we have that have come to light — and wherever you stand on that issue — we have things to address.
“And our government has been very forthright in saying we want to move in a direction of treatment and recovery.”
Ideally, the goal would be to help everyone to become a positive contributor to their family, to society and their workplace.
“And yet we understand there are those individuals who aren’t able to make that happen. So how do we treat them with compassion?”
Neudorf says that kind of question “speaks to the role of government, of the private commercial community, the non-profits — and the intersection of all those.”
So governments need to learn how they can “create space” for those interactions to occur.
“And as with everything in government, there are those conversations taking place in every ministry. So it’s complex and it’s cross-ministry.”
For a new MLA, he relates, one of the most interesting challenges is learning about 23 or 24 ministries, not just one or two.
“Because we see those people on every issue, and there’s several perspectives on each, and we don’t operate those ministries in a vacuum.”
And for the government — aiming at balancing the budget, providing jobs, revitalizing the economy, getting a pipeline built — more spending isn’t the answer to every problem.
“Where we want to increase funding, because of demand or population growth — where do you find it (the money)?”
“You can try to meet all of those needs, but the offset is to create a deficit and a debt, and everybody’s version of how bad that is can vary on a relative scale. But I feel predominantly, a majority of Albertans said we can’t continue on that path.”
Of course, not everyone agrees.
“That’s a challenge and we have a very engaged population. And my office would be the first to say that since the budget came out we have a very active, vocal and engaged population with a complete spectrum of viewpoints — and we’re trying to engage them.
“We do ask for their patience, we’re getting upwards up 1,000 emails a week . . .
“We try to thoughtfully and appropriately find real answers that aren’t just a party line or a platform line but are actually thoughtful and a little more in depth. It takes time.”
And despite that, Neudorf says that dialogue doesn’t make decisions any easier. He takes time to research an issue, then to decide how to advocate for it, “how to speak to that and to balance that fine line.”
“In many cases it makes it very challenging to balance those two extremes of the spectrum and to do that thoughtfully and well,” he says. “I think that’s all I can hope to promise the people of Lethbridge.”
Looking ahead, “I do see the green shoots of some hope and promise.
“I think things that the premier is getting some unanimous support for — the meaning of Confederation with the premiers of all the provinces, to agree on rebalancing some of that federal funding, to see the necessity of working together for trade, to build on that common ground — that’s very positive.”
So Neudorf remains optimistic.
“We realize we need to protect the environment and further our energy needs at the same time. We can work together.”
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