Meet your candidate: Greg Weadick

For the next two weeks, Global Lethbridge will be profiling the city’s political candidates from all parties. Today, we take a look at Lethbridge-West incumbent, Greg Weadick.

Sixty-one year old Weadick has held the Lethbridge-West riding for the Progressive Conservatives since 2008. In that race he kept ahead of the Liberals and won with 44% of the vote. In 2012, he did more of the same, that time against Shannon Phillips and a surging NDP. Weadick’s political career, however, started far earlier than that.

“My political life started back in the early 90’s, late 80’s when I became involved with the Chamber of Commerce,” said Weadick. “In working with the Chamber of Commerce, I had a lot of people asking me to run for city council.”

Weadick was elected to council in 1992 and worked there for nearly a decade. He eventually retired back to his private life doing environmental work until 2007.

“When Clint Dunford retired, who’d done an amazing job as our MLA here, I was asked if I would consider running to replace Clint.”

Weadick became the Lethbridge-West MLA and was later assigned by then Premier Ed Stelmach to be Minister of Advanced Education and Technology. Under Premier Alison Redford, he was appointed Associate Minister of Municipal Affairs.

Following a cabinet shuffle with Jim Prentice, Weadick found himself without a seat in cabinet, though he still has plenty to keep himself busy.

Weadick says he will continue to keep a close eye on the area’s education and infrastructure. He also says rural agriculture in Southern Alberta is just as important to this province as oil and gas and will fight to see it well represented.

“That’s the role of the MLA,” he said. “To find out what’s really, really important to the constituents and then go out and make sure the folks in Edmonton understand what’s really critical to us.”

Albertans will go to the polls on May 5th. Tomorrow Global Lethbridge will profile Ron Bain with the Wildrose Party.