Candidate Interview: Harry Heck

By Katy Anderson

<1. What do you think the big issues in this election are?
2. How are you planning to address the city’s crime problem?
3. What can the city do to ease the crunch on affordable housing?
4. What transportation infrastructure need would you address first?
5. What separates you from the other candidates?

1. Number one for me is homelessness. It’s what’s motivating me. I couldn’t sleep at night, concerned about the direction of the city. As a native Calgarian, I’m not used to seeing this kind of crime, the lack of safety, the cost of living is out of control, and the homelessness is out of control. I think the city is losing its prestige in the world, and certainly lagging behind in North America.

2. Crime is a big factor, part of the factor being homelessness. We’ve let desperate conditions to exist, an society shares that responsibility. We need to deal with this homelessness issue, and get people off the street first and foremost. Then we can free up our police officers so they can focus on the true crime and allow people to live and treat them with respect and dignity.

3. That’s such a no-brainer. We’re way behind in even providing affordable housing. Right today we could designate communities around learning institution as “SH” meaning student housing. We could immediately give landlords tax breaks and put controls on the rent that they’re charging.

4. Without a doubt LRT and buses. Mostly LRT, as LRT is what most people like to travel on. We can fix that instantly by increasing the amount of cars by increasing the platforms from three car platforms to five. Why that hasn’t been done in the past is beyond me. Right now we’re spending more money on new lines that essentially take years to get in the system, we need to solve it immediately.

5. I really haven’t paid much attention to the other candidates. I went door-to-door and got my nomination signatures, even though I’m a native Calgarian who could have got them from friends and colleagues. Because of this, my platform is based on what Calgarian’s needs are. I’m not trying to sell an agenda, I’m trying to sell the needs of Calgarians. Hopefully that will get enough press and people will judge that for themselves.

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