Another candidate has tossed her hat into the ring for the mayoral race.

Charlotte Blackwell officially put in her intent papers on March 10. Blackwell has lived in Airdrie for 10 years, and says she has had a passion for politics ever since her school days. Although she's never participated in municipal politics in the past, Blackwell says she's considered running for mayor a number of times. With this election, things broke just right.

While she's never held office, Blackwell says her past jobs as a nurse and as a special needs learning assistant with Rocky View have given her skills that will help her if she wins in October.

"My past careers show that I have passion, critical thinking skills, I advocate for other people, and I think those are all qualities that we need in a leader."

With Airdrie's growth, Blackwell says one unique challenge the Mayor will face is finding a balance between accommodating a growing population while maintaining the small town identity Airdrie is known for.

"We need to provide services for those people, housing for those people, jobs for those people. But on the same note, we pride ourselves on that small town feel, so we need to be able to keep that closeness, that community that we have here in Airdrie."

Blackwell believes the small town feel can be cultivated through continued investment into community events like the rodeo and Canada.

Blackwell also wants to prioritize two age groups that she feels are sometimes forgotten.

"Between the two demographics, they make up almost half of our population. I think we need to do more for them. We need to remember that the seniors built this town that we all love so much, and the youth are the ones that are up and coming."

Blackwell says she has many ideas to engage youth and seniors, including involving youth with seniors clubs.

 

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