Grande Prairie Mayor Jackie Clayton has announced she will be running for a spot on the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Board of Directors.
The Mayor will be gunning for one of two Alberta urban seats on the FCM to represent the Peace Country at a federal level.
Clayton says having a seat on the FCM will not only benefit the city but the Peace Region and Alberta as a whole.
“Having someone on the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to share concerns of this region and really to have someone representing Alberta at that table with Canadian Municipalities I think is really important,” she says.
Mayor Clayton says federal issues that affect municipalities across the country such as housing tend to be one of the key topics discussed at the FCM, and through collaboration with other municipalities, Clayton says she can bring some of the traditionally forgotten concerns of the Peace Country to the table.
“I’ll be able to bring our conversation to the table federally, and sometimes our voice doesn’t get heard at a federal table,” she says. “This council has continuously strived to tell our story better and we’ve worked on telling that story at all levels of government and this is a piece of that as well.”
Mayor Clayton is not the first member of this council to voice the concerns of the Peace Country at a higher level. Councillor Dylan Bressey currently serves as a member of the Alberta Municipalities Association, and the Mayor says having another representative on a higher level will only serve to benefit the region even further.
“We’re very fortunate to have Councillor Bressey on the Alberta Municipalities Association, representing the concerns of our region and mid-sized cities,” she says.
The FCM election is scheduled for June 9th, and Mayor Clayton says she is “optimistic” she will be elected to represent the region at a federal level.
