Chad Stewart, a longtime Airdrie resident and part-time firefighter, is seeking his first seat on city council in the 2025 municipal election.
“I’ve been here since 1996, and I’ve seen the city grow from 18,000 to over 90,000,” Stewart said in an Aug. 5 interview with DiscoverAirdrie.
Stewart has served as a part-time firefighter and registered Primary Care Paramedic with Rocky View County for 16 years. He retired from Eaton in 2024 after 26 years with the company, where he held roles in production coordination, supervision and management.
He said fiscal responsibility would be central to his campaign, but added that the city must continue expanding services and infrastructure to meet growth.
“I would like to do a deep dive into the current budget... just to understand exactly where the city is financially and fiscally,” he said. “The plan I envision is to generate revenue through the attraction of more businesses to the city.”
Stewart said expanding Airdrie’s commercial base could relieve the tax burden on residents, while continued population growth would add to the city’s bottom line.
“There’s a growing, dynamic community,” Stewart said. “As you add people, you add infrastructure... but is there a way we can do this fiscally responsibly? Is there a way we can streamline processes?”
Road bottlenecks and ambulance shortages
Stewart says tackling traffic congestion in Airdrie — particularly at the Veterans Boulevard and Main Street intersection — is a top priority if elected.
“That light might cycle three times during rush hour,” Stewart said. “I live in Reunion, and when I was working at Eaton — which is just off East Lake Boulevard, I used to ride my bike in summertime, and it was actually quicker getting home on my bike than it was in my car, because the traffic was brutal there.”
Stewart said the intersection was “definitely something I’d speak to administration about,” and suggested traffic circles could be part of the solution.
“I know we put traffic lights up all over the place — it’s the way we build things in the West here,” he said. “But I’m a huge believer in traffic circles, because they keep the traffic flowing way better. I don’t know if the land available to do a traffic circle there would be large enough... These are things that I need to look at.”
He pointed to the twinned overpass at the city’s south end as an example of infrastructure done right — and credited Airdrie-Banff MP Blake Richards for helping secure federal support.
“... That overpass down at the south end of town, they actually changed that, and over the course of a year, they made it into that twin area, which brought huge relief to the south.”
Stewart said similar creative solutions should be explored for north-end bottlenecks.
“I’m hoping there’s something we can do, if we put our heads together and be creative about it, to kind of smooth that out.”
On emergency services, Stewart said his experience as a firefighter and paramedic gives him firsthand knowledge of how growth impacts public safety.
“As populations grow, and as you get transient populations — people coming through the city all the time — bad things happen, accidents, emergencies,” he said. “There’s a higher chance of the need for that additional health-care services, whether it be ambulances, doctors, nurses, hospitals.”
“We need to go to the province and say, ‘These are the stats. This is our population. This is how many ambulances we need when we’re on red alert — because we don’t have ambulances.’”
Growth, identity and rebuilding trust
While some residents have raised concerns that Airdrie is losing its small-town character, Stewart believes the sense of community remains strong — particularly at the neighbourhood level.
“To me, Airdrie is a large city that still has a small-town feel,” he said. “You can bike across Airdrie in 20 minutes. I mean, we’re almost the same size as Red Deer... I project we’ll probably be bigger than Red Deer in three to four years.”
According to the City of Airdrie’s 2025 census, the city’s population is 90,044 — a 4.9 per cent increase from the previous year. A population forecast released in April 2024 projects 135,792 residents by 2034.
Red Deer, by comparison, recorded 109,262 residents in 2023 — a 3.4 per cent increase from the year prior, according to Statistics Canada. The 2021 federal census recorded Red Deer’s population at 100,844.
On transparency, Stewart said many residents may not see where their tax dollars are going.
“Sometimes the evidence is right in front of us — road construction, the new library, Main Street upgrades,” he said. “But I think there’s a lot happening beneath the surface that residents probably aren’t aware of.”
A city-commissioned satisfaction survey conducted in April 2025 found that 34 per cent of residents rated the value they receive for municipal tax dollars as “good” or “very good” — a drop from prior years. The survey, conducted by Y Station Communications and Research, also showed a decline in Airdrie’s overall satisfaction index, from 3.20 in 2023 to 2.99 out of 5 in 2025.
Stewart said council members should make themselves more visible to residents and deliver a consistent message.
“Maybe council members need to be more visible in communities to explain what’s going on and have that common message,” he said. “Hosting town halls would help — let people voice their concerns and ask questions.”
“It’s about action instead of words — and actually doing some of the things that the residents are concerned about,” Stewart said.
Business attraction and shifting the tax ratio
Stewart said one of his long-term goals is to shift Airdrie’s tax ratio by attracting more commercial development — reducing the tax burden on homeowners.
“The idea is that if we bring more businesses to town to offset that ratio, we can hopefully get that up to, like, say, 30, 35, 40, 45 per cent of tax revenue,” he said. “It’s about quantity of business operating within our city, not tax rate itself.”
Stewart said the ratio is more about the volume of businesses than tax levels alone. He said businesses currently account for about 27 per cent of Airdrie’s total property tax revenue.
According to the City’s 2025 Tax Rate Bylaw, Airdrie maintains a 2.1:1 residential-to-non-residential tax rate ratio — a level the city describes as part of its competitive advantage for attracting non-residential growth. By contrast, Calgary’s ratio is 3.5:1.
While Calgary is often viewed as Airdrie’s main economic competitor, Stewart said Rocky View County — particularly the Balzac area — poses a more direct challenge in attracting industrial development.
“You look at all the industrial businesses they’re bringing in there, the warehouses and so on,” he said. “Of course, they have a lot of land to be able to develop that way.”
To compete, he said the city should explore incentive models, review its permitting processes, and work with the Airdrie Chamber of Commerce and city administration to identify possible reforms.
“I’m a huge believer in incentives,” he said. “Let’s get all the ideas on the table. Doesn’t matter how crazy it may sound — whether it’s tax relief for a number of years or what have you — and let’s make a plan that’s going to be effective going forward.”
He said any strategy would need to remain flexible and guided by best practices from other municipalities.
“See what other communities have done, and then try and apply those to Airdrie,” he said. “Then modify the plan as you execute it.”
Stewart said the city’s business community is already diverse but could grow with the right incentives.
As of Dec. 31, 2024, the City of Airdrie had issued 4,797 active business licences, including 1,262 commercial or industrial operations and 2,023 home-based businesses. A further 1,512 licences were held by non-resident businesses operating in the city.
Affordable housing and permitting reform
Stewart said Airdrie’s housing market is becoming increasingly unaffordable for single-income earners and young adults entering the workforce.
“We have a lot of... single mothers, single fathers, people living by themselves — who find it difficult to get into the housing market,” he said. “Even young kids coming up who get a good-paying job — it’s still quite hard, because houses are way priced out of the range.”
Stewart said recent construction in his neighbourhood shows how little is being built below market rates.
“I went and looked at those homes — and again, executive homes, starting in [the] low 500s,” Stewart said. “Where are the low-income houses that are supposed to be built?”
He said the council must improve coordination with developers to streamline permitting and eliminate delays.
“I’ve heard horror stories regarding construction workers and companies trying to get permits in the city,” he said. “I don’t know why it’s not streamlined... definitely something I’d look into.”
Stewart also said he supports exploring a federal standard-housing template model that could fast-track municipal approvals. The program, announced in 2024, would allow cities to pre-approve common designs to reduce administrative backlog.
“If you can build like a ‘Template A’ style house, your permit [is] already set — it’s ready to roll, so it decreases the amount of time,” he said.
He said council should also work with builders to identify zoning changes and incentive models that could make below-market housing viable — especially if federal or provincial support is available.
“Builders are in business to make money. I get it — they probably make more on executive homes,” Stewart said. “But how do we make it profitable for them to build affordable housing? How do we streamline the process and actually get this built for people who can’t afford a half-million-dollar house?”
The City of Airdrie’s 2024–2030 Affordable Housing Principled Action Plan calls for zoning updates, faster permitting, downtown development incentives, and targeted outreach to private and non-profit partners to “enable housing diversity in Airdrie to support all residents.”
In September 2023, council adopted an Affordable Housing Incentive Policy that exempts municipal permit fees for qualifying below-market housing projects.
A separate Capital Investment Plan approved in 2023 outlines a $39-million strategy to create 195 new below-market homes over the next decade. Early priorities include land acquisition, funding partnerships and expanded grant support for non-profit housing agencies.
Airdrie Housing Limited, the city’s non-profit housing operator, currently reports that average wait times exceed one year — with even longer delays for three-bedroom units due to low inventory.
As of July 2025, the Calgary Real Estate Board reported that Airdrie’s housing inventory had climbed to 543 units — the highest July level since 2018. CREB attributed the increase to new listings in the row and apartment sectors, even as overall sales declined by 14 per cent compared to the previous July.
CREB said months of supply rose above three, placing “some downward pressure” on prices. Airdrie’s July benchmark price was $532,800 — nearly four per cent lower than the same time last year.
Arts, culture and the creative community
Stewart, a published author and member of the Airdrie writers’ group, said he would push for stronger municipal support for the city’s creative sector if elected.
“It’s a very creative city,” he said. “We have a number of local authors in town, and they put their books at local stores, so the local stores will get some revenue, and the author gets some revenue — they partner together.”
Stewart said one of his early priorities would be expanding access to gallery and performance space in public buildings.
“Some examples might be accessing the new library for art displays and events for local authors — maybe having local authors displayed at certain city buildings,” he said. “Maybe sponsoring a poetry slam or similar events — I was just speaking with other writers about it this week.”
Stewart said other cities offer models Airdrie could borrow.
“They would paint these banners, and then the city — working in partnership with them — would hang those banners throughout the city showcasing the local artists and their work,” he said. “Maybe that’s something we can do here.”
Stewart said the city could also support community theatre and expand youth access to drama programming.
“Bert Church has an amazing program,” he said. “Are there other theatre programs that we can help?”
Stewart said Airdrie’s creative economy includes film — and that incentives or partnerships could help raise the city’s profile as a shoot location.
“Airdrie and surrounding community has been the site of a number of movie productions as well,” Stewart said. “Is there something we can do to entice production companies to use our amazing scenery in and around the city for future films?”
“All ideas on the table — let’s pick through them to help these local artists and authors really get some exposure,” he said. “We should be proud that Airdrie has such a growing artistic and creative community.”
As of Aug. 6, the following individuals had submitted official nomination papers for the office of councillor, listed in the order received:
- Simisola Obasan
- Tomisin (Tomi) Adenipekun
- Chad Stewart
- Darrell Belyk
- Chris Glass
- Rekha Mehay
- Jay Raymundo
- Mo Fahad Shaukat
In addition, the following individuals had filed a formal Notice of Intent to Run but had not yet submitted their nomination papers:
- Joshua Elo
- Matthew Kangal
- Ron Chapman
- Dustin Murray
No mayoral candidates had submitted nomination papers as of publication.
Nominations opened Jan. 2 and will remain open until Monday, Sept. 22 at noon. Election day is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 20, 2025.
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