With no one running against him, Swift Current Mayor Al Bridal has been acclaimed for the 2024 municipal election.
Bridal announced that he would be running for mayor back in June. Since then, no other candidate has come forward. This means that when voters go to cast their ballots, the option for mayor will already be credited to Bridal.
For Bridal, the honour of serving as mayor for a second term is something he holds dear.
"It's been an honour to be Mayor these last four years," said Bridal. "Myself and city council have worked very hard at governing the city and doing what we felt was right for our citizens."
With being acclaimed, Bridal will not have to put up yard signs, debate an opponent, or otherwise take time away from his role as Mayor.
"I can spend my time at the mayor's desk, working on some files that I have been working on," said Bridal. "I would have had to suspend the work on them till after the election. So being acclaimed like this makes it nice. I can just keep working on them."
Bridal was planning to run this campaign on the same responsible spending and debt-cutting platform. Over the last four years, Bridal and city council have accomplished that goal.
One of the things he had planned to include in his run for a second term was championing the building of a new Aquatic Centre.
"That's one of the things that we definitely need, is a new Aquatic Center," said Bridal. "From all the reports and all the things we've read here at city council, our old Aquatic Center is 42 years old and it definitely needs some renovations, and some help."
Bridal promises that his next four years will be dedicated to maintaining the course he's been charting during his first term.
"We're going to do what needs being done as far as fixing our streets and sewers and all that sort of stuff," said Bridal. "We will just carry on, just like we have been doing it and treating citizens fairly and being very open about what we're doing here at City Hall."