Burton Bailey, the newly elected Conservative MP for the Red Deer Riding, won Monday’s election with over 44,000 votes.
With the election now over, Burton Bailey had a conversation with Central Alberta Online News on what comes next — not only for him but for Red Deer.
What was your reaction once the polls were closed?
“Well, I was very humbled and honoured, you know, such a strong turn out, it was overwhelming the support that the Red Deerians showed me.”
How was the experience?
“It was very humbling and I'm very honoured that so many people stood behind me, my volunteers, my team, the whole Conservative movement that 43,000 people got out and voted that is tremendous.”
Did you have a favorite part, considering this was your first time running?
“I think I have a few favorite parts. I think voting for myself was certainly exhilarating, putting up the first big signs, putting up the first lawn sign at my father in-law's house. All of these things will be memorable. Having my family at my side, the support from friends not only from Red Deer, but from around the province and people coming door knocking from Calgary and Edmonton, just a very humbling experience to say the least.”
What about seeing your own name on the ballot?
“Well, that's when I realized that, you know, I wasn't doing the work for somebody else. I've run seven campaigns and when I wrote my name out and handed it back to the returning officer, that's when it started to sink in that this was for me.”
Is it more fun being the candidate than the campaign manager?
“That’s something that I'll have to discern over the next little bit, but it it's a lot of work whether you're the campaign manager or the candidate, just different roles, I would say.”
What are the plans and the next steps?
“Next steps, well, I look forward to joining my Conservative caucus and getting to work. I have to do some training in Ottawa. A lot of people don't understand when you're a newly elected MP, you start with nothing. So basically, I have an office to organize, staff to hire, computers to obtain, phones. I have training to do in Ottawa, so it's going to be a busy, busy few weeks. Just like our campaign. I have a very strong team and as soon as the swearing in takes place, we can start to actively create workspaces and have people in place to deal with any questions.”
What's your plan and main focus for Red Deer?
"Well, very similar to my platform that I ran on, affordability I'm going to be fighting to make housing more affordable for families in Red Deer, and there's many different things about affordability, but housing is one thing that I really feel that we've been overlooked for, for a long time. Even the recent announcement from the federal government, the city cannot use that money, so it just goes to show you it's another no promise. So that's something I'll be working on is affordable housing. Crime we need to feel safer in this community. We need to work with local leaders and law enforcement to ensure that Ottawa listens to our needs in our community and I think that we need to look at the laws surrounding the way that we treat criminals and I really support what Pierre Poilievre had as a platform for criminals. Drug recovery is another thing that is very close to me, I worked very closely with the provincial government on their recovery model, and I feel it's something that should be right across Canada. I like the approach of not enabling and you know, recovery starts with treatment. You know, we talk about recovery. The first step after recovery is transitional housing, same with our homeless population. We need transitional housing, and we don't have it here in Red Deer, and I look at our seniors, how they are being pushed out of their homes because they can't afford it and there's nowhere for them to go because there's nothing affordable. So, we need seniors, affordable housing and then in general, we just need affordable housing for your average hard-working Canadians. So, there's four different types of affordable housing, which Red Deer is lacking and It's something that I will be championing in Ottawa. It all needs to be looked at because we do need to make things more affordable for Albertans. We just cannot continue to be taxed the way we are and pay these high prices for rent, groceries. It's just not sustainable. I'm really excited to get there and hit the ground running and get on some committees and make our voices heard so that we do see some change.”
Is there anything you would like to add?
“I guess I could speak on the national results. While we didn't form government, we sent a clear message. That we want a stronger Conservative voice in Ottawa and we want to hold this Liberal government accountable, and with 41% of the national vote and 144 seats our Conservative movement is growing, and we have to look at that positively. And as a conservative movement, get started, and hold the Liberals to being accountable to Alberta.”
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