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Sylvan Lake’s Don MacIntyre acclaimed as Wildrose candidate

Recently acclaimed as the official Wildrose candidate for Innisfail-Sylvan Lake in the upcoming provincial election

Recently acclaimed as the official Wildrose candidate for Innisfail-Sylvan Lake in the upcoming provincial election, Sylvan Lake’s Don MacIntyre is now entering full campaign mode.

As the only candidate vying for the Wildrose nomination, MacIntyre was acclaimed last Friday night. While the nod was expected, MacIntyre said having confirmation now allows him to expand his campaign to focus on the bigger picture.

“I’ve been covering (the riding) hard for the last four-and-a-half weeks or so and met as many of the Wildrosers in this riding as I possibly could in that period of time,” he said. “Now I’m moving to get the Wildrose message out into the general public.”

MacIntyre said his campaigning efforts so far have focused on listening – a process through which he’s become aware of a “tearing of social fabric” throughout the province.

In an urban setting, he’s most concerned with recent governments’ “failure to invest in proper schools for a growing population” locally, the area’s absence of an urgent care facility, and stagnant provincial funding for Family and Community Support Services (FCSS).

“That’s tearing the social fabric – that hurts a community long term,” he said.

Similarly, in a rural setting, he’s most concerned with economic, environmental and generational sustainability, and farmers’ inability to prevent “industrial trespassing” from utility-related construction on their land.

“These are the issues that people are telling me, and these are the issues that I’m going to fight for,” he said.

The 59-year-old NAIT instructor feels his “breadth of knowledge and experience” has allowed him to recognize the need for change in the province.

And he wants to be part of that change.

“We need people with some very strong morals and ethics who are not swayed by the winds of politics and who will stand their ground in the face of adversity,” he said. “I’m not a sit-on-the-sidelines-and-complain person; I really do like to get things done, and that’s the kind of leadership I would bring to our community.”