Prokop squares off against Rudd at Taber election forum

Times Photo by Meg Noguchi. FORUM: The all Candidates Election Forum was held at the Taber Legion Hall organized by the Taber and District Chamber of Commerce on Oct. 1. Andrew Prokop (left) and Alf Rudd (right) began the forum with opening statements before pushing on to their response to various questions.

By Trevor Busch
Taber Times
editor@tabertimes.com

The Town of Taber has two challengers for the position of mayor in the upcoming municipal election on Oct. 20, with incumbent Andrew Prokop facing off against former councillor and police chief Alf Rudd.

At the Oct. 1 All Candidates Election Forum at the Taber Legion Hall organized by the Taber and District Chamber of Commerce, both candidates fielded a number of questions from the public about the future and direction of the community. 

Both Rudd and Prokop began the forum with opening statements before pushing on to their response to various questions.

The first question posed to the pair focused on Alberta sovereignty and whether the province should remain a part of Canada.

“I’ve done a lot of thinking about this. I’m sure everybody in the room has, because it’s very topical right now,” said Rudd. “I believe that Confederation is somewhat in the way of not just our province but across the country, just the way things have been set up through that document and that process of the concept of Confederation, it’s been not very fair (and) not equitable for the province of Alberta. So I’m anxious to see what the propositions are going to be, and then I’ll make up my mind. And I think that goes for everybody here. I mean, part of Canada – I’ve had a uniform on in hostile territory, been shot at for this country. And so it comes from the heart. My dad served in the war, as well, and you know the country means a lot to me. That experience left a very indelible impression on me, to the point where I get quite emotional about it. But do we remain in Canada? Do we not? It’s going to simply come down to quality of life at the end of the day and the ability to survive not only as a province, but as individual communities. And I (want) to see what they’re going to come up with. They’ve got a lot of challenges, and I think the current path that we’re on is not trending in the right direction just now, but I’m hopeful that it will and we’ll get some people in there that have some common sense and can realize that this is nationhood and not just special interest groups built for the elites.”

Prokop reserved judgement but expressed support for Canadian sovereignty while outlining that he would remain “open-minded.”

“So even at this time, there’s so much involved. There’s so much history in Canada. I don’t know how we would ever separate from Canada. As I said, I don’t have all the information. And this (would) also indicate all that information isn’t out. There’s a big decision to be made. But I can always say, with everything that’s on the table right now, I say yes – the state part of Canada – I do (support). And I said that then and right now, I could change my mind – the decision is not to be made yesterday, tomorrow, next week, but at some point. So at this stage, I just definitely say yes, but you have to be open minded, depending on what else comes out on the table. I guess never say never. But at this stage for me, I absolutely say yes, I do (support Canadian sovereignty).”

The two candidates also responded to a question on their respective leadership qualities and their pledge of honesty and integrity as core values.

“I’m not one for blowing my own horn. Election time, campaign time means you have to blow your own horn. It’s right to sell yourself,” said Prokop. “But for me, I live it. I live that. I do that daily in one form or another. Honestly, I think we have the same background policing, very similar background. Alf and I worked together over the years, worked together on council. There’s a lot of similarities with you and I, and we can have fun with it, but it’s true. And as I say, strong leadership (can grow from) authoritative roles. I chose policing as my career. Anybody in the policing world has those qualities, and without this, you don’t survive. You don’t make it – someone can learn, train, but if you don’t have it to start with, you’re not likely to ever have it entirely, right?”

Rudd detailed his personal values and the impact of his law enforcement career.

“My principles are it’s got to be legal, it’s got to be ethical, it’s got to be cost effective, it’s got to be transparency involved, and it’s got to be necessary. And those five principles applied to the decision-making matrix, if you will, have been successful for me in the past. I was awarded the Order of Merit of Police Services for work that I had done in the field of policing, and it was for building and leadership. And I also received the Alberta Achievement Award from Premier Stelmach, if you remember him back in the day. When we were just in the beginning of the victim service world, I was involved heavily with that, in my role as a police chief and actually writing the legislation that we have today. Those are things that I’ve done in the past, and it’s not that I set out to do them. They just come natural to me. You know, that’s the way you live your life. You have your own personal credo, and you live your life that way. But then I was able to reduce it down to my five little principles that, when you put your your mind to it, how is this working? And that’s how it’s working for me, just sticking to those principles.”

Always a favourite question from the public’s perspective, both candidates expressed support for shopping local.

“Great question. I believe that question came up at the last mayoral (forum). So do I shop local? Absolutely,” said Prokop. “Do I promote shopping local? Absolutely.”

“You wouldn’t be sitting here if you didn’t believe in supporting your local community.,” said Rudd. So that goes without saying, (but) we do have to shop elsewhere from time to time. And there’s no stigma to it. We like to be prudent with our dollars, but I do like shopping locally. I can find my way around the Home Hardware with my eyes closed and getting my business done, and the same with the grocery stores. It’s just the wife and I, so it’s pretty convenient to do things locally.”

The two mayoral candidates would also answer questions on Bill 50 and mayor-councillor relationships, provincial government overreach, and affordable housing challenges before making their closing statements.

For those who might have been unable to attend, the election forum was livestreamed and can be found online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWMf_ZDGjYg