Brock Hale

Brock Hale is from the Harlow neighbourhood and was thrust into the spot light over a land development deal that he and his neighbours thought wasn’t a good fit. He joins Brian on the Porch to discuss his reasons for running for city council. He thinks the city as a whole can be run more efficiently.

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Transcript

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The further I got into our kind of, battle, the frustration kind of grew and grew and, and I was doing a lot of complaining and whining and, I don't like complaining and whining about something without being willing to do something about it. And so for sure, that definitely did, sparked my interest into this. And, and sparked my interest in wanting to help out in the city. This episode of Bring Back the Porch, brought to you by Bernie Leahy, River Street Realty. Let's get you home. And this time on the porch. Our guest is Brock Hale. Welcome, Brock. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Candidate for medicine at City council on October 20th. That's. That's right. Here we are. Yeah. Now, it's been said many times you can't fight City Hall. But you did. What? Or jumping right, right. Into the defense because it's. That's what got you into this. That that is true. I'll rewind even a little, a little bit before that. I'm a junior high school, French immersion teacher. And, a few years ago, I was given a social studies class to teach, and I didn't think that that was something that I would want to do it. I didn't particularly like social studies growing up. But grade nine social, we talk a lot about government and politics, and I realized I do like it more than I thought I did. Maybe I was, I got older and matured. So that was a first little seed. And then, yes, the past couple of years we've been dealing a lot. Myself, my family and our neighborhood in general have been doing a lot with City Hall and a battle that we had there. And, that definitely led me even more into this road. The further I got into our kind of, battle, the frustration kind of grew and grew and, and I was doing a lot of complaining and whining and, I don't like complaining and whining about something without being willing to do something about it. And so for sure, that definitely did. Sparked my interest into this and, and sparked my interest in wanting to help out in the city. The issue at hand was the, development proposed development on, first Street in the Harlow neighborhood that would have blocked, a view from the neighbors looking to the south. Yeah. Yes, that's exactly right. So the Harlow neighborhood, we had a lot of concerns regarding this development from shadowing and privacy and drainage and parking and and several other concerns. And, a lot of residents had these concerns, and I ended up being the one kind of at the head of it all. And, I rallied the neighborhood and we, we had a whole bunch of legitimate concerns, and I thought that we could go into City Hall with concerns and they would say, okay, come on in. Let's sit down. Let's, let's hear your concerns. Let's see how we can navigate these. Let's brainstorm together and come up with solutions that work for the city, for developer, for for neighbors. And, that wasn't that wasn't the reaction we got. It wasn't as warm and welcoming as an invite as I thought it might be. It was a lot of unreturned emails, a lot of unanswered phone calls and just frustration and pass the buck and pass the buck and no answers. And, I realized it was a little bit of, a broken system, I guess, or a game where you really can't win there, where it's kind of they set the rules and you're just kind of a pawn in their game. And it was really frustrating that it felt like as residents, we were kind of the afterthought in a lot of that. Yeah. So what did you learn from that experience? Oh, jeepers, I learned a ton. I learned that as much as I was frustrated, I also found this world interesting. It was frustrating, and I was very angry at times. A lot of us were. But I realized it was kind of an interesting world, to me. I also learned that, I learned a lot more about just kind of the city workings from reading the MGA, from reading municipal development plans, from reading our bylaws. I read a lot more of all that stuff than I ever thought I would. And so I definitely learned a ton, and I learned kind of how to talk to people, how to talk with our neighbors, hear their concerns, kind of put it together in a cohesive argument, and try to bring those forward. So I learned a lot for sure. So an advocate for your neighborhood. Yeah. And that's and again, so that's it seemed like a a logical step to be an advocate for our neighborhood, towards kind of an advocate for the people. And that's what I'm hoping to do as a councilors. Well, the council with fellow councilors, with residents, with admin, with Cao, whoever that might be now. But yeah, just to be someone that can hear those ideas, put them together, brainstorm with people, work with, with everyone in Medicine Hat. Your background, you mentioned that you are a teacher currently. Did you grow up in Medicine Hat? Yeah I did. So I was born and raised here in Medicine Hat. And so I went to school here in medicine, and I went through the French immersion program here. I went to not and then Crescent Heights. I've spent some time in Europe and then in Edmonton finishing my schooling. But then, as quick as I heard, me and my wife, my wife is actually from Romania. I met her when I lived in Romania and, but as quick as we could, we wanted to get back to medicine that we like the size of Medicine Hat. We like the weather. We like that our. My family's here. It's just it's a great city. So we wanted to come back here. So I've been, teaching now in medicine, out from junior high school for the last 12 years. How's the experience been on the campaign trail? Oh, it's. I think it's been fun. It. I'm not going to lie to me. I there have been a lot of surprises because I've never done this before. The amount of ups and downs. Some days I'm feeling great and I'm loving it. And it's so fun meeting people. And other days I'm. I'm shaking my head and wondering what in the world I got myself into. And feeling discouraged. But ultimately, it's just a neat experience. And I've and I've really liked it. I never leave an event where we get to go meet people feeling, feeling down and wondering why I did this. Sometimes at my home, I'm wondering why I do it, but, just meeting people and going to the events and and all the different sides of it have been a learning curve. But an adventure. And and it's it's been fun for me. Has it been an moment for you? Oh, I didn't ever think about that. A call, I guess, is kind of an moment. And maybe I should have thought of this the other day. After the first advanced polling Pauling's on set last Saturday, I ran into someone at Costco, and he shook my hand and said, hey, good luck, man. He's like, actually, I just voted for you. I'm like, whoa! I don't know that I ever thought in my life that there would be a time where people would be voting for me. So that was one that really stood out to me. But just the the other thing that's been kind of maybe the most surprising is how involved the city has been. And I don't know if every election is like this. I have a feeling that not that this one is a little bit more, involved in the whole city is invested in this, and it's just so fun to go people to go places and people recognize me and to just see the excitement around and the engagement around this election. Your interaction with the other candidates has been good or bad. Very good. I we were just commenting the other day, and that was another thing I didn't realize on the campaign trail how much we would hang out. Like, we have got to spend a lot of time together as me and the other candidates and, I come from this world. They come here. But for this past month or so, we've been hanging out and seeing each other a lot. And, I was just commenting to my parents yesterday that no matter the eight that get in, I feel like there's a lot of good choices. And, And I won't be. I won't be sad. Whoever those eight are, I think we got some good. Choices in conversation with some of the other candidates that have been across the table here on the porch. That has been a common theme from the other candidates. They say that they have hope for the future, that they're the 39 people that have let their name stand, that there will be a good group elected no matter who wins or loses, and that it will be good for the city of Madison. That. Yeah, I absolutely agree. And I'm I mean, obviously, I hope to be a part of that. And I hope that we can have a good variety and I think we will have a good variety of age, experience, work experience, a, a teacher, an engineer, a lawyer, whatever it might be. I think we got a lot of good candidates and a lot of different backgrounds, a lot of different experiences, and and people that just care. And we care even about each other in this past couple months. So I 100% agree. It's been really been really neat and encouraging. Has it been one issue that has come to the forefront for you over the last three weeks since, Nomination Day? Yeah, I think it's just the the expenses and the cost of living and that's, that's tied to a lot of different things, whether that's utilities or the South Side Event Center that gets brought up or the MC or the salmon solar farm. But it all comes back to, people in medicine that are struggling more and more to make ends meet. And what can we do about that? So I, I look forward to kind of working on, on that issue, but that seems to be the biggest issue is, is how can we make life easier for residents of medicine and not such a struggle? Or you mentioned a couple of things here that I wanted to talk to you about. The mic is, at the top of the list, because that is a skill that a lot of other counselors and other centers don't need to worry about, because we have our own utility here, and it is one of the responsibilities of the council to look after that. The idea is maybe that some of that can be moved off of the plate of the city council. Are you in favor of that? I'm. I'm not in favor of the mic, as in letting a different corporation make a lot of those decisions. And that got voted down. I've been going to a lot of the council meetings, and I know that got voted down and and so now with our brainstorming, it seems other ideas of how could we not go all the way with an MC, but find a kind of a middle ground where we do have more energy experts? Kind of on that board or in those conversations and not, councilor, city councilor who might not be an expert on those things. So I'm not in favor of the MC. It still felt like it was giving up too much control. But I am in favor of exploring other ideas where we could have other, committees help council navigate it to make sure we have expert eyes on it at all times. And with the energy. The Sanders solar project you mentioned, they have spent, quite a bit of money on that already. Would you like to see that go forward or not? So I know I've listened to a lot of these other podcasts, and we have a lot of other candidates that I've talked to, heard more experts in a lot of these fields than I am. But again, I think it'll be good for council to have lots of different experts in different fields. But so energy, is not my expertise, but from what I know of, solar, I'm not opposed to exploring the idea. I'm not sure that I'm 100% committed to, investing the millions and millions of dollars that I would take right now. I know they have a few million into it so far. But to explore those avenues, I think it would be foolish of us not to explore other, more green energy sources. So I think we need to start looking into those things. I don't know the exact answer yet. And how much to commit, and I will. I'm curious to look and read and do more research to see, what that answer will be. Exactly. But right now, I'm not, I'm not a hard no. And, and, but I, I'm leaning more. Yes, but we need to I want to learn more. And I think the council needs to know more. And we need to talk with the experts. I know Mira and other people are very, informed and opinion in this, and I know I would be curious to talk to those experts and get more information. And you mentioned the South Side Recreation Center, too. That would be something that young families might be interested in, but some of the other members of the community arts. Too much money. We don't need that. Yeah, it's a tricky one. With anything that we do, there's obviously going to be the cost associated with it. And if we want this, well, what are we at the expense of what? And so for me, we need to see not only our needs versus wants, but what our priorities are. For myself, I have a young family, I. I teach youth and teenagers. I teach some Z classes, too. And, the physical activity and family, family activities are important to me, so I would like to see that. It's a tricky one because I realize the cost associated with that. But I also see the future, coming, the young ones coming up. And I think they we need places for them. We need great supports for them. And we need places that they can go to be with each other and, and and be active and be involved. And I think that's that's an important one for me. It's either an investment or it's a cost. And that's, I guess, the decision that has to be made. Some have said that we need to invest in that in order to attract economic development to Madison, that because the amenities that a city could offer, quality of life, sometimes impacts whether, you know, companies want to come here, bring jobs, expand our tax base. Yeah, I, I like thinking of that as well as as an investment rather than a cost. So something that we're we're investing in medicine that because we care about we want to attract young families, we want to attract more business. We want the city to be an enjoyable place to live. We want people to stay here. We want families here. And so to think of it as an investment in something that can draw people or keep people in medicine, I, I like that expression. Stampede is also been coming to, medicine that city council frequently with hat in hand, looking for some contributions to work that they want to do on their site. Are you in favor or against contributing taxpayer money? Yeah, I, I, I would want to again look at more of the information and as a if elected as a councilor, there would be a lot of reading and research and background to look at all this. How much money do we have? How much have we typically invested in Stampede? I'm not opposed to investing in them and supporting them. I found it a bit peculiar when the city did say, we have this much, and they say, okay, well, we'll get back to you, you know, and so I'm curious to see what that next step is and what they come forward with next. But, I'm not opposed to supporting that thing. I think it's a big part of medicine. And again, investing in Medicine hat, but I want to look at more of those numbers and see what they bring forward next. You mentioned affordability off the top. And one of the key components of that are property taxes and utilities. Some have been campaigning on 0% tax increases. Do you think that's doable? I, I don't I would like to keep it as low as possible and I think we can right now they're looking at the 5.6% or whatever it was. I don't think we need to go that high. I think we can find ways to run our city more cost effectively, more efficiently, and so that we don't need to raise taxes entirely. I'm just so hesitant to make, a big, bold promise of a 0% increase. I would love to see it happen if I if I get in and we can look at the numbers and find ways to make that work. Absolutely. But I, I, I don't want to make that big, bold promise. And, I think that there may be there may be taxes, even in my term, even if, if elected. But I want to keep that down as as much as I can. But again, look at those numbers, those needs wants, what we value all that stuff. Yeah. One of the other things that people see, forward facing to the public is the situation in the downtown with many people who don't seem to have a permanent place to go. And they're congregating in our parks. There was, the Mustardseed was trying to find a location where they could offer services and shelter that has been pulled back. Your thoughts on that problem? I think this is going I think this is an incredibly important and a delicate, situation that we need to tackle with sensitivity and compassion. But it does need addressing. I think we need to find help, from all the different supports we can, whether that's provincially mustardseed in root cellar. But to bring out and and the people who this affects and and bring them all to the table and find a solution. The thing that and this kind of goes back to that first conversation of I felt like sometimes, City Hall would come up with these ideas and then and then propose it and then afterwards. And that's how the people find out where. I think a better idea might be to bring them all to the table from the beginning. The root cellar, the mustard seed, some of these people that would be affected with this, and the city and say, hey, here are some options. Here's why there's pros and cons to this talk with mental health experts, addiction experts and and just kind of brainstorm together rather than find a what we think is a solution for them. And then, okay, this is what you get. And I think that kind of put the mustard seed in a little bit of a tricky situation. And they eventually kind of pulled that permit or or stepped away from that situation. So I think it'll be important to bring people to the table from the beginning, to try to tackle that as best as we can. But it for sure is a important and challenging, sensitive situation that we need to work on. Your thoughts on how effective the City of Medicinal has been in communicating to the public over the last four years, because you were involved on the frontline issue? Yeah. And I will also say our Harlow neighborhood has been, involved in a situation that was terrible communication and very frustrating. And then we've been involved in a situation that was done way, way better and was an impressive communication. And they have new people in place at City Hall that are helping with this type of thing. So currently on First Street, it's closed right now. There's a bunch of construction, there's a park that they're redoing. And again, because of I was I had gathered a lot of people in the resident or in the neighborhood and residents to, to chat with them and with the development issue, the someone from the city reached out to me and said, hey, we're doing we need to do some construction on this park. We need to do we need to shut down First Street. And they said, we're letting you know ahead of time. We want feedback on what the park should look like. We want to know concerns from the neighborhood. And this was all ahead of time. And and it was wonderful. It was great to be approached as concerned residents, ahead of time and have an opinion on what the park should look like. What kind of path did we want going through? What kind of playground did we want a basketball court? And so we were able to see a situation that was very, in my opinion, poorly done, and then a situation that was very well done. And and so I think they are trying to improve. I don't think they're bad people at City Hall. And so I really appreciate that. And if we can do more of, of, of the latter going forward, I think we, we can make progress. And the last four years have been difficult for the current members of city council. Do you have any empathy for them? I do, in our, in our battles with City Hall, I will call it, I have gotten to know quite a few of the councilors and any of them that I've got to know I like as people. They were. It was a tough situation, managing different dynamics, different conflict. It was really unfortunate. I do I have sympathy for them. Absolutely. Being in the public eye like that, I can't imagine is easy. I also was frustrated with how it all went down, though, as a resident and how much it cost and how much drama there was that I feel got in the way of of council operating effectively. But but I do have sympathy and I and I know it can't be an easy job, and I know there was lots of pieces to it that I don't understand it, but in chatting with them, I know, I know, they're good people that care. And it became a difficult, ugly situation. One of the words that's been kicked around a lot in the campaign is transparency. Some have said that maybe this council was too transparent. They did too much in open council and it looked like they were dithering. Your thoughts. Yeah. It's a it's a different, a difficult line to walk I suppose. What do residents need to know? What do they not need to know? I, I would rather on the side of transparent, but you're right. Maybe there was too much in the sense of the airing your dirty laundry in public. Right. And and it got ugly. And maybe not everyone needs to see that. So there are times where council needs to deal with things in private. But it's a, it's a tricky line to walk. I do think of myself though as someone fairly transparent. I mean, I don't I don't hide who I am or what I believe or what I think. I don't try to talk in in riddles. I feel like what you see with me is that's what you get. And so I'm genuine and caring in that sense. But it'll be a tricky line, for sure, of what is what the public needs to know, what they and when does it need to be in in private. And it's tricky. When we go into the ballot box and we have 39 choices and only eight X's that we can mark to a maximum, why should I put one beside the name of Brock Hale? Yeah, I think, I've learned a lot and, and I've shown that I, that I care about this city. I've also shown that I'm willing to work with those around me. I'm really good at taking in different opinions and and having a different opinion from someone, but then working together with that person to move forward, whether that's my way or their way. But to find a way to move forward, even in different opinions. I also think I bring a different, aspect that maybe a lot of other candidates don't. I know I am busy as a teacher and with a young family, but that also means I have a different perspective that I think would be valuable on council to to start to pass that torch to the next generation, I think will be important in Medicine Hat. So I'm just I just care about Medicine Hat and I bring a, a dynamic or a perspective that, that other people don't have. And I'm excited to see how it goes on Monday. It's crazy that it's getting so close. Yeah, it's been a quick four weeks. Well, maybe for you, for me, it's I feel like it's been a while now, so I'm ready for Monday to come. All right. Brock Hale, candidate for medicine at City Council October 20th. Thanks for the visit. Thank you very much for having me. Thanks. For.