Businessman Grant Berg has announced his campaign for City Council (Photo supplied by Grant Berg)

By Shaun Penner

Municipal Politics

Grant Berg announces campaign for Grande Prairie City Council seat

Mar 22, 2021 | 3:07 PM

Grant Berg is throwing his hat back into the political arena, this time campaigning for a seat on Grande Prairie City Council.

The long-time Grande Prairie resident and business owner announced his campaign Monday afternoon.

Berg, who has previous election experience running for the Grande Prairie seat with the Alberta Party in the 2019 provincial election, says he hadn’t really considered running in this fall’s election.

However, he says after former Grande Prairie Mayor Bill Given announced back in October he would not be seeking re-election before ultimately stepping down to become CAO in Jasper in January, many people instantly asked him about whether he would put forward his name to run for Mayor.

“I see Mayor as a full-time job, and I already have one of those,” said Berg, who is the owner of Grant Berg Gallery at 214 Place.

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“I actually think I could make a difference. I’ve been volunteering on a number of boards and charities over the last 30 years, and in many ways, this is a natural progression on how I can further that community work.”

Berg says he has a few issues he would like to tackle if he gets the chance to sit at the council table.

One of those is further addressing and advocating for supports and services around homelessness and addiction issues in the city.

“I would like to see us do what we can,” said Berg. “Do I think we can solve it? No. But we can certainly make it better because it almost can’t get any worse.

“And with COVID, I know that it is magnified out there.”

Pointing back to his 2019 provincial campaign, Berg says that advocacy ties into an overriding theme he heard from many households in Grande Prairie as he went door-to-door was citizen’s overall mental health and wellbeing.

He estimates that about a third of the people he spoke with during that campaign said mental health was one of their biggest challenges on a day-to-day basis.

“That really resonated with me, because we also within our family have a history of mental health and addiction issues,” said Berg. “I know it up close and personal, as opposed to at an arms-length. I know what a lot of these people go through and these families go through.

“If I can help facilitate… better treatment, more advocacy, then I am there for it.”

Berg also points to looming funding cuts to municipal budgets from the province in the coming years, like the 25 per cent decrease to the Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI).

Having fallen in love with the community after he moved here three decades ago, he says he does not want the community to have to sacrifice the services and opportunities it has provided for years.

“We are going to see a lot less money from the province, we’re going to see a lot less services coming from the province. So, the city will have to take some strong looks at ‘Do we cut services? How do we deliver services?’,” said Berg. “These conversations are going to have to happen, and if I’m the first guy that will bring that up during the election, then terrific, because these conversations have to start right away.”

Berg becomes the fifth Grande Prairie resident to put their name forward for a run at council in this fall’s election. The other official candidates include:

• Ejibola Adetokunbo-Taiwo
• Shae Guy
• Ngemital Rovin
• Michael O’Connor

Bryan Petryshyn is the only resident who has so far put their name forward to run for Mayor in 2021.

The next municipal election day in Alberta is October 18, 2021.