Fort McMurray’s recent Member of Parliament is aiming for a second straight term.
Conservative David Yurdiga is looking to remain the MP for Fort McMurray – Cold Lake and help the region’s economy grow.
He’s represented the region in Ottawa since winning a by-election in 2014 to fill the position left vacant by Brian Jean. In the 2015 federal election, Yurdiga received around 60 per cent of the votes.
Yurdiga tells Mix News, if re-elected, his main focus is getting jobs back into the region.
“I’m going to be focused on attracting different types of businesses to diversify our economy. We want to be diverse enough so that we can ensure, if the economy goes down a bit, we have other avenues to create jobs and revenue for the region.”
He notes he’s been in recent talks with a company that wants to work in the forest areas around Fort McMurray to help develop ways to reduce carbon from vegetation work.
Yurdiga is also committed to continuing his work fighting for equality for people with episodic disabilities.
Meanwhile, he believes the Conservatives will do the best job making sure we access global markets.
“Energy East for an example, they kept on changing the rules so they pulled out. We had Trans Mountain approved a number of times and it’s always challenged in court, so the thing is we got to ensure our product gets to market.”
Also on the ballot is Liberal candidate Maggie Farrington, Matthew Barrett with the People’s Party of Canada, Matthew Gilks of the NDP, and Green Party’s Brian Deheer.
The election is on October 21.