Strong Turnout at Town of Stettler Candidate Forum

A strong turnout of residents filled the HUB on Oct. 9 for the Town of Stettler’s candidate forum, where issues such as doctor recruitment, fire services and housing took centre stage.

The forum, co-hosted by the Stettler Board of Trade & the Stettler Public Library, brought together candidates for council & mayor to share their views.

Gord Lawlor, who has served two terms on town council, said he was pleased with how the forum unfolded.

“I was really pleased with how tonight went,” he said. “The volume of people in the room, & I can only imagine the volume of people online that you cannot physically see. In fact, I think all of the people benefited from the information they received tonight.”

Dean Lovell, founder of the Stettler Needs Doctors initiative, said he was impressed by the range of questions and the tone of the discussion.

“I think it went pretty well,” he said. “There were some really good questions, & I think the answers were concise and gave a perspective of each of the council and mayors that are running. Hopefully, the public got something out of that.”

Doctor Recruitment Efforts

Both candidates spoke about Stettler’s ongoing doctor recruitment efforts, highlighting the success of local collaboration.

“Between the Stettler Needs Doctors group, the Board of Trade doing the tours, and the collaboration between the County & the Town for the funding and financial aspect of it, it’s been extraordinary,” Lawlor said.

Lovell said he was proud to see how the community came together through the initiative he helped start.

“Having the opportunity to tell the story of how successful we were with that is wonderful,” he said. “Our community came together. We had great collaboration between the Town & the County, & we solved a problem that was faced by many communities.”

Town & County Fire Services Agreement

The fire services agreement between the Town & County was also a topic of discussion. Lawlor compared the complexity of the situation to “an actual domestic divorce.”

“There’s so many issues & topics that everybody has a different opinion on,” he said. “As a town council, we’ve made the decision based on what we feel is best for our taxpayers.”

Lovell, who was not on council when the separation occurred, said he could not speak to the specifics, but recognized it as an important issue for residents.

“There were certainly questions around the separation between the Town & County fire commission,” he said. “But I was not on council, so it’s hard for me to comment on what went on there.”

Need For Housing Development

Both candidates also identified housing development as a top priority.

“At the Red Deer Home Show, Mayor Sean Nolls & I spent the entire weekend visiting every developer booth to try and convince them to take a look at Stettler,” said Lawlor.

“We find ourselves in a situation where Wellings owns attractive land here that is not being developed. It’s a private business, so we have to be respectful of their decision, but I would like to know why.”

Lovell said the town faces a housing shortage & must act quickly to meet future needs.

“We are at a critical point of housing,” he said. “We need more housing in our community. We need to build about 30 houses a year & we’re currently building four or five.”

He added that a recent study projects Stettler will need about 250 new homes by 2031, spanning a range of housing types.

“We need to ensure we’re looking at all types of housing: senior housing, apartments, entry-level & single-family dwellings,” he said.

“Whether it’s incentivizing builders or offering creative approaches, we have to look at all possible opportunities.”

Lovell said communities such as Innisfail and Drumheller provide examples Stettler could learn from.

Election day is on Monday, Oct. 20, 2025.