Jason Stephan, the newly nominated United Conservative Party (UCP) candidate for Red Deer South, says he wants to run a principled race in the upcoming provincial election.

“I do believe that the UCP government will be a principled government and that is certainly important to me and I will try to be a very principled and honest representative for Red Deer South.

Speaking after the nomination announcement Saturday night at the Holiday Inn in Gasoline Alley, he said he heard from UPC members who were interested in three keys issues.

Many were tired of the federal government, “Acting in a political instead of a principled way in terms of pipelines and equalization,” he said.

The second issue is that the Red Deer hospital must provide necessary life-saving services for residents. The provincial government under Rachel Notley has failed to do that, he said.

The Red Deer hospital services a large population in Central Alberta but is being ignored when it comes to healthcare investment because Edmonton and Calgary have more seats, according to Stephan.

“Some life and death services are not being provided and they should. And when the government looks at what the interest of Albertans and acts in a principled way, we’ll be able to advocate strongly for that.”

The third key issue is that Red Deer South residents are concerned the provincial government is not respecting the role that parents should have in educating their children.

“I think the NDP has made the mistake of elevating the state above parents and that is a dysfunctional approach because excellence in education always necessities parental involvement and engagement,” said Stephan, who is a father of three.

UCP candidate for Red Deer North, Adriana LaGrange, congratulated Stephan.

“He is a wonderful candidate and they all ran hard races,” she said.

Stephan is a local tax lawyer and president of the Red Deer Taxpayers’ Association. He ran against Gary Davidson, Bruce Buruma, Adele Poratto and Norman Wiebe.