Airdrie resident Sarah Zagoda has been named the candidate for New Democratic Party (NDP) in the Banff-Airdrie constituency.

"I'm running because I want to represent Airdrie and our area. We've had the same stagnant representation for many years now, and I think it's time for a change, and I want to be that change," says Zagoda.

She is a strong advocate for public education, prescription coverage, dental care, mental health support, and helping regular families. She believes the NDP offers the best solutions to these issues.

The NDP has proposed to introduce universal access to all Canadians for mental health care, dental care, and prescription drug coverage.

"These are all things that are challenging to get this day of age, especially in Alberta. Most third-party health insurance companies don't cover pre-existing conditions, so there's a lot of families falling through the cracks."

The NDP also wants to add post-secondary education to the public school system, bringing university and college learning into the grasp of everyone, regardless of income.

Zagoda believes we need to pay closer to the impacts of climate change upon the region and is concerned about allowing further coal mining in the Eastern Slopes.

She says our glaciers are melting at an unsustainable rate, pointing to research from the University of Lethbridge, Yale, and other researchers that indicate the glaciers could be gone by 2080.

"They feed the Bow River and we get all of our water from the Bow River, so it's very urgent. I think people need to start talking about it."

She'll be reaching out to people throughout the campaign.

"I want to hear from people about what kind of day-to-day struggles they have, and what major concerns they have."