Jason Phillips sees a real gap in the makeup of council and wants the opportunity to add a voice for the many young families who have been attracted to Cochrane.

The 28-year-old graduate of the Bow Valley High School has an astute interest in politics and town issues and captures his vision under the slogan "How the West Can Be." He has been considering running since late in 2016 and a challenge from his father-in-law was the determining factor.

"My father-in-law challenged me," explains Phillips. "He said, 'You definitely have an interest in this. Why don't you actually try to do something about this instead of just sitting around and talking about it and fighting about it?'"

While he speaks from the perspective of a young dad, his platform deals with issues of universal concern in the community.

He believes in the need to expand our Urgent Care Centre to 24/7 and have to a full ultrasound service. After the local centre's hours, residents have to travel to Calgary and has had to make the trip himself with his young daughter.

"As a parent, it's not fun to have to take your child in at 1 in the morning when they've fallen out of bed or they have a fever. It's a long drive and by the time you get to the children's hospital you're going to sitting there for 3 or 4 hours. We went in just after 2 and we were there until just after 6 a.m."

"I've yet to meet the parent of a newborn who isn't constantly worried about their child's health. So to have that security blanket is a huge relief."

He says the issue is not unique to young families and knowing you have urgent care in town provides comfort to people of all ages.

Traffic congestion is a problem that could have been solved with better management of the town's growth, he believes. He is pleased the Hwy. 1A/22 intersection is coming and wants to see twinning of both of these highways through town, but believes we can't underestimate the impact of other bottlenecks created by the town. That includes the number of one road in, one road out subdivisions. A resident of Fireside, it took him 20 minutes to reach downtown Cochrane for this interview and it has taken him up to a half hour to reach a downtown grocery store on a Saturday.

"As a town, we need to stop being reactive and start being proactive. We shouldn't be waiting until an intersection gets so bad that literally everybody is complaining constantly about it, which is what happen with 1A and 22. We need to start putting stuff on the books and petitioning for funding before it gets to that point because by the time it gets to the point it's too late. Everybody is angry and everybody is frustrated and it has already done damage to the reputation of the town."

He would like to reopen the town's growth management plan and believes having new neighbourhoods with larger lot sizes will help. He also believes all the infrastructure needs to put in place during development, not afterwards like a band aid.

By having larger lots he sees the spinoff of reducing parking problems being experienced by the new neighbourhoods, including his.

"Outside our house, by 8 at night you can't find a spot on the street to save your life."

He also believe it is what people expect when they come to a smaller community. If the conditions are the same as the city why would they come here, he questions.

"Cochrane is suppose to be small community wth different values than a city. When you say small town you assume more space and we're not providing that in our new communities."

Phillips says there needs to be more off-leash dog parks and that leads to his belief in better engagement.

"Engagement is a big issue. Currently the town is relying more on passive engagement. If you want to know it, you have to find it. That doesn't really work anymore. The majority of people want to know what's going on, but they want something pushed to them."

He believes they could better utilized their Facebook page and while the town website does include a lot of information, he says it's hard to navigate.

He is appalled that if you do wish to file an appeal on land decisions, you have to pay up to $250 and that restricts some people from protesting decisions.

"You might be upset that this is happening, but you're not able to voice it. In a way, it's censoring free speech by saying, 'You can't say anything unless you put money on the table.'"

He does believe the need for a community hub has been well illustrated but right now the town does not have the money to invest because of the cost of the aquatic/curling centre and the pressing infrastructure needs. He believes it makes more sense to extend the lease for the Cochrane Lions Club so they are comfortable in pursuing their plans.

He is interested in seeing more higher pay jobs here in Cochrane by expanding the commercial/industry space to to encourage companies to open in Cochrane. He also believes black fibre could be used as an incentive to attract more tech companies.

Well paying jobs are scare in Cochrane and most have to work outside the community who, given the choice, would rather work right here, he believes, pointing to tech careers.

"Those are good paying jobs and admittedly Cochrane has been ignoring that in favour of regular commercial."

He has a friend who works in the local service industry and lives with five other people in order to reside here.

He does agree with holding three council meetings a month and believes the third one should be held on a different day of the week and be a day-time meeting.

Yellow is his purposely his campaign colour because it's neutral and he doesn't have a ideaology leaning, preferring to consider ideas from all parts of the spectrum.