An Okotoks business owner wants to see more accessible housing and intentional growth in the town’s future.
Jessica Maurice is running for council in the upcoming municipal election.
She was first spurred to add her name to the list of nominees when the town’s housing situation began affecting her employees at Gus’s Pet Resort in Okotoks. It opened her eyes to the issue at hand, she said.
“I’ve seen, over the last seven years, the lack of housing options really affect my staff, especially the young ones just graduating high school or in their early twenties, who can’t afford to move out and stay in Okotoks so they just basically live with their parents for quite a long time after they graduate high school,” said Maurice.
“I think that’s a big disservice to our youth.”
There is a gap in the town’s housing inventory that needs to be addressed soon, she said, because young people aren’t being provided with many options for staying in Okotoks.
In addition to the housing crisis, she said as a business owner and mother in the town, she has a vested interest in its future and wants to see intentional growth into its future along with economic development.
“I think Okotoks is a great community and I would like to see some professional job opportunities brought to this town so people can live and work in this community,” said Maurice.
The annexed land provides opportunities for 50 or more years of growth, and it will be largely up to the next council to plan that growth and attract more business, she said.
It will be important to preserve the small-town feel people appreciate in Okotoks while broadening the commercial tax base and incorporating housing diversity, she said.
“It’s really about being strategic about how we develop the community,” said Maurice.
She said fiscal responsibility will be key in planning as well, and she sees herself as fiscally conservative.
Managing a business has brought experience in budgeting and running an organization with a vision in mind, which she said will bring value to making decisions at the council table when it comes to expenditures and growth.
“I’d like to make sure moving forward, as we look at expenditures and intentional growth, that we’re really looking at expenses going forward to make sure money is well-spent in this town,” said Maurice.
It is not Maurice’s first foray into politics.
She is currently the vice-president of the Foothills Conservative Party Electoral District Association, and has been involved in political advocacy at all levels of government.
Maurice’s husband, Edouard, was charged in February 2018 with aggravated assault, pointing a firearm and careless use of a firearm when intruders entered the family’s rural property and one of the offenders was shot. The charges were dropped in June 2018.
The family became the face of a fight against rural crime, and Maurice said she took up the advocacy for victims.
“I was a really strong voice,” she said. “We went out to Ottawa and spoke in front of the National Committee on Public Safety, we did some provincial public advocacy work.
She has taken some heat for living on an acreage, but Maurice said the property is within Okotoks’ annexed area, and she is currently building a new home in the Wedderburn neighbourhood.
