Get to know your Calgary-Lougheed byelection candidates: Phillip van der Merwe

The Calgary-Lougheed byelection is set for Thursday.

Candidates are vying to replace MLA Dave Rodney, who stepped aside to make space for the new leader of the United Conservative Party, Jason Kenney, to run for a seat.

CBC Calgary's The Homestretch is profiling the candidates for the major parties.

Here's candidate Phillip van der Merwe's chat with The Homestretch Wednesday.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length. You can listen to the full interview at the end of this story.

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Q: Why did you decide to join this race?

A: As a family doctor for the last 22 years in Calgary, I have always had the well-being of my patients and Calgarians at heart. In this capacity, I have also been an advocate for health care reform for the last 10 years.

This is frankly the first government that has paid any attention to this, and that got my attention.

As a physician, I am also concerned about things like our health care system and our cancer centre. With one of my opponents, Jason Kenney, proposing deep cuts, I feel that we are putting all of that at risk, and I need to stand up and fight and protect all the things that I care about and the citizens care about.

Q: What are you saying at the door to convince people you could take on the front runner, Jason Kenney?

A: The first thing I try to do is listen to people at the doors before I tell them anything. At the end of the day, that's the job of the MLA, is to understand what are the things that matter to families living in Calgary-Lougheed.

What we are hearing is that they care about health care and the education system, so along those lines I can tell them that Mr. Kenney is proposing cuts which would jeopardize our health care system.

His party has been attacking the cancer centre, and we had been waiting more than 10 years for that after the previous Progressive Conservative government cancelled it.

We will see potentially thousands of nurses fired, longer emergency waiting times, and certainly,when it comes to the education system, we will see potentially the firing of teachers, more crowded classrooms and schools not being built.

We have been building schools, trying to cope with an enormous deficit that was left by several decades of PC mismanagement.

Q: How do you respond to accusations of fear mongering in the recent debate?

A: Mr. Kenney, being the consummate politician that he is, is very skilled at spinning.

When you talk about 20 per cent budget cuts, it will severely affect the system. Frankly, Mr. Kenney is not being honest with the families of Calgary-Lougheed, because he hasn't said what it means. We know that 20 per cent will be disastrous for our health care system and our economy.

Q: With high unemployment, how do you convince voters the economy is turning around?

A: We know that Calgary has been one of the hardest hit areas in our province and that people are still struggling. But we are having honest discussions on the doorsteps, and yes, unfortunately, there is lots of misinformation there.

Our economy is now the fastest growing in Canada. In the last year alone, we have added 72,000 new, permanent jobs to the economy. If you look at all the indicators like first housing starts, retail and manufacturing, all of those things are up.

That is exactly why we need to continue with this government's plan, so that we can make sure the economy keeps growing and that we can get people back to working and that those benefits of a growing economy actually translates to folks right here in Calgary as well.

Q: How do you defend the province's deficit and the provincial employee wage freeze?

A: I believe that there is enough money spent in health care.Other than spending to keep up with growth, I don't think we need more money in health care.

I think we can do a much better job with what we have. We can do soby looking at efficiencies, redundancies and changing the way we actually provide care.

This is exactly the message we have been taking to government for the last 10 years. If you look at the best practices and the most successful systems worldwide, those that have managed to provide better care, integrated care and lower cost care, is when you have really robust primary health care systems.

Typically, in this province, we spend less than seven per cent of primary health care. We need to change that paradigm shift in thinking, and this government is committed to doing that.

Q: Advance voting is up this election. What do you make of that?

Perhaps it says people are engaged, that we have managed to get the message out. When I started door knocking almost 28 days ago, many had not heard that a byelection was called.

Q: How do you plan to spend your time before byelection day?

I've been still working as a physician. And then in the evenings, I have been putting seven to 10 kilometres on the doors every night. We have knocked on close to 13,000 doors.

• Calgary-Lougheed byelection candidates face off at forum

Rapid fire questions for all candidates

2026 Winter Olympics, Yes or No?

A: I had the honour of carrying the Olympic torch during the Vancouver Olympics. I think it's really important that we support our Olympic athletes and that we showcase Calgary to the world. Having said that, I think we need to look at a lot more information before we make a final decision.

Carbon tax?

A: I support the carbon levy. It is a levy that, for the most part, goes back to Albertans and Calgarians. It is the sole reason why the Rachel Notley government got two new pipeline approvals from Ottawa. If we scrap this, we will see no pipelines, and our economy will be in peril again.

Provincial sales tax?

A: I don't support a provincial sales tax. Our government has a plan. We know that that plan isworking. The economy is turning around. Our economy is the fastest growing in Canada, and that plan does not include a PST.

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With files from The Homestretch