County councillor not seeking reelection

By Sean Feagan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Jason Wilson, the Division 1 councillor for Wheatland County, will not be seeking reelection in the fall.

Instead, Wilson will be entering a three-year business program at Technological University Dublin in Ireland.

“I’ll be moving quite a ways away,” he said.

Wilson visited Ireland before the 2017 Alberta municipal elections and became enamoured with the country. 

“I just really enjoy the people, and that’s where my family is from,” he said.

As the youngest member of Wheatland County’s council, Wilson, 24, said making an impact was difficult at times.

“You definitely do get overlooked sometimes, just because you don’t have that experience,” he said. “I don’t pretend to know more than somebody who has been there for 30 years, like Councillor (Ben) Armstrong, who I’ve really enjoyed working with and learned a lot from.”

Wilson stressed that youth should not stop anyone from entering politics, as networking and learning from veteran leaders from across Alberta was a “huge opportunity. Not a lot of young people experience that, because they just don’t throw their hat in the ring,” he noted.

Being young did not stop him from speaking his mind, however. Wilson received national media attention for commenting on some issues, including COVID-19 restrictions and a proposed Alberta independence referendum.

“You can like it, or you can hate it, but people know where I stand – not a lot of politicians are like that,” he said.

But instead of focusing on single issues, Wilson said he mostly looks to the big picture.

“The majority of council really is looking at investing into infrastructure and attracting new businesses in the county; we are all very focused on the same goals,” he said. “I’m just happy we’ve cut the budget where we could to find efficiencies, and we put the financial future of the county and its residents in a more stable position.”

Besides acting as a councillor, Wilson wore another hat during his term, as chair of the county’s agricultural service board. 

“As a producer, I was happy to sit on that board – sometimes agriculture really lacks the next generation’s views on the industry,” he said.

Wilson is thankful for the support of his constituents and from other Wheatland councillors. While his term is ending in the fall, this might only be a pause in his political career.

“Over the next few years, I really want to focus on broadening my education, but I also don’t want to rule anything out,” he said, in response to whether he would return to politics someday. “I don’t think I could ever be completely out of politics, because I feel the need to express the unpopular opinions a lot of people think but don’t say.”