Red Deer County Mayor Brent Ramsay after taking his Oath of Office on Nov. 4, 2025. (Supplied)

By Josh Hall | @Vancan19 and Ian Gustafson

received 48% of the vote

New Red Deer County mayor talks pressure of taking the helm

Nov 5, 2025 | 1:47 PM

Brent Ramsay says Tuesday’s swearing-in ceremony certainly made it feel a little more real that he’s the mayor of Red Deer County.

Ramsay defeated fellow incumbent councillors Lonny Kennett and Christine Moore to take the helm of county council.

In the Oct. 20 municipal election, Ramsay received 2,216 votes (48.1%), to Moore’s 1,443 (31.3%), and Kennett’s 952 (20.6%).

He won at all but three of the county’s 15 polling stations.

After taking the Oath of Office, now comes the pressure and expectations, he told rdnewsNOW.

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“I ran on a campaign of leadership and to get the new council working together. We have lots of new faces around the table, and we’re going to have some new ideas,” he said.

“Based on our orientation, I feel positive. I think everyone has a pretty good attitude, I see some open-minded folks, and I look forward to working with them.”

Asked about the importance of transparency, which was a talking point among council and residents prior to the election, Ramsay says it may come down to honing in on public engagement.

“It’s going to be key to increase public engagement and finding some creative ways to do that,” he said.

“I think we’ve seen a downturn in voter turnout, which was kind of disappointing, so I think the message is we’ve got to engage with the public more and get them more interested in what we’re doing.”

Voter turnout this time around was 30 per cent, with 4,611 electors hitting the polls.

That’s down from 2021 when 38 per cent of voters came out.

One of the first things on the agenda for county council, like in most places, will be the budget. That’s where he says the new ideas will come into play.

Ramsay also acknowledged that Junction 42 has been moving a little slower than many had hoped, despite expansion of the truck stop area and a new roundabout.

There have been some land sales in that area recently, so hope remains, he shared.

Then there’s the subject of working with the City of Red Deer.

“I’m looking forward to sitting down with the new mayor of the city (Cindy Jefferies) and having conversations around that [relationship]. I think we’ve got to start looking more regionally, not just the city and county, but all of our neighbouring municipalities,” Ramsay shared.

“Our residents don’t really see the borders as clearly as we do, so what’s good for the city also helps us, and what’s good for us helps the city. We have to be able to move forward collaboratively.”

Ramsay added that previous council and mayors did a good job of building said relationship and laying the foundation for collaboration.

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READ MORE: Red Deer County welcomes new council