There will be no election in Hudson Bay. Mayor Glenn McCaffery and five out of six councillors will return, while a newcomer will fill the last seat.
Mayor
Glenn McCaffery
There is still much to do for Glenn McCaffery, which is his main reason for staying at the table for the next four years. McCaffery was first elected as mayor in the 2016 election.
Projects that have been going on for nearly a decade are still ongoing, he said, and there is even more work for the council to do. This includes their lift station, he said, but other projects like the distribution pipe to the lagoon and the swimming pool are also concerns that the community is starting to address.
“Regardless of who comes in the future, we're going to have similar worries about maintaining our community and providing the water, for example, to the community in a safe manner.”
The obvious concern for the coming term is COVID-19, he said back at the beginning of October.
What does it actually mean to our community because we’ve been very fortunate? We haven't had any cases but it's certainly getting closer and closer to us.”
McCaffery commends the council and staff of Hudson Bay for all the work they have done so far in responding to COVID, he said.
With the majority of councillors returning, except Elvina Rumak who died away shortly before the election deadline and who was fully intending to return to council, McCaffery’s greatest hope was the next council would be able to work together as well as they have in the past.
Councillor
Alexis Armit
While Hudson Bay councillor Alexis Armit will take the acclaimed council seat win, she was a bit disappointed in the town not needing an election day because she enjoys seeing the process at work.
Looking forward to the next four years, Armit said being on the council does have some level of unpredictableness. That is one of the reasons she enjoys being part of the Hudson Bay team. A good council has a variety of voices at the table willing to listen, she said.
“I'm just hoping to continue to bring a voice to the table that you wouldn't hear otherwise; one from somebody that lives in a variety of municipalities and someone that’s maybe new to town and hasn't lived here their entire lives.”
Armit was unsure what to expect when she first ran in 2016 but came to enjoy having a seat at the table and being involved in the community. As part of the council, Armit said she has enjoyed the many different committees she has worked on.
As a teacher at the Hudson Bay Community School, she enjoyed working with her students on extracurricular activities but COVID-19 has put a damper on that this year.
Mel Cadrain
Mel Cadrain will be starting his seventh year on the council with the start of the next council term. It has been quite a learning experience for him, he said, and after his time at the table, he feels well educated in how the town works.
“I'm committed to the community and would like to continue to do what I can to help the community stay healthy and vibrant, and provide what it needs for the people that live here.”
Looking forward to the next term, Cadrain said he wants to continue to work towards a low tax structure as well as maintaining and improving Hudson Bay’s health and education facilities.
With Hudson Bay’s aging population, more attention needs to be given to maintaining medical facilities, like the hospital, clinic, as well as keeping physicians in town, and emergency response organizations, like fire, police, and RCMP, he said. Making sure the population stays active is also part of that, Cadrain said, and that will take people pushing the council in the right direction.
Cadrain has mixed feelings about the fact of Hudson Bay being election-less. On the one hand he is just happy to see all the council seats full but on the other, it’s always healthy for the community to see a little completion for council seats. It keeps people on their toes and candidates get to hear from more perspectives during election time.
Meagan Dickson
Meagan Dickson was a busy mom when she ran for a byelection seat at the Hudson Bay council table last year. While it was something she wanted to do, she said, she was reassured by the fact that if it became too much for her she would only have to last until the 2020 election.
Since COVID-19 has eaten up a lot of her opportunities to get a real feel for council, she said, she wanted to remain on the council into the next term.
When she first ran, there were no young councillors with young families like herself, she said. She wanted to give a voice to young families.
“You can't complain unless you've been on a board, so I thought, well I can't complain about the town if I’m not trying to help do something about it.”
Two major concerns that she would like to address in the coming term is the swimming pool and the lift station. It’s a scary place when residents are unsure of how the system will respond to the next intense storm or high wind situation, she said.
Dickson has been a resident of Hudson Bay for the past 25 years, works for Sasktel, and is a past recipient of the Citizen of the Year award for her extensive volunteer work.
Betty Lou Palko
When asked why she wanted to run for the Hudson Bay council again, Betty Lou Palko, a 17 year veteran of the council table, had a very simple response: why not? Anyone of sound mind and wanting to volunteer is strongly encouraged to run for council, Palko said, and being that she still fits that criteria, she saw no reason not to run again.
The next term will see Palko and the rest of the council continue working on long-term projects that are important to the community.
“We've applied for grants, we're working on environmental issues at the dump and with a water treatment plant, and we’re continuing to beautify the town and do things for the seniors. It's an ongoing thing.”
Palko is proud of a lot of things they have done as a council, she said, especially how Hudson Bay staff keep the town clean and safe all year round with an extensive plowing system in the winter and focus on sweeping and mowing in the summer.
While Palko is proud to see Hudson Bay maintain low taxes for its residents, she said the water and sewer rates are a frequent point of conversation that she is willing to address.
“We have infrastructure we have to continue to rebuild as it breaks down and our water treatment plant always needs more stuff in it and government mandating stuff.”
Sherry Pilon
This will be Sherry Pilon’s second term at the council table.
When the Hudson Bay Post Review was shut down in 2015, Pilon had already spent over 25 years in the newspaper business. Seeing how the town responded to losing its local paper drove Pilon to run for council to offer a voice for local businesses, she said.“I was disappointed with what support we had received from the town when the Post Review was shutting down. You need that business person in there.”
Maintaining doctors and bringing new businesses into the community are also major concerns, she said. While Hudson Bay is great for tourism, Pilon said council needs to work on making sure people stay in the community and provide that steady stream of tax dollars.
There were other issues that Pilon wanted to address as a town councillor, including seniors issues around medical transport. Seeing the Hudson Bay bus service come to fruition was one of the reasons that Pilon wanted to stay on council into the next term.
Pilon has lived in Hudson Bay with her family since 1988 and has raised her three girls in Hudson Bay. Knowing the importance of keeping a newspaper in a small town, Pilon opened the Hudson Bay Junction Review in January of 2016.
Kelly Stonehouse
Filling in the empty council seat at the Hudson Bay council will be Kelly Stonehouse.
The long time Hudson Bay resident said he has complained enough about how the town is run and thought to become part of the solution.
“I found I was doing a lot of complaining about what's wrong with the town, and I wasn't really doing anything to fix it. I figured what better way to get on the town council and make some of the changes I'd like.”
Besides being a part of the decision-making process, Stonehouse is happy to learn all he can and help make the town better, he said.
There’s a lot of young families in Hudson Bay, he said, so finding ways to bring in more jobs to support these families is something that he would like to look into. With a lot of people working in Alberta or British Columbia, that has a big impact on volunteerism in the community, he said.
Hudson Bay is very warm and inviting, Stonehouse said, and it only took a year or two of living away from home that he wanted to return.
“It's quiet. You know everybody here. My whole family's here. My wife's whole family's here. I don't think I could ever really leave it.”
