All three of the Nipawin council byelection candidates present at a public all-candidates forum agreed – they support the direction of the town’s current council.
“The only change I’d like to make is to be part of the present council,” Leslie McBain said to the audience at the Sept. 6 forum hosted by the Nipawin Chamber of Commerce.
“I see some changes. There’s more to come,” Kelly Peterson said. “I do support the direction that we are going in and I do want to be a part of that.”
“I do think that they’re focusing on the residents that we have in our community and I’d like to support the work that they are doing,” Jan Boughen said.
Mary Kube, who’s the fourth person running for the council spot vacated by Marla Walton, was unable to attend the forum but she submitted written responses to the Chamber answering some of the questions asked at the forum.
“Like the rest of our candidates, I’ve seen a number of changes and it sounds as though there are more to come,” she wrote. “Given the news we’ve been reading in the last months about special and committee meetings, I’d say there’s been some significant thought put into council’s work to date.”
The byelection will be held Sept. 20.
Kelly Peterson
Peterson has worked as a medical transcriptionist at the Nipawin Hospital for 10 years. She has served as the chair of the local Ducks Unlimited chapter and the Premier’s Walleye Cup.
“I think it’s given me the organizational skills and the time management skills that I need. It’s a big commitment, this is also a big commitment.”
Peterson ran for a council position in the regular civic election in 2016.
“I have the determination and the drive and the desire to do this job,” she said. “Why should you vote for me? Because I really want this job. Bottom line. I was more disappointed than I thought I would be when I didn’t win last fall. I just really want to be a part of this new council. I like the direction that they’re going in. I think there’s a lot more work to do.”
Jan Boughen
Boughen has been manager of the KidsFirst Program for 11 years.
“Through this work, I have an understanding of the needs of children and families in Nipawin. I believe this understanding would support me to bring an unique perspective to council.”
She has served on a number of boards, including the town’s parks and recreation board, the Nipawin Integrated Services Committee, Nipawin Interagency Committee and Partners to End Poverty.
Through an evidence-based approach based on the town’s strengths, Boughen said there’s a need to remove barriers for items like housing, transportation and childcare, as well as supporting people to be employed, return to school, or access the services they need.
The candidate said there was a need to add citizens voices to some aspects of governance.
“We need to examine ways to improve input into community planning processes that will include more of our citizens’ input.”
Leslie McBain
McBain is semi-retired. He has committed volunteer time to soccer, baseball, Little Rock Curling and the air cadet program, where he served as local civilian committee chair.
“I believe that my experience in the service industry in Nipawin and 10 years of self-employment here will give me insights into the operation and problems of the town and varied concerns of the people in Nipawin.”
The candidate said there were many issues facing the town, including recycling, the Evergreen Centre, traffic control and housing. He added the town needed a way to create an environment to attract new businesses.
“If elected, I would work with council to streamline processes in an effort to reduce red tape in an effort to simplify the decision-making process.”
McBain said residents should vote for him because he has the drive and desire to make a difference in the community and the time to commit.
Mary Kube
Kube wrote she has worked in many short-term positions that involved skills as varied as personal care, helping run programs, team building and running a till. She wrote she thrives when she’s jumping to learn something new.
“I’ve learned that compassion and empathy are as essential as interpreting contracts, public speaking skills, and being organized,” she wrote. “There’s been a human element in everything I’ve done throughout my work life and that to me is the best quality I can offer you.”
She’s interested in supporting employee, human, and LGTBQ rights. She’s intrigued in politics as it’s about working with finite resources to achieve what the public demands.
“Thinking back to the day my nomination form was signed and reading the questions presented, it seems there is still people in town that feel left out and perhaps unheard. I can only be one vote and one voice. I would be honored to be that voice.”
The candidates on the issues
Incentives to promote Main Street businesses
Peterson: “I think Main Street needs some help. There’s lots of empty buildings,” she said, adding that she’d like to find out what types of programs are available before making a commitment.
McBain: “It’s going to take a community effort,” he said. “I’ve seen it since I’ve come to Nipawin: people will preach, ‘shop local, shop local,’ and they buy half of their house stuff in P.A. and the other half in Saskatoon. We have to actually be a community and shop locally so our prices in Nipawin can come down and we can bring more people for business.”
Boughen: “I think part of the solution to this problem is having a focus on what can we do to retain the businesses that we have and how are we supporting the businesses that already exist in our community – and then how can we grow our Main Street in collaboration with the Chamber.”
Kube: “Perhaps special shopping events throughout the year can be created that encourage shopping locally. There are many excellent ideas online for this,” she wrote. “Maybe the BID and Chamber could work with local owners and plan a tour of businesses for sale to prospective owners and entrepreneurs. Service clubs, students and volunteers could help window painting and setting up displays to enhance each building.”
Improving RCMP response times
Boughen: “There are connections that can be made with the RCMP that can develop partnerships that create programming that will support families, maybe who have been victimized, or support people who are at risk of becoming criminals. There are a number of different programs out there, there are agencies working on it and council can certainly connect with those agencies.”
Peterson: “I know they have a tough job, they do the best that they can with the area that they have to cover and what we can do about response times, that’s a RCMP issue. I don’t know if the town or council can even begin to dictate how they can do their job.”
McBain: The candidate said that in the 1970s, there was more money and the RCMP were more proactive. Now, they are more reactive.
“The only way we can fix that is to raise taxes so we can bring in more officers and that is not cheap,” he said, adding many smaller communities struggle to have one officer.
Kube: “We can and do help one another. In town we have Citizens on Patrol, they’ve been quiet a few years now, I think, but it appears they are starting up again. We could look at a Neighborhood Watch program to supplement this,” adding that Nipawin used to have a Block Parents program and that should be revisited.
Taxes shifting to businesses
There were a few questions expressing concern that this year’s tax bill for businesses has increased, while that of residences has decreased. The town has increased the amount of revenue it has gathered by 2.2 per cent, but as properties have been assessed, it’s difficult to compare this year’s taxes to last year’s on a general level.
The three candidates said they weren’t fully aware of the process council used to decide how this year’s tax levy would be collected, saying they’d like to know more before committing to any answer. Kube wrote later that she felt council did the best they could with what they had.
As for tax cuts, all three agreed that to fund that, civic services would have to be cut, as there’s no great surplus in revenues.
Closed meetings
Another question was concern about the amount of meetings, closed to the public, council has been holding.
All four candidates said they were confident that all of the meetings were closed for a reason.
According to Saskatchewan law, meetings can be closed to the public if it concerns long range or strategic planning, or it is within one of the exemptions in the Local Authority Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Those exemptions include any decision that affects a very few, identifiable individuals; anything that would affect legal proceedings, third party proprietary information; or negotiations over specific pieces of property.
All bylaws and resolutions must be made at a public meeting of council.
