She said she had been thinking about running for a seat at the Estevan City Council table for some time and felt now was an opportune time to test the local political waters.
Marge Young, a local, vocal advocate for the twinning of Highways 39 and 6 (south) with an emphasis on safety within the local and regional transportation corridors, said civic politics has always interested her.
A retired educator, Young has been a resident of Estevan since 1968 and she said she is now in a position where she can devote time to local issues.
"I have children and grandchildren here, so I do really care where our city is going."
Young began her teaching career in 1974 and obtained her education degree from the University of Regina in 1979 and taught for 30 years in the local system, retiring from Spruce Ridge School in 2007.
On the local volunteer front, Young said she was on the original Estevan Summer Games executive committee from 1978 to 1980 and was chairwoman for all the swimming, diving and water polo events that were held at the former Woodlawn Regional Park pool. She said she enjoyed working with the likes of Games co-ordinators like Ed Komarnicki and Lynn Prime and she still has the Games flag that flew over the pool during that event.
In 1991, Young was co-founder of an attention deficit disorder support group for parents that provided educational tools for teachers and physicians and organized a conference at ECS that dealt with that affliction, which was an emerging concern in the healthcare field at the time. She later served on a provincial committee that looked into learning disabilities and ADD.
In 2009, Young turned her attention to the highway twinning topic and the need for safer roads and transportation issues in the region, and she also took on membership duties for the Conservative's Souris-Moose Mountain Constituency Association.
"I am concerned with Estevan's $38 million debt load, but first I'll have to learn how we got to that point and then how can we pay it down. I believe we should begin now. At the same time, I know we also have to repave a lot of streets, but first the watermains below them need to be replaced. Somehow we have to get that done, too. There is no pride in saying we have low taxes, if we don't have a good looking city."
Young said she remains concerned over the CP Railway's transloading facility in the central part of the city and rail transportation of oil and other dangerous commodities, generally. She feels safer tanker cars have to be deployed quickly to transport the oil and there needs to be manifest information regarding dangerous commodities rolling through the city on rail or truck on a regular basis. That's why she's happy to see some action finally on a truck bypass, but concerns remain regarding its entry and exit points. She feels an intersection on Highway 47 north will need to be monitored closely with the installation of traffic lights, if necessary. With an increasing number of impaired drivers on the road, and corresponding increases in policing enforcement, the need for safety features is valid, she said.
With all this focus on safety, she said she'll remain interested in how first responders are being trained in and around Estevan and how they communicate with nearby rural municipalities and towns.
"The volume of traffic is only going to get larger and more intense," she said.
"It's all a part of who we are as citizens and how safe we are."
