Barrhead’s two mayoral candidates had a chance to size each other up last week during a one-on-one debate.
Gerry St. Pierre and Mark Vriend were guest speakers at Thursday’s Barrhead &District Chamber Commerce meeting. About 25 Chamber members were present.
The hour-long debate at the Seniors Drop-in Centre touched on such subjects as economic growth, the challenge of keeping young people in Barrhead and transportation.
Views were also expressed about the Town’s relationship with the County.
Each candidate was given 10 minutes to make a presentation. A question and answer session followed.
Vriend introduced himself as a 47-year-old father-of-three, a resident of Barrhead county since Grade 3 and a businessman with extensive experience in agriculture, commercial buildings and logging, working on projects in towns and counties across Alberta. He has also been employed in the oil fields and acted as a consultant for projects.
It was no secret, he said, that a few years ago he had to sell his active businesses to deal with worsening bone marrow cancer. However, his health challenge – which involved a very successful bone marrow transplant – was not a subject for this forum.
Vriend said his business projects, not all of them successful, had led to a lot of dealings with municipalities.
“I have been told I have no political experience but I have spent more time in town council chambers than a lot of small town politicians,” he said.
He added that he and his wife, Janet, had run independently and with partners a number of other thriving small businesses.
“I have a long history of helping people succeed, and for the most part it was just through giving encouragement and giving them opportunity. This has been a personal and business success for us and although I have never spoken publicly and freely about these things it seems now is the time to do so.
“It is important for me to demonstrate my abilities and strengths to show that I am without a doubt qualified to be the Mayor of Barrhead.”
Vriend told of the story of how he helped a school friend from Grade 2 relocate from the city to Barrhead, finding a shop for him.
“He did it all on his own financially. I helped by only encouraging him, looking around for buildings and showing him the town. It turned out he was a very successful small businessman.”
Such success contradicted claims that the town was dying.
Pointing out the importance of keeping local dollars in the community, Vriend said there were many companies in Barrhead that offered just as good or even better services as those elsewhere.
Essential to Barrhead’s future economic vitality, added Vriend, was a positive relationship between the Town and County.
As in a marriage, the two partners depended on each other for prosperity.
Vriend also said Barrhead had to be a welcoming place to live and do business.
“Our attitude, what we say, what we do, how we feel, what we provide, is like a welcoming or warning beacon to all,” he said.
Gerry St. Pierre, a former Town councillor and Barrhead &District Co-op manager, said he had been a visible member of the Barrhead community for 27 years.
This meant that in a sense he had been campaigning for public office for that length of time.
St. Pierre said the focus of his presentation would be the relationship of the Town and business, how the two are intertwined, and how the area could attract more businesses.
“First of all, the operation of the Town of Barrhead is a business,” he said. “We are in the service business. We collect taxes. You pay us as taxpayers to provide those services, and those services are the essential services such as the infrastructure, the water, sewer, and roadways, and the other fringe services, that are mandatory to a community this size, such as the recreational services, the parks and facilities such as the Agrena.”
The way to continue to attract new businesses and ensure existing ones are viable and sustainable is by the Town doing its job “very, very well.”
“Nobody is going to want to move into Barrhead to open up a new hardware store in Main Street if they hear rumours that the street is dug up half the winter because of water main breaks or that you are going to get a boiled water advisory every few months because of a situation at the water treatment plant.”
St. Pierre said the plant had been upgraded in the wake of more stringent standards.
“I still feel we are getting good value for money, cents per litre of water that you can drink,” he said.
St. Pierre said recreational services should be considered essential for a town like Barrhead.
It was important to build facilities for the future – not just for those living the area now.
“The issue right now and that is a contentious issue is the swimming pool. Yes, this town needs a swimming pool, but something we can afford, something that people can be proud of and be proud to use,” he said.
St. Pierre said Barrhead was made up of 12,000-plus people in the town and county. Although there were two councils, there was just one community, he added.
“As long as these two stakeholders do not sit around the same table and be governed by one jurisdiction we will constantly be at loggerheads regarding issues, especially with recreation,” he said.
St. Pierre said he would like to see over the next four years some firm, productive and constructive dialogue on the two jurisdictions becoming one.
What is your position on economic development?
St. Pierre:
St. Pierre said he was chairman of the Economic Development Board a few years ago before his first term in Town council.
Although an active board with two economic development officers, said St. Pierre, it proved hard to convince some Town councillors that the project was effective and worth supporting.
“I found it frustrating,” he said.
For example, the board had worked diligently for months to attract Pollard Banknote to Barrhead and eventually signed a land contract. However, there was a perception that the board had played no role in this success – instead it was all down to former MLA Ken Kowalski.
St. Pierre said that as Mayor he might revisit the idea of an economic development office, if his fellow councillors deemed it workable.
Vriend:
Vriend said he didn’t have a point-by-point plan, but he felt it was important for people to work on having a very positive, “can do” attitude.
“We need to be excited about things happening,” he said, pointing out that economic planning was long-term and didn’t happen overnight.
Potential businesses should be encouraged to put down roots and face as little red tape as possible.
“The main thing for us is to have the right attitude, look outside the box and avoid negativities and encourage positives,” he said.
“Do I have a plan? No, but I do have a vision,” he added.
How do we keep kids in the town?
Vriend:
Vriend said he had the opportunity to go past the schools most mornings and was always excited to see children.
“I hope there is a place for my kids to come back to,” he said.
He said his second son is 19, has Down’s Syndrome, goes to King’s College and intends returning to Barrhead.
“That makes me feel good,” he said. Vriend added Barrhead had to offer the right package – including good employment prospects – to encourage young people to make a home here.
St. Pierre:
St. Pierre said the Town had to carry out its responsibilities to the full. That included following through with a 20-year plan to upgrade infrastructure.
“We are five years ahead of schedule, we have to continue with that,” he said.
St. Pierre said recreation facilities, such as the proposed swimming pool, were very important.
“Is it going to be the Taj Mahal like in West Edmonton Mall? No, we can’t afford that. But we can afford something nice and healthy.”
St. Pierre said Barrhead should also see seniors as a great industry.
“It takes a lot of young people to look after our seniors,” he said.
Where does Vriend stand on the relationship between councils? St. Pierre has already made his position clear.
Vriend:
Vriend said he had been trying to find out why it had never happened, but still didn’t know the reason.
“Some people say it’s because of taxes, some people say it’s because they couldn’t get along,” he said.
On the pool issue, Vriend wondered whether the County had been invited to get on board from the start.
He said the County and Town relationship was akin to a marriage. The municipalities were interdependent.
“I am all for partnerships,” he said.
“I am a little ticked off that if I become Mayor my wife can’t help me because I don’t pretend know everything on my own.”
“Working together with the County is essential for viability,” he added.
Would the candidates support an accessible transport service?
St. Pierre:
St. Pierre said an accessible taxi service about 12 years ago had been an absolute disaster.
Finding drivers had proved difficult, he said. There had also been the issue of competition with a private business.
Finally the service was turned over to the private business and run into the ground. The keys were then returned to the Town.
“I wouldn’t want to see a repeat of that disaster,” St. Pierre said.
St. Pierre said the issue had only recently resurfaced with newspaper reports of someone being stranded and 92-year-old Doug Gibb setting up his own gratis service.
“I am reminded of a very profound and astute statement by Mr. Gibb when he said ‘I am doing it for the people who need it, not for the people who want it’. That’s where I have an issue with it - there are a lot of people who would use it because it is convenient even though they could afford a taxi.”
St. Pierre accepted there were those who desperately needed transport, but people in the community had to ask themselves whether they were prepared to fund it.
Vriend:
Vriend said he didn’t have a good handle on the issue, despite talking to Blue Heron Support Services’ Ralph Helder, who has been helping to organize the local transportation survey.
The question of money was a difficult one for the community to decide.
On a personal note, Vriend said: “I have a real hard time with the amount of money they spent on me in the health care system but I am sure glad they spent it.”
