Dear Editor,
Thank God election silliness/stupidity only happens every 4 years. Let me share with you our experiences over the last couple of days. On Tuesday, October 1, we received either a phone message or an e-mail from the chairman of a local group called FACES (Fort Assiniboine Community Enhancement Society). He was calling regarding a proposed political forum to be held in Fort Assiniboine on October 8th (the same evening as the regular Fort Legion Meeting). The meeting was only for people running for Woodlands County Council seats, but not the School Board seats for Pembina Hills.
Imagine our surprise when the present County Councillor, Mr. Nieslony discussed with Council on Tuesday evening the fact that “his” committee had been working on this meeting for the last 3 weeks. Oh ya, I forgot to tell you: FACES was created in Fort Assiniboine 3 years ago by Mr. Nieslony. He has and does remind County Council at every opportunity that this is “his” committee.
Imagine our surprise when Wednesday morning, we found a flyer in our mail boxes advertising the upcoming forum. We immediately contacted Chris Redington, the chairman of the committee. Our first question was how the heck he could do this without checking to see if the candidates were available to take part and the second was why they didn’t seem to think it was important to have the 5 candidates for the School Board attend the forum.
He stated that time restraints were the reason for the short notice of the meeting and why they never invited the school candidates. Remember now, Mr. Nieslony told County Council that the committee had been planning this meeting for 3 weeks. They had time to book a location for the meeting and to publish and mail out a notice.
We hope no one will question our absence at a forum that we just found out about put on by a committee that if you listen, the present Councillor says it is his committee and they seem to have some sort of political agenda.
For those of you who want to meet and question those candidates for both Woodlands County Council Division 6 &7 and the Pembina Hills candidates for Ward 1, a meeting will be held on October 15th from 7 – 9 at the Legion Hall in Fort Assiniboine.
Respectfully, Dale Kluin
