Citizens filled the McGrane Theatre at Portage College last Thursday at 8 p.m. to hear the platform promises and back-and-forth debate from the three mayoral candidates running for the office on Lac La Biche County Council. The upcoming by-election will be held on Sept. 5 after the recent and sudden resignation of long-standing mayor Peter Kirylchuk.
Following short opening speeches by Aurel Langevin, Ray Ewaskiw and Tom Lett, the candidates were invited to ask one question of each of their rivals, before the floor was opened to the public to ask the tough questions.
Langevin, who stepped down as a current Lac La Biche County councillor to run in the mayoral race, asked Lett, himself a former municipal leader, if he could handle the increased pressures of the current mayor's role.
The job has changed a lot since Lett was the mayor of the Town of Lac La Biche in 2006. Langevin also questioned whether Lett's recent marriage to an Edmonton woman would make it difficult for him to fulfil his local role.
Lett said he could do the job otherwise he wouldn't have announced his candidacy.
Lett asked Ewaskiw what his definition of accountable and transparent government was. Ewaskiw, who was fired from his council seat by the Minister of Municipal Affairs in 2006, told Lett that financial transparency and strong leadership is integral to the proper running of a municipality. He said his years as a school administrator and his many years in private business have given him leadership and business experience.
Ewaskiw asked Langevin whether or not a forensic financial audit should be undertaken to straighten out what a recent government-backed consultant's report said about challenges in the municipality's financial department.
Langevin said if there is no evidence of financial mismanagement, then a $200,000 forensic audit is not worth taxpayers money.
LANGEVIN DEFENDS COUNTY DECISIONS
Langevin's platform rests on making Lac La Biche County the service centre of the north. And throughout the debate he highlighted several ways that this possibility could become reality.
"In order to take advantage of the oil production that is happening we need to look at establishing Lac La Biche as a destination community for future residents and businesses," he said to the audience.
Langevin relied heavily on the Lakeshore Development Plan to enforce his views of changing Lac La Biche for the better.–expanding the big dock to include a marina, cleaning up the beaches along Churchill road, and creating vistas so that residents could enjoy the view of the lake.
All three candidates seemed to agree that the lakeshore development plan was a good idea, although Langevin was the most familiar with how it would affect Lac La Biche.
During the audience-questioning period, Langevin was routinely asked about County spending, as several audience members were concerned about his affiliations to a previous Council that has been the subject of several audits and allegations of questionable spending.
"There has been no irregularities or fraud with past Councils," said Langevin. "If there was evidence of that we would have certainly spent the money to hire an independent forensic auditor, as of now we'd like to move forward from those allegations."
Following the debate, the Lac La Biche Post caught up with Langevin to discuss how the evening went, and his next step as a mayor candidate.
"I think everything went well, I want there to be complete transparency with my campaign, and I think all those questions directed at me proved that I am willing to answer the critics and the tough questions."
EWASKIW BRINGS HOUSING CONCERNS
Ewaskiw broke up his campaign into four categories, highlighting accountable government, strong leadership, affordable housing and pushing for more localized businesses. The majority of his time during the debate was spent on deciding how best to solve the issue of affordable housing in Lac La Biche.
"It's a huge issue," Ewaskiw said. "If we don't deal with this housing crises, we won't be able to attract more residents and build this community."
Ewaskiw, a resident of the hamlet for over 50 years, has seen the ups and downs of the housing market, and provided a solid answer on how the County can work with developers to create more options for future residents.
"The majority of folks who live here can't afford Fort McMurray pricing," he said. "The County needs to offer better incentives to incoming families, whether that be through tax breaks, or working with the developers to set fixed prices on homes."
According to Ewaskiw, the County needs to hold the developers accountable and enforce regulations that must be followed, and through proper procedures such as these, Lac La Biche would be able to have more affordable housing in the future.
Working hand-in-hand with the Chamber of Commerce is another way that Ewaskiw believes the hamlet will grow.
"The County needs to work harder with the Chamber of Commerce to encourage the small businesses that are already here, and help develop new businesses that will come in the future."
The evening appeared to go well for the former councillor turned mayoral candidate.
"I hope that I was able to accurately depict what is important for this community," Ewaskiw said. "All three of us have similar platforms. It's up to the community now to decide which one of us is the right leader."
LETT PROMISES SPLASH PAD
Lett addressed the audience by saying that he was for a municipal government that was accountable to the voters, and assured the assembled citizens of Lac La Biche that he fully intended to have an open door policy when it came to their concerns and suggestions.
“Officials need input,” he said. “And more information leads to a more effective decision-making process.”
One of Lett’s major platform promises was his intention to support family oriented activities, in particular the construction of a kid’s splash park in Lac La Biche.
“It’s all about the children,” he said, speaking of his granddaughter and her request to him before he decided to run for mayor. “’Papa,’ she said to me, ‘If you win for mayor, can you do one thing for me? Can you make us a kids spray park?” Lett continued, “Everyone talks about the environment, landfills, roads, but I also promise to make sure the youth are taken care of.”
During his opening speech, Lett also talked about the importance of public safety, and his intention to work with local law enforcement to make sure that the citizens of Lac La Biche feel safe and secure in their hometown.
He also spoke of his intended support to local non-profits, and their benefit to the community, and his intention to get to the bottom of Lac La Biche’s dialysis bus debacle.
“The dialysis bus problem is an insult to our residents,” Lett said.
Lett finished by saying that the skills he possesses as a businessman and former mayor during the amalgamation will go a long way to his success as Lac La Biche’s new mayor.
OPEN FLOOR, OPEN FIRE
While the candidates’ opening speeches gave the audience an idea what the three men had in mind for Lac La Biche if elected, the open question period allowed citizens to give their potential new mayors a taste of what was on their collective minds. It was clear that hot button issues like the CN railyard, inadequate infrastructure, affordable housing and garbage pick-up had more than a few citizens hot under the collar.
After a number of residents had come forward to voice their concerns and question the candidates on close to home issues, so many in fact that not all could be heard in the time allotted, Ewaskiw, Lett and Langevin gave their closing addresses, summing up their campaign promises once more, each man requesting that the County of Lac La Biche place their trust in the candidate that they felt would lead this hamlet into years of prosperity.
