Residents left no stone unturned, asking all of the tough questions at the Town of Bonnyville Open Candidates Forum.
The Bonnyville and District Chamber of Commerce welcomed candidates and residents alike into Dr. Bernard Brosseau School on Thursday Oct. 5 for the event.
Each of the nine candidates in the upcoming municipal election gave opening statements before answering any and all questions from the floor. The chamber kicked things off, asking each candidate to lay out their plan for growing business in Bonnyville.
Having run two businesses over the course of his time in Bonnyville, Rene Van Brabant expressed confidence in being able to grow the community with business savvy and a balanced budget.
“Bonnyville has to be run like a business, and I've got business experience. Bonnyville runs on a budget, and we have to stay within that budget. I know I can do the job,” said Van Brabant.
Ray Prevost would like to see council improve the way they market the town.
“There's something called a reverse trades fair, where you go out and sell your municipality, and try to encourage businesses to come to the town. It's a very simple process and we have so much to sell. We don't sell our community enough,” said Prevost.
Offering a different perspective, Nestor Kunec would like to see the town expand into areas outside of oil and gas, while still supporting the region's main industry.
“One of the things I would like to ensure is that oil will be $100 a barrel, but I can't do that. The price of oil could go down, and then what do we do? We need to diversify our economy. There is absolutely no reason we cannot attract post-secondary education to Bonnyville,” Kunec expressed.
Combating rural crime was on the mind of hopeful councillors and residents alike. Every candidate touched on crime at one point in their opening comments, before being asked to go a little more in-depth with their plan to keep crime down.
Candidates expressed a wide-range of views on the topic, with some speaking in favour of finding ways to create a stronger police presence in town.
“Our policing committee works with the RCMP and we get monthly updates at council. Speeding in town is atrocious, I live on 46 St. and it's like a racetrack. We need more funding. We can't afford to have more members right now, we just don't have the funds, but we need more police,” expressed Lorna Storoschuk.
Others attacked the question in a different way, promising to question the Alberta government on the issue of releasing offenders soon after they're picked up.
Many were in agreement that if repeat offenders were held in custody, the community would be a lot safer.
“We need to get together with our neighbouring communities and discuss ways to reduce crime together. We also need to lobby the provincial government to stress that this justice system is not working,” said Chad Colbourne. “Our RCMP are doing their job and catching criminals, we need the justice system to hold them there.”
Candidates suggested everything from asking the town's current RCMP members to patrol the streets more often, to community watch programs as solutions to the highly discussed issue.
Offering an alternate approach, Elisa Brosseau explained how creating jobs could play a big part in lowering crime rates.
“A part of this solution goes back to job creation. All of a sudden we have a whole new level of people committing crimes because they don't have jobs, and they don't have the opportunity to provide for their families. I know that's not the entire solution, but I think it will help,” expressed Brosseau.
Another issue on the forefront of residents' and candidates' minds was regional cooperation, and even the possibility of a regional government.
That specific inquiry was met with mixed results. Some candidates strongly opposed to the idea, while others believe a regional government is inevitable.
“I don't know if we need to look at a regional government, but I think it's important to look at regional collaboration. We need to have a sense of family with the Village of Glendon, the City of Cold Lake, and the MD of Bonnyville,” said Morris Mickalyk
No stranger to the idea of regional cooperation, Brian McEvoy built on Mickalyk's comment. He offered the Bonnyville Regional Fire Authority as a shining example of what can come with a good relationship between neighboring municipalities.
“I was hired 21-years ago to come up here and create something regional. Working with council we did develop something regional with the Bonnyville Regional Fire Authority. I'm very much in favour of regional cooperation, as for regional government, that idea needs to be studied more,” McEvoy noted.
Prevost and Van Brabant were open to the idea of an eventual regional government, if it's financially feasible.
Jim Cheverie and Storoschuk, however, were all for a regional government, if it means cutting administration costs in the region.
“There's nothing wrong with a regional government. Today, between Bonnyville, Cold Lake, and Glendon, there's a total population of 35,000 people, with 20 councillors, and four mayors and reeves. That sounds overboard to me,” said Cheverie.
After satisfying all of the public's questions, the candidates shared closing thoughts with the crowd, encouraging everyone to get out and vote on Oct. 16.
