Council candidates participate in forum

By Miriam Ostermann, Associate Editor

Miriam Ostermann
Times Associate Editor

A larger than anticipated crowd filled the Strathmore Civic Centre last week to hear from candidates vying for a spot on Strathmore town council in the upcoming Oct. 16 municipal election.
The Strathmore Times, the Strathmore and District Chamber of Commerce and the Strathmore and District Agribultural Society hosted the forum on Oct. 5 providing the candidates with time for an introduction, a discussion on the biggest opportunities available in Strathmore and for closing remarks, followed by a one-on-one mingling session.
Earl Best and Pat Fule – who both have previous council experience and have served short stints as deputy mayor – are running for mayor, while 11 other Strathmore residents hope to represent Strathmore on council.
Along with Best and Fule, Peter Landry, Gordon Porteous, Tari Cockx, Bob Sobol, Melanie Corbiell, Steve Grajczyk, Jason Montgomery, Denise Peterson, Rocky Blokland, Lorraine Bauer and John Hilton-O’Brien took their seats at the table during the public event.
Several familiar faces could be spotted in the crowd, including Mayor Michael Ell and Councillor Brad Walls – both of whom will not be seeking re-election – and former Town of Strathmore chief administrative officer Dwight Stanford.
Strathmore resident Daelyn Deeg was among the younger voters that came out and will be making use of a mail-in ballot this year. While she was impressed with the event, with more women running for council and with a number of younger candidates, she was disappointed in the lack of the younger generation showing up to get educated on their candidates.
“The candidates did great, they did really well speaking; but it would be nice to see more young people in the community here watching this,” said Deeg. “A lot of people won’t vote because they aren’t informed about stuff. Hopefully if we can get someone younger in on council we can get the younger people more involved. We need to make an informed decision on what’s happening in your own town.”
When discussions turned to Strathmore’s issues, candidates placed emphasis on seniors, youth, recreation, crime, freeing up 500 acres of Strathmore lands, downtown revitalization and streamlining processes. The issues resonated with a couple of former councillors, Roger Nelson and Terry Peterson, who joked they together had 27 years of council experience.
“We wanted to hear what they had to say,” said Nelson, who served on Strathmore’s town council from 1989 until 2004. “Any time there is an election for mayor, people show up; for council, not so much. The issues haven’t changed. When the two of us got on, the town was just about 3,000 people. Our whole push would’ve been on economic development at that stage.
Nelson and Peterson added that economic development, water issues and high taxes still continue to be of concern, and that was mirrored in the event on Oct. 5.
Over 250 people were in attendance, and residents were also able to watch the forum live online. The video received 2,700 views and was shared 37 times. To view the forum, visit the Strathmore Times Facebook page.