Westlake-Gladstone forum packs community hall

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Published on Monday, October 22, 2018

By Kira Paterson

Neepawa Banner & Press

A large crowd of almost 200 gathered in the Gladstone Community Hall on Monday, Oct. 15. The Gladstone Chamber of Commerce organized a forum for the mayoral and council candidates of the Municipality of Westlake-Gladstone and the hall was full of municipal taxpayers hoping to make an informed decision in the upcoming election.

All 13 council candidates and both of the mayoral candidates were able to attend. Each candidate was given two minutes to make their statement on stage. They introduced themselves, spoke on why they are running for election and what concerns they think are most important to the municipality.

Before the candidates had their turn, Eileen Peters, the Senior Election Official of Westlake-Gladstone gave a bit of information on some new policies for this year’s election. One of which is the change from the ward system. With the ward system, the municipality was broken down into smaller sections called wards and each section voted for a representative of their area to be on the council. Now, all the citizens of the municipality will vote for the six candidates they want on the council instead.

Hearing the statements of the candidates, most of them are in agreement about what the major concerns of the taxpayers are, one of which happened to be keeping in touch with the residents of the municipality and listening to what they think are the big problems in the area.

Possibly the biggest recurring topic in each speech was the tax rate. It was noted that the municipality is one of the largest in the province landwise, but the population is less than 3,200, which means there is a lot more infrastructure and other expenses with not a lot of taxpayers to foot the bill. Many of the candidates mentioned looking at grants and government funding to help supplement the taxpayer dollars. Others suggested revisiting the current spending plans and finding ways to make a more efficient use of the tax money.

Another issue the candidates agreed upon was equal representation of all the taxpayers. Having changed from the ward voting system, the risk is that Gladstone, being the largest of the towns in the municipality, would have the most say and that the priorities would revolve around Gladstone instead of the municipality as a whole. Many of the candidates stated they would fight for equal representation and make sure the smaller communities and the farmers in the area would be able to have their say as well.

One of the more rural concerns, especially among the farmers, is drainage and water management. Areas in Westlake-Gladstone have had problems with farmland flooding in the spring, particularly around the Big Grass Marsh, which was dammed up in the 1930s to create a marshland habitat. The candidates addressed the issue saying they wanted to find a long term drainage solution to make the flooded farmland useable again.

Many of the new candidates and a few of the incumbents also mentioned economic development and bringing in newcomers. They are looking at growing the community with bringing in new businesses, promoting the amenities and activities in the area as well as increasing community activities to draw more young people and families.

After each council candidate had their say, the mayoral candidates had the opportunity to introduce themselves. They spoke a bit about why they were running for the position and what they hoped to achieve as mayor.

After all the candidates had their two minutes in the spotlight, the assembly was encouraged to stay for refreshments. During that time, the candidates had the chance to mingle with the attendees and listen to any questions or comments they had.

The large overall turnout of the forum was quite a surprise to the Gladstone Chamber. “[The attendance] exceeded our expectations,” said Nick Beavington, member of the chamber board and emcee at the forum.

Brittany Pollard, the President of Gladstone Chamber of Commerce, was also pleased with the attendance. “I think the evening was great and the turnout was beyond anything we ever imagined,” Pollard said. “I think we have a great group of candidates this year,” she added, noting that it was great to see so many people interested in hearing what they had to say. Pollard also live streamed the event on the Gladstone Chamber of Commerce Facebook page, so anyone not able to attend the event can watch the candidates online.