Goertzen remembered for respectful, gentle spirit

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This article was published 13/01/2023 (906 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A former municipal politician is being remembered for decades of diligence and for improving the community one small step at a time.

Cornie Goertzen, a former 30-year councillor with the RM of La Broquerie, died this week. He was 81.

Goertzen served as a councillor from 1980 to 2006 and again from 2010 to 2014.

He was also heavily involved in what is now called the Seine Rat Roseau Watershed District, chairing the organization from 2003 to 2021.

Goertzen ran twice unsuccessfully for election to the Manitoba legislature in 1988 and 1990, representing the Liberals, and also ran unsuccessfully for reeve of La Broquerie in 2014.

Larry Tetrault, a current RM of La Broquerie councillor, ran against Goertzen in 2014, and was CAO of the municipality during Goertzen’s time on council.

“He served the people of this municipality and the people in his ward with a lot of dedication,” Tetrault said. “He loved the RM of La Broquerie and the people living in it and he wanted to always build a better community and a better municipality, and he did it in a very gentle and professional and respectful way.”

Tetrault said the way Goertzen communicated with others won him the same respect in return.

“I think people treated him the same way and everybody knew that Cornie had his heart in the right place and it was to build a better municipality,” he said.

Goertzen had a heart for concrete improvements, striving to have better roads and drainage. But Tetrault said Goertzen also made sure he showed support for the entire RM.

“He even came to Habs games just to show his dedication to the whole municipality and not only his ward,” he said.

Tetrault said although both he and Goertzen lost the 2014 reeve’s race, they shared similar goals.

“We had the same wish and it was to build a better municipality,” he said. “He wanted to give back, he wanted to serve and that’s what I admire the most about Cornie. It’s always hard to lose people like that.”

“It’s always hard to lose a friend,” he added.

La Broquerie council paid tribute to Goertzen at the end of Wednesday’s meeting.

Coun. Darrell Unger, who served one term on council with Goertzen, called him “a great man to work with” who “did a fantastic job” with the watershed district.

“We’ll look at doing something special for him in the future,” Reeve Ivan Normandeau said.

Council discussed honouring Goertzen and three others who served on council for more than 30 years by placing four commemorative benches along the RM’s four-kilometre walking trail.

Goertzen’s work with the watershed district also exemplified his desire to improve things for community.

After he won the Watershed Builder Award in 2021, then-district manager Jodi Goerzen praised not only his passion, but his ability to communicate.

“He just understood the value of meeting face to face and having producers in the same room, talking about what they need on the landscape and how we can go about moving forward to protect our land and water,” she said in a 2021 interview with The Carillon.

Goertzen also served on the RHA for many years.

His son, Chris Goertzen, was a three-term mayor of Steinbach. He described his father as a great influence, both in his desire for public service and in the way he conducted himself.

“He had many a phone call from individuals who needed help, needed assistance or had opinions and he was there to listen to them,” Goertzen said. “I think when he knew he could help people, frankly when he could help underdogs, people who were maybe not quite as listened to as others are, I think that really helped shape his desire to make sure that they have a voice, make sure that they’re listened to, and advocate for them if it was appropriate.”

Goertzen said working in public service seemed to give his father energy, and the way he did it influenced him as he moved through municipal politics as well.

“He enjoyed connecting with people, that was something that got imprinted on me,” he said. “He knew that people needed to be heard and that he wanted to be respectful of them and he expected that back from them as well and generally they gave that to him.”

Chris Goertzen remembers attending his father’s council meetings as a young teen.

“He didn’t always say a lot but when he spoke it meant something.”

A farmer as well, he remembers his father as a busy man.

“Often on the farm he may not have had enough time for his own kids and he certainly tried to make it up with his grandkids,” he said, adding those are the memories he’ll treasure the most. “He was my dad.”

Goertzen said he’s already heard many stories from people who have shared the impact his father made on them.

“It’s great to see the response people have to his passing,” he said. “He made a big difference to the community, little by little, and that’s really important and I think we can all learn to do that in our daily lives.”

A viewing will take place Sunday, Jan. 15 at 1:30 p.m. at Birchwood Funeral Chapel with a memorial service to follow at 2 p.m.

-with files from Jordan Ross