Reeve, mayor square off in RM of Ste Anne

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This article was published 05/10/2022 (1361 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An unusual reeve’s race has emerged in the RM of Ste Anne, where a one-term incumbent is being challenged by the current mayor of the neighbouring Town of Ste Anne.

In separate phone interviews, both candidates made their case for why they should lead council for the next four years.

Saindon seeks second term

Incumbent Paul Saindon said council under his leadership has kept up with “the everyday demands of drainage and road repairs” while keeping mill rates hikes below the rate of inflation and completing several major projects.

They include a lagoon expansion, the construction of a public works shop, the purchasing of more snow-clearing equipment, the hiring of more office staff to speed up permit processing, and the creation of a parking lot for carpoolers.

Saindon is now focused on economic development. He said he wants to subdivide and sell off a rehabilitated gravel pit and use the proceeds to hire an economic development officer and to buy land suitable for commercial and industrial development.

“In the next few years, we’re also hoping to develop different residential areas within some of our existing towns,” including parks and walking paths, he added.

Pelletier plans lateral move

Challenging Saindon for the reeve’s chair is two-term Town of Ste Anne mayor Richard Pelletier, who says he isn’t content to coast through a third term as mayor when there’s work to be done next door in the RM.

“After eight years, I think I did all I could do,” Pelletier said. “Everything’s going so well in Town, and I see what’s happening with the RM, and I just want to help.”

Pelletier lives in the RM and runs a business in the Town, making him eligible to run in either municipality.

While amalgamation isn’t a plank in his platform, Pelletier said he wants the two municipalities to work together more effectively.

“The relationship between the RM and the Town has to get better,” he said.

For Pelletier, that includes arriving at a new recreation funding agreement. Pelletier said the Town spends $325,000 per year on recreation.

While 70 percent of those who use the Town’s recreation programming and facilities live in the RM, council there gives the Town $40,000 per year, which covers just 12 percent of the recreation budget.

Pelletier said he’d ask the province for help arriving at a more equitable funding formula, a move he said the RM has resisted in the past.

Asked about the election race, Saindon said he has “the upper hand in experience” over Pelletier, having served as a councillor before becoming reeve.

Saindon also said the RM is in a good place and doesn’t need to change course.

“It kind of begs the question of why, when you’ve got a position in the Town of Ste Anne, and you can’t keep that one, what makes you think you can keep another one?”

Two seek Ward 2 seat

Meanwhile, all but one ward seat on RM of Ste Anne council has been filled by incumbents who won by acclamation. They are Sarah Normandeau (Ward 1), Brent Wery (Ward 3), Brad Ingles (Ward 4), Robert Sarrasin (Ward 5), and Randy Eros (Ward 6).

In Ward 2, incumbent Jake Reimer is being challenged by Kyle Waczko. Both candidates were asked to respond to an email survey.

Waczko, who grew up on a small cattle farm in western Manitoba, is a journeyman plumber who lives in Giroux with his family. He runs the local chapter of Ducks Unlimited and is a member of Giroux’s volunteer fire department. In his spare time, he cycles to raise money for charitable causes, including childhood cancer research.

“I’ve come to learn that without volunteering and community, very little can get done,” Waczko said.

Long interested in politics, Waczko said his volunteer work made him realize how much he enjoys giving back to the community he calls home.

“People should care about what happens in their own back yards, why things happen the way they do and the reasoning behind them,” he explained.

For Waczko, the most important issue facing the RM of Ste Anne over the next term is community.

“It’s about people getting together, knowing your neighbours and looking out for one another.”

He also said he is passionate about getting younger generations involved in volunteer activities, “because they are the ones that will be stepping up for the future.”

At press time, Reimer had not returned his survey or provided a photo.

Election Day is Wednesday, Oct. 26.