Elizabeth Karpinchick runs against Raymond Maynard for mayor of St Pierre-Jolys

Agronomist Elizabeth Karpinchick has added her name to this election cycle as a candidate for mayor and she is running on a platform centred around community engagement and consultation along with responsible development.

“So, working with our current municipal government is really dysfunctional right now, and we need to really overhaul that system. Like, how do committees in town interact with their government? Because right now, it’s like talking to a wall…I really want to make it easier for people to participate in their community, because it’s a challenge working with the municipal government, and it shouldn’t be,” she said.

Karpinchick has sat on multiple committees since she moved to Manitoba in 2012. She has volunteered on the St Pierre Agricultural Society since 2016, sat on the Manitoba Organic Alliance as president for six years, she’s on the St Pierre Community Development Corporation (CDC), as president, and she is currently sitting on the board for the Institute of Agrologists as a member. Living her Canadian dream, she also drove the Zamboni for two years at the arena.

She currently has the top spot on the Frog Follies Committee, which she said has given the St Pierre CDC the role of interacting with council as its role is to work with municipal government.

“Right now, council sits on many boards, which is great. But what happens is when we’re sitting as a board, we have our councillor there, and they’re supposed to – I don’t even actually know what they’re supposed to be doing. So, if I have a request of council, I can’t get it done through my councillor sitting on my committee. I still have to go meet with council, but getting a meeting with council is a challenge,” she said.

She envisions multiple committees being represented by the CDC to lessen the work load and streamline working with council as the CDC meets with council quarterly.

Karpinchick is also running on a platform of transparency and having the voices of constituents acknowledged and taken into consideration when council makes a decision or needs feedback from residents.

She also believes in responsible development. She said this council so focused on development that it’s to the detriment of ratepayers as there is a lack of planning on the village’s part.

“I think that this council is very focused on development at all costs and there’s going to be some growing pains with that and you won’t be able to get a developer to come back and repair (mistakes) after… I don’t think that you can prioritize a developer over not just one rate payer, but multiple rate payers.”

In regards to development, Karpinchick believes the proposed Le Rendez-Vous Community, Culture, and Recreation Campus needs to provide an ice surface in the plan and council should consider what smaller budgets for the facility would look like and not just the current $25 million plan.

She said what differentiates her from Mayor Raymond Maynard is her ability to look at a system and make appropriate changes for efficiency, which she does in her role as an agronomist.

“So, it’s the idea that we should continue to do things the way we’ve always done them is just not true. We need to modify and adapt based on public input, based on councillors and prioritizing their time. So, I think that’s where I would have a real strength would be to just have a fresh, fresh (set of) eyes on a system.”

Karpinchick came to St Pierre with her husband Jordan, in 2012 from Niagara, Ont., as her husband, a geographer specializing in GIS mapping, got a job at Tone Ag, which specializes in forensic agrology, soil sample interpretation, and agronomic and environmental irrigation assessments, according to its website.

Karpinchick got her degree in Agriculture in February 2019 and the Karpinchicks bought Tone Ag in May 2019.

While they were advised to live in Winnipeg and Jordan wanted to live in Steinbach, it was St Pierre’s proximity to Tone Ag and the village’s charm that made the couple want to set roots in the municipality.

“We moved here and we’ve been committed ever since. We moved in April. We moved on Easter weekend, and the following weekend was the Sugaring Off Festival in town, and we were, like, ‘Wow, what a great town. Look at all of this stuff going on here.’ Anyway, our expectations have been high ever since then,” said Karpinchick with a smile.

She thinks people should vote for her because she believes the young people in town should have their voices heard. She sees the future of St Pierre as maintaining that first experience she had when she moved to town and went to the Sugaring Off Festival.

“It’s just people coming together. They’re celebrating their heritage and they were just so welcoming to new people so I think that’s what I want to keep in mind with St Pierre. As we have growth and we have new people coming to have that same proud heritage, but welcoming people to participate. That’s what I want to keep in mind.”