The Parkland Chamber of Commerce hosted the RM of Dauphin Municipal Election Forum and Debate Tuesday night at the Aspen Lodge.
Eight of the ten council candidates were in attendance and had the opportunity to answer a number of questions and give their pitch to the public on why they deserve a vote. The main topics that were focused on during this portion were rural water, the growth of industry and population in the RM, and insuring there are recreational facilities available.
The two Reeve candidates, Tom Gibbs and Ernie Sirski, then took the stage for the debate portion of the evening. The reeve candidates touched on many of the same issues as the council candidates, also focusing on the importance of agriculture, and infrastructure to support the industry which is so important to the RM.
After the debate concluded, I had the chance to speak to both of the Reeve candidates about what they wanted to focus on during their campaign.
Sirski spoke about his background in agriculture and its importance in the community.
"For me it's agriculture, and again I don't care if it's conventional, organic, whether it's animal or plant-based, I think agriculture is going to continue to be the driving force of this municipality. We can talk all we want about recreation, we can talk about opportunities, but the reality is, agriculture is gonna continue to drive this municipality."
Gibbs talked about building relationships with the City of Dauphin and all the surrounding municipalities.
"When I first got on Council I went to an AMM convention and visited with other councilors and they said, how do you expect to draw business to your area when you can't get along with your closest neighbor? That really hit me hard, we had to improve our relations between the city and us, and we have."
The event was live streamed to the Parkland Chamber of Commerce Facebook page and can be viewed here. A full list of candidates for the City and RM of Dauphin in this years municipal election can be found here.
