Drawing new business to the Town of Rainy River and giving people a reason to stay in or move to the area were chief among the concerns expressed by residents of the town last week at a lively all-candidates meeting ahead of the Oct. 26 municipal election.
The “Meet the Candidates Night” hosted by the town on Oct. 8 at the Rainy River Recreation Centre was intended to help give residents an idea of who they’ll be voting for come election day. The two candidates for mayor and eight out of the nine running for councillor seats met with community members to give speeches explaining their goals and reasons for running, followed by a panel-style Q&A to address local concerns.
The discussion at times became clamorous following the speeches as residents fired questions and statements faster than all candidates could respond, with uncontrolled discussion among those in attendance.
New candidate for mayor Andrew Hartnell said he thinks the next term of council will need to look towards the long-term opportunities to attract business to the area.
“We need industry, we need lots of things, and we’re not really in a position right now to say no to anyone,” Hartnell said. “In the past, the town has said no to a lot of places, and I think that’s wrong. They said, ‘Oh, we had CN, and now we have the mine.’ Well, everything eventually ends, and we need to work on other places.”
For incumbent mayor Deborah Ewald, who is seeking re-election, a large problem attracting new business is the small scale of the town and its rural nature.
“The problem is we’re small, we’re at the end of the province, and honestly, some people don’t even know we exist,” Ewald said. “You can try everything, but not everything is going to work. Somewhere out there is the answer; we just have to find it, and a big part of it is that we have to be able to sustain employment. If we don’t have employment, we’re not going to be able to sustain anything.”
Another concern addressed during the session was how the town can be fiscally conservative during the next term amidst rising costs in day-to-day spending.
“I’m going to have to look at the budget and see how we’re spending it, but there is probably going to have to be some tough decisions,” Hartnell said. “Instead of raising taxes, I think we’re going to have to look at efficiencies and see where we might have to cut back.”
Ewald said that during uncertain times where changes to costs are extreme, the town needs to continue to look at how small decisions can save money, adding that they’ve been dedicated to hiring cost-efficient locals and careful purchases historically.
“The decision was made long ago that we would hire local people and keep local people in jobs here, because in the long run, it’s cheap,” Ewald said. “They do the water treatment plant, they do all the outside work that needs to be done, and it keeps local people employed.”
“Most of the equipment that we buy, we wait, we look at sales, and we buy secondhand. As long as it passes and has a reasonable lifespan, that’s what we do.”
The list of candidates for Rainy River’s mayor and council is as follows:
Deborah Ewald – Mayor, incumbent
Andrew Hartnell – Mayor, new
Rebecca Brooks – Councillor, new
Joel Hagarty – Councillor, incumbent
Lindsay Logsdon – Councillor, new
Jeffrey C. Marchuk – Councillor, new
Florence Newman – Councillor, incumbent
Scott Olson – Councillor, new
Gordon Prost – Councillor, incumbent
Dana Tait – Councillor, new
Anthony Venables – Councillor, new
