My campaign speech

I am sorry I couldn’t be here in person.  We are off on a much anticipated holiday that was planned a long time ago.  Thank you to the Chamber of Commerce for hosting this Forum for the Candidates.

I decided to let my name stand for Council because I felt I owed it to myself to see if the voters in Coronation still trusted me to serve a third term.  It is a big commitment and I did think about it long and hard, mainly because it is a four year term.  I think I still have the energy, drive and sense of commitment to my community and that I still have what it takes to be a good Councillor.  I will put it in the hands of the people and let them decide if I would still be a good choice to represent them based on my experience and on my record.

I have some goals for the next four years and I would like to share them with you.

I believe we have to address the question of equitable and fair cost sharing with the County who serves about half of the people who call Coronation home; and are using and taking an active part in all of the recreational, social and general every-day life in town.  We are at a critical crossroads in our community mainly due to the fact that we have all of these services and supports that are available to all the people who chose to use them but mainly funded by the Town of Coronation taxpayer.  We are at the moment unfairly burdening our town taxpayers and we really need to have a discussion about this.  Without all of these good things in life we will not have much of a community, therefore, we need to come up with a better plan in order to keep providing for future generations.

We have already proven that we can forge mutually agreeable cost sharing initiatives, first with the formation of the Physician Recruitment and Retention Committee and then with the new Fire Agreement with the County.  It can be done, there is more work to do, with the right people it will happen.

 I believe that I have the skill set, the knowledge and the experience to initiate and move ahead with these discussions.  I am hopeful that we will all reach a better level of understanding and cooperation in this regard.

I would also like to see more frank and open discussion amongst our townspeople when it comes to the future of this community.  I want to see more community engagement and continued participation in our pursuit of a Wellness Centre, locally driven Economic Development plans, retention and recruitment of physicians and other health care professionals and affordable housing for our seniors and for those who need our help.

 I would also like to pursue more dialogue with our provincial government moving forward as a small community.  We need to take advantage of everything that we can and ask the provincial government to always consider us in their plans.

People have voiced their concerns over high taxes and high water bills.  I wish I had the magical solution to that.  I am sorry but I cannot promise that taxes will go down or that water bills will not rise.  It would be wrong for me to do that.  It would be my job to bring concerns forward to council and administration.  We need to work together to address these very real concerns.  The only source of revenue that we have comes from taxes.  We have to be able to make this community sustainable and attractive for those who live here and for those we hope will come here to make it their home.  We need to spend the money that we do have as wisely as we can and I have seen some areas where it could be spent in a different way.  We need to be talking more about cost sharing opportunities at a regional and provincial level in order to keep costs at a reasonable level for the people who live here.

I believe I am qualified for the role as Councillor for the Town of Coronation due to my past experience on council as well as by being involved in the community on a lot of fronts.  I have a good track record.  I go to my Council meetings and I go prepared.  I feel that I can continue to provide leadership for this community and I will continue to try and make decisions for the good of the entire community.

If elected I will be one of seven decision makers, one voice, and hopefully a good and proper voice.  Seven people will sit together for four years and seven people will have discussions and eventually make decisions and become the united voice for the Community.  I understand my role.  I am proud of and confident in our Town CAO.  I am secure in the knowledge that we will get the information that we need to make those decisions.  I believe I have been a good representative for Coronation and I would like to continue for one more term.

Good luck to all the candidates.  My name is Bonnie Danylyshen and I am asking for your vote on October 21^st.  Thank you.

Balancing Act

As the election campaigns are beginning to take hold in our town of Coronation I am pondering what to write next.

My last blog commented on what a ride it has been.....not only for the past week or two since the nomination papers went in but really just my life in general these past few years.

I guess what makes me wonder sometimes is what others can be thinking, but then I guess that's their business.

So, I will make some points based on my "promises" from 2010.

I have supported and will continue to support:

• Senior's Housing
• Doctor Recruitment and Retention
• Community Involvement
• Economic Development
• Fiscal Responsibility and Accountability
• Honesty, Openness and Common Sense
• Dependability, Trust and Respect

Point number one:  Senior's Housing

Well here is how it went for me.  I am still the Chair of our local Senior's Manors and Social Housing Board.  We have a very good manager who keeps us in the loop, collects the rent, does the bookkeeping, oversees the cleaning and maintenance contract and is the first one the people call when there is a problem.  We follow the policies and guidelines and we are in close contact with Alberta Housing.  We hold quarterly meetings.
I managed to stay on the Castor and District Housing Authority/Paintearth Lodge Board for a short while.  Let's just say that we are not getting much help from that little arrangement. We are required to send money every year to support this agreement.  Check your tax notices for further information.  You may also contact our CAO to find out the exact amount that is sent from the Town of Coronation.  It is in the 25 to 30 thousand dollar range.

I do not sit on the Supportive Living Board but I do know that we also support this facility with a yearly requisition that is based on equalized assessment.  Our portion is about 25 thousand, it could be more.  This is an Advisory Board and all agreements for payment from the other members are not mandated by a ministerial order or any such thing.  It is a mutually agreed upon arrangement.  This board now meets monthly.  During our tenure on council the board has hired a Coordinator to seek funding opportunities and partnerships in the hope of replacing this aging facility.

I will admit it is so frustrating to get anything done and I want it done yesterday!  The only thing that I can say is that we need to keep advocating for more and improved Senior's  and Affordable Housing in Coronation.  We have to move forward and find ways to get it done.  While appreciating what has gone before we cannot get mired in the past we have to look to the future and keep going.

Point number two: Physician Recruitment and Retention

I am currently one of two Councillors who sit on this board.  We are in a cost sharing agreement with the county.  The board is made up of two County Councillors, Two Town of Coronation Councillors, One member at large from town and one member at large from the county, one member at large from town/county.  Our town and county CAOs, the site manager from the hospital and our physicians all act in an advisory capacity.  In the past three years with this Board we have purchased two houses as rental accommodations for our physicians, use the town condo for locum accommodations, continue to fine tune our recruitment incentives and meet monthly and more often at the call of the Chair.  We have successfully recruited one physician and his family to Coronation.  We are in the process of recruiting again (and again and again).  I say that because you never stop recruiting.  I think that sometimes we forget about the retention part of what we do.  We always have to think of the critical role our physicians play in our community and never forget how much we appreciate them.  I would also like to say that we are very appreciative of all our health care professionals and everyone who works at our Hospital and Care Centre, Continuing Care and Supportive Living.  The largest employer in Coronation is our Health Care Facility and we need to support every aspect of recruitment and retention.

Point number three:  community involvement

I have and will continue to be involved in our community.  We have chosen to live here and we want to make the best of it.  Sometimes my idea of what constitutes community spirit and involvement and other people's perception are two different things.  I am not in favor of always doing things the same old way.  We have to move with the times and come up with new and exciting ways to do things.  I believe that by doing this we can engage more of our citizens in community endeavors.  We have several volunteer opportunities for people who want to get involved.  These are all great groups and I am sure they would welcome more helping hands. Young people especially have different ways of doing things and I think we should be mindful of that and try to embrace some of their unique perspective.  This is why we did the community survey for the Wellness Centre and why we decided to get the school age kids involved in the survey.  In other words:  instead of telling them how to do something ask how they think it should be done!  Kudos to all the people who get involved in the community life of Coronation.  I hope that you all feel welcome and that you count!

Point number four:  Economic Development

I went to a Travel Alberta one day session this spring and met a fellow who stood up and said:  Economic Development is a fancy phrase for Tourism.  I agree.  We need to promote our town every chance we get.  The idea behind tourism for our little community would be that we come up with some plans to attract people to town for one day and maybe they will come back next year and stay for two days.  We have several businesses in town who could put their collective heads together to not only market themselves but also help one another to keep people at home to shop, to eat, to enjoy their lives right here at home. 
We belong to PEPS which eats up a lot of our Councillor time and a lot of the taxpayer's money.
I would suggest that if you have questions perhaps you could ask some of the most recent new businesses in town if they have heard of PEPS.  Then ask them how PEPS encouraged and promoted for them.  Then ask some of the older businesses in town how they have benefited from the Paintearth Economic Partnership Society.  I am not going to speak for the businesses and I am not going to tell you what to think.  Ask.
Otherwise I am proud to say that our Town CAO  has done a very good job with Economic Development.  I am also proud to have been part of a proactive council that approved everything that needed to be done to develop our new Light Industrial Subdivision.  We can all thank good leadership for that one.

Point number five:  Fiscal Responsibility and Accountability
I think that by the changes we made to our administration that we can now show fiscal responsibility and accountability.  Now we need to move one step further and show the taxpayers that the same old ways of spending the money can be changed up a bit.  Sometimes the hard decisions have to be made and I believe they were made.  It is not really council's job to parse the money out; but council has to approve a budget that is balanced and responsible to the people.  To tell you the truth budget time gives me a headache.  I just want to thank our CAO for working so diligently the first year of this council's term. 

Points six and seven: 

Honesty, Openness and Common Sense

Dependability, Trust and Respect

If anything I am honest and open.  Sometimes it gets me in trouble since in my way I sometimes equate bluntness with honesty.  We have to follow the rules and that is what I meant by common sense.  It is not common sense to make up your own rules just because you think that would work better.  It is in the publics' best interests to have rules, policy and by-laws and it is in any councillor's best interests to exhibit common sense and follow these rules.  It works better for everyone.
On the last three lovely statements I am a dependable person and I hope that people trust and respect me not only for who I am but how I am.  I respect each and every person, group and organization in this community as well.  I am not in favor of disrespecting or showing favor to any one person or group over another.  I make no excuses if this was ever the case.  Being on a town council is a balancing act.

So there you have it - an explanation of how I think I did based on what I said I would do.