It seems like only yesterday I first ran for village council in Breton...but it was 1992! A lot has changed since then. But a lot more has to be done to ensure that we have a strong, healthy & vibrant community for our kids and grand kids. The village council has done some long range planning but we need to take a serious look at what kinds of recreation we want to have in the our community, what we can afford and what partners we can bring to the table to ensure that these things happen. There will be some great opportunities in the coming years as our nation slowly comes out of the recession to replace aging infrastructure and do it with very little debt if it is phased and properly planned.
I believe there are opportunities for Breton to take part in several Economic Partnerships including but not limited to the Grand Alberta Economic Partnership (GAER) and the Central Alberta Economic Partnership (CAEP) that could bring real economic development to our community. These groups are regional partnerships that work to bring businesses into the member communities and many small communities have benefited from these partnerships.
In the upcoming candidates forums I hope citizens ask the candidates about these partnerships and if they were on council would they support Breton taking part in them. We need people on village council who can commit to representing Breton at these types of committees and who have the time to attend all the meetings.
If re-elected I will again (as I have in past years) bring this issue up at our organizational meeting and ask that council commit to taking part.
I have a challenge for every person in Breton who plans on voting in the October 18th election...bring 3 friends along with you...3 friends who you think may not have voted last time or who have never voted at all...lets get the highest voter turnout percentage in Alberta and further impress our neighboring communities and other levels of government.
