What I'm running on
Four planks, and everything else ladders up to them. Screenshot this and hold me to it.
I won’t be the guy who bulldozes the process because it’s slow or inconvenient. That can look like strength. It’s the opposite of it. Process is what keeps decisions from being made behind closed doors for whoever happens to be in the room.
A rural municipality, independent, never folded into Winnipeg. But independent doesn’t mean alone — work closely with the province, Manitoba Highways, the school division and water management. You get more as a good partner than as a loud opponent.
Approving every project that crosses the desk isn’t a growth strategy, it’s the lack of one. A properly resourced permitting process, so development happens on our terms — with water, sewer and recreation keeping pace.
Childcare young families can actually get into, and housing that lets seniors downsize and stay. Nobody should have to leave West St. Paul to start a family, or to grow old in it.
Every issue, sorted honestly
Each one is tagged with what the office can actually do about it. Some are council’s to move on. Some run through a process. Some belong to somebody else entirely — and on those, all I can honestly offer is to be the loudest voice in the room.
“We’ve got the kids. We’ve got the families up at six in the morning. What we don’t have is a rink to put them in.”
My son plays hockey, but not here — every hockey family in this town drives out for practices and games. An arena is a genuine municipal decision, and the honest path runs through the Recreation Master Plan. I’m not going to promise you a grand opening. I’ll promise to put it on the table and fight to keep it there.
“One community space, instead of six errands in six directions.”
We have a decent base — a rec site, the Access Centre, parks, trails, some courts. For a town growing this fast it’s stretched thin: no arena, no pool, so swim lessons still mean a drive into the city. I want parks, courts for basketball, pickleball and tennis, and a pool down the road, pulled together properly. A pool is the most expensive thing a town our size can build and I haven’t costed it, so no ribbon-cutting date from me. The R.M. is building the Recreation Master Plan right now, which makes this exactly the moment for residents to have their say.
“Credit where it’s due today — and eyes on tomorrow.”
There’s a brand-new K-to-8 school going up here, and I’m not going to pretend nobody’s doing anything, because that would be a lie. Take the win. Then ask what comes after it. If we keep approving subdivisions without planning the next school, we’re back in combined classrooms in a few years, just in a newer building.
“Not my decision has never once meant not my problem.”
Every morning West St. Paul sends its teenagers out of town, on a bus into Winnipeg, because there’s no public high school here. This one belongs to the province and the school division, not to city hall. I can’t make it happen on my own. What I can be is the most persistent voice in the room demanding it from the people who can.
“We lost about four years to a waitlist.”
There are licensed non-profit centres here, and new spaces are coming with the new school. That’s a real start, and it isn’t enough at this pace. A mayor can’t run a daycare — but a mayor can plan for the spaces we need and push hard for the funding.
“Nobody should have to leave West St. Paul to grow old in it.”
We have Middlechurch for full-support care and a life-lease building beside it. For a community growing this fast those options are thin, and a lot of seniors still end up leaving to find the right fit. This is about people who can still live independently but don’t want to keep up a whole house. Council can move on it through land use.
“I can’t promise you a bus line. I can promise I won’t stop asking for one.”
A student. A senior who’s stopped driving. Someone who simply can’t right now. There’s no regular bus route between here and Winnipeg at all. There is a limited accessible-transit service, and I’m glad it exists, but it isn’t a transit system. A real route needs Winnipeg to say yes.
“The pipe being in the ground isn’t the finish line.”
If a candidate tells you West St. Paul has no sewer, they haven’t done their homework. The main trunk line is in, connected to Winnipeg’s treatment system, and it was built with room to grow. What’s left is connection — not every street is hooked up, and the next phases lean on provincial and federal funding. The honest questions are which streets, when, and what it fairly costs the homeowner at the curb.
“This one is fully ours. No one else to wait on.”
Out here it’s ditches, not storm sewers, and they need to be properly maintained and cleaned so water actually moves. Heavy rain shouldn’t mean a sump pump running non-stop. Drainage is squarely council’s responsibility, which means there’s no one else to point at.
When I say I’ll push for something, hear that word. It’s the honest one, and it’s the one I’ll keep.
If something’s wrong on your street, I’d rather hear it from you than guess at it.