Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Good morning, Fort McMurray, wood, Buffalo, and the rest of the world. You've tuned into the Maxine morning show. I am your host, Elliot Pierre, and we're going to start the show off the same way we start every show off with a moment of gratitude. I know you could be doing a million other things with your time. So the fact that you're spending with us truly does mean the world to me. So thank you on that note, Tanner hidden with the intro.
Speaker 1 00:00:21 Oh, she caught me, loves near listened to the next anymore
Speaker 0 00:00:30 And we're back. Okay. This is a good one. We're getting a lot of these type of individuals on the show. I don't know. It must be the, the time of year seasoned, but we have another individual running for council today. So as you guys know, I don't introduce my guests. I let them do that themselves. So on that note, sir, can you please tell everybody at home who you are and what's your
Speaker 3 00:00:47 Morning, everyone. Thanks for having me on Elliot. Mike pals, Linde w running for ward one council, uh, been, uh, in Fort Mac since 2006. So I've been here a long time, um, work out at site or Suncor right now in their contracts. Okay. So Monday to Friday type job. Yeah. Um, I was, I also worked at the municipality for four and a half years in procurement. Okay. And I was a supervisor there. I was the chief of logistics during the fire from the outset of the disaster. Oh wow. So I was here for 22 straight days. Um, did that, which I got a few stories about that one. Yeah. Um, like I said, running for council, just want to be helpful to the city, understanding the procurement processes. Uh, people always talk about why things are done the way they are in procurement in the city. Well, because I work there, I can understand what's what it takes or what are the rules. So I think I can bring that to council, some intelligence and some background on that kind of thing. And, and, uh, so hopefully people will like my message and voted in on October 18th.
Speaker 0 00:01:58 Yeah. There we go. So I've asked every person running this question, why would you do this? It's to me, I don't like I put myself into public face all the time. Right. However, like it's all positive that the vibes that I get back when you're in a position like this, especially over the last few years that we've seen with politics, like you get some heats it's uncomfortable sometimes. So, um, I think everybody has it, like somebody has to do it, but I got to know why,
Speaker 3 00:02:26 Honestly, I've been thinking about it for a while. Um, I wanted to do it the last election, but my employer at the time, uh, not Suncor wouldn't let me consider it. So, um, yeah, you're not wrong. Um, I'm going to have to make sure my skin is thick, but I think that making difficult decisions is something that I can do. Um, and you don't always have to be popular for them. Right. But I think that I have a pretty good gauge on what the city really needs to do. And I'm, I'm ready to do that. Not wrong. It can be scary.
Speaker 0 00:03:04 Yeah. No, definitely. Well, good for you to do it, man. Like you're obviously extremely brave. Everybody who's running is brave. You're putting yourself out there and that's not easy to do. You're opening yourself up for scrutiny, which nobody likes that. And then hopefully because everybody's in it to win it. If you win it, there's a lot of work that needs to be done.
Speaker 3 00:03:21 Yep. I had messages from people that have done this before and they're like, wait until the worst.
Speaker 0 00:03:26 That's right. Yeah. That's right. Yep. That's exactly it. Yeah. So you've been here since 2006. What brought you out here?
Speaker 3 00:03:34 Uh, a new job. New start. Okay. Um, I was changing careers. I went from finance to supply chain or procurement, um, applied for a job. I was in Regina at the time applied for a job and they hired me within a few days. I'll tell you to coming over that hill, it was actually at Suncor for a contractor coming over that hill to see that plant for the first time it was test, you'd go up there and he'd come over that hill and you see the plant and the fire coming out of the stacks. And I'll tell you, that's a culture
Speaker 0 00:04:07 Shock. No doubt.
Speaker 3 00:04:08 No doubt. That's I went from corporate world to onsite work was yeah. In, uh, Fort Mac has been the best place I've ever lived. The longest place I've ever lived and given me more opportunity than anywhere else. So paying it back is something I'd like to do.
Speaker 0 00:04:27 So what about the community makes you stay here?
Speaker 3 00:04:29 Um, honestly it has everything that I need, right. Like for a person that I don't need, you know, great big shopping malls or anything like that. Cause that's not me. I know community needs that. I understand that, but I mean, I started coaching football here. I never would have gotten that opportunity somewhere else as quickly as I did did that for 12 years. Uh, the people are great when you know, oh 6 0 8 was interesting different town. It's a much glitter, better place to live. Now I just enjoy it. I enjoy the scenery. I enjoy the lifestyle and because I'm not working shift, I'm working a regular job. So for me, it's great.
Speaker 0 00:05:10 Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. And so the transition over to Suncor, how's that been for you?
Speaker 3 00:05:15 It's a steep learning curve. There's a lot to learn when you go to a corporation that, that large, uh, but it's been great. Have a great support with my teammates. My bosses have all been, I've been great. So yeah, no really, really happy where I am in my space right now.
Speaker 0 00:05:31 Yeah. So from an education standpoint, what did you study in school?
Speaker 3 00:05:35 So, uh, I went to the university of new Brunswick St. John I'm originally from Alberta, but my parents moved out east when I was younger. Oh, you did it backwards. Literally. It's backwards. So yeah, I went to university of new Brunswick, uh, for business administration of a two year program in that. And then, uh, was got on a work program that took me out to Regina for underemployed youth. Okay. I got a temporary job there and then they hired me at Saskatchewan power and then after nine years there, he came to Fort Mac. So I got my designation in procurement, um, 2009.
Speaker 0 00:06:15 Okay. Yeah. What, uh, what kind of power are you talking about for your old company where you're talking to electrical?
Speaker 3 00:06:20 Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Saskatchewan power does their coal and I think some natural gas now. Sure.
Speaker 0 00:06:27 Yeah. I know very little bit about, uh, the energy sector outside of oil and gas. Right. I'm born and raised in Fort Macquarie. It's in my backyard. So you kind of know what's in your backyard. I haven't really ventured out. So that's
Speaker 3 00:06:40 And the job, the first job I had was on site was with TransAlta as a utility company that ran the powerhouse for Suncor and Hogan. So my utility work got me here. It wasn't oil and gas technically, but
Speaker 0 00:06:55 Yeah. Yeah. And what you're doing is like the financial component as well, which donuts are donuts basically. Like you have a general understanding of how to move pieces, procure, buy things, and then,
Speaker 3 00:07:08 And the value, you know, total costs like the actual true value of something. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:07:13 So you like numbers,
Speaker 3 00:07:16 I guess I'm stuck with no, I wouldn't say I'm a huge fan I'm stuck with.
Speaker 0 00:07:22 Yeah. That's hilarious. That's great. So with your time working for the municipality, you feel that that experience will be of benefit to you in
Speaker 3 00:07:32 Yeah, absolutely. And especially because procurement is one of the most misunderstood pieces of what administration does for the city. Um, everybody, they don't, there's three trade agreements that govern what we do plus our own internal policies. And they all have different levels of what you can do at certain spend levels and what you can and cannot do. And I think there's a misconception of what municipalities can and can't do when it comes to like buying local. Right. We can't exclude people from outside of our city. A lot of people don't like that and for obvious reasons, and I understand it. Um, so one of the things we did while I worked there, as we started the social procurement framework, that's now being brought into a full a bylaw or whatever they call it. And that is to try to drive the value of what we spend back into the community in different ways.
Speaker 3 00:08:32 So I'll give you an example. Um, it, one of the things you can put in a procurement is ask the question, how many of your part-time staff have benefits? Yeah. Uh, or can we hire people from the center of hope to do labor work? And the hope is that if you give people gainful employment or apprenticeships to at risk youth, they get, you know, a leg up, they may get off social assistance and improves the community as a whole. So I'm really looking forward to that opportunity when they finally bringing that into full, full use. And I'm hoping that I'm on council so that I can see that come to fruition. And I think it'll be really good for the community.
Speaker 0 00:09:15 Very cool. Yeah. Now, since you put your name out there to say that you've run, what has surprised you about like, what's come out of that?
Speaker 3 00:09:23 I honestly, the biggest surprise is how many people have reached out that I haven't talked to in years, worked with them, know them, but not, you know, close, close friends and they're reaching out saying, you know what? I think you'll do a good job, you know, that kind of thing. So that's probably been the biggest surprise. Um, it's been great hearing from old friends and people that you work with that you can do it and bring a different perspective. So that's been nice. Have you been doing
Speaker 0 00:09:48 The door knocking
Speaker 3 00:09:49 And like, I have not done door knocking purely because of, uh COVID. I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable. I come to their door. I don't know what their fears or thoughts may be. That's right. So I have avoided it and I'm trying to like, so I'm doing the trade show this weekend. I have a booth there. Me and, uh, Gareth, uh, Norris are going to share a booth. So we're going to be down there. People want to come and meet us and talk to us. So it's a little more comfortable for them using Facebook and Instagram, but yeah, the door knocking thing, I made a decision, just not to make anyone uncomfortable. Right.
Speaker 0 00:10:28 Once you like put your energy into a different medium, like you said, showing up with oil and gas or utilizing Facebook or other social media platforms. Yeah. Very cool. Yeah. All right. My man, we're at the part of the show called the Mac CD minute. Tanner is going to ask you some questions. I don't know what he's going to ask you, so I wish you nothing, but the best of luck Tanner hit him with the max 30 minutes.
Speaker 4 00:10:47 Alrighty. Question number one. What is your favorite part of being part of the local election process?
Speaker 3 00:10:53 Uh, honestly, a meeting getting to meet people that I've never talked to meeting. I actually did a, I was invited to a congregation on Sunday to talk to the congregation of Filipino, uh, church. Um, and they invited me in and had a few minutes with them and it was really good to hear their perspective because I don't normally interact with that group. Right. So being able to meet new groups and to meet new people and understand their needs, they think that the communities has actually been pretty interesting. So far
Speaker 4 00:11:28 Question number two. What is something that working at site has taught you about Fort McMurray?
Speaker 3 00:11:35 I think what it's taught us as a taught me is that most people here are hardworking and just want a better life. They come here for if it's money or whatever it might be, or career advancement. We all just want a better life. And I think that that's probably the thing when you talk to them, they just, they want to have a better life for their families, be able to do things with their families. And I think that's misunderstood when you think of site workers. Yeah. And I think that's been probably the biggest thing for me.
Speaker 4 00:12:05 Question number three. What is your best memory from your time as a coach?
Speaker 3 00:12:11 Uh, 2009, we went to provincials, uh, with our Bantam team. So that's junior high age and, uh, we lost, but we actually made it to provincials. Uh, so that was pretty exciting. Uh, great memory
Speaker 4 00:12:26 Question number four. What is one, what is one draw to Fort McMurry that you think people often overlook?
Speaker 3 00:12:36 I think it's the, the activities that we have, like there are, when you look at how many things happen here, you see, I've never seen anything like it for a city, this size, a community, this size to have this many events go on all the time. Yeah. I think people don't understand that there's so much more to do than just go to work and, and then come home. I guess it's really impressive. How many events, like I was at the, uh, rock, the rails with. Yeah. I just never knew that happened. And you know, met Mike over the last couple of years and started to get to know him and follow his events. And yeah, there's just a lot of things you can do here that people don't know. That's right. Yeah.
Speaker 4 00:13:13 And your final question, what is one thing you think that the four that Fort McMurray needs from its next local council?
Speaker 3 00:13:23 The biggest thing for me is we need to help our social profits as much as we can and infrastructure we've got to get, you know, the flood mitigation have to be done. The underground services need to be sound so we're not having, you know, the broken pipes and things like that. The stuff that actually affects the majority of people, um, that's what I think we need to do the first couple of years, we need to understand the new ratio on the spending, the five to one tax ratio that changed from 18 to one. So we just have to understand where our money is going and make really good decisions that affect the majority, the most people that we can.
Speaker 4 00:14:03 And those have been your five questions.
Speaker 0 00:14:06 Good questions, Tanner. Thank you. Good question, John. Yeah, man. Every year, people who watch the show regularly know this, but uh, we do zero preparation for this show. Like when you asked, come on, like I went out of my way, not to go to your Facebook page, not to figure out who you were. Tanner. I don't know. Do you even go on Facebook? No.
Speaker 4 00:14:27 I created that last question as you were answering the first one, actually. So,
Speaker 0 00:14:32 So his question is always like, I'm always like, how the heck do you come up with that? Within like the five minute span that I first started talking to guests, the,
Speaker 4 00:14:41 It comes from a place of a high school when I would just do absolutely no work until the last possible minute. And then the teacher would be like coming around and I'd be like filling out all the answers. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:14:51 Yeah. Train your whole life. Exactly. I've waited my entire life for this moment. There you go. It's still beautiful. Exactly. So let's talk about football for a second. How'd you get into football coach?
Speaker 3 00:15:02 I honestly, so I love football. I watched it. I never coach and I was working at TransAlta and one of the ladies I worked with her son was playing. She walked up to me. He says, you like football, right? I said, yes, love it. She goes, okay. You're coaching on my kid's team. Okay. Their Saturday. Okay. 12 years later.
Speaker 0 00:15:21 Wow. So what team do you coach?
Speaker 3 00:15:23 I've coached? Uh, the younger years didn't really have associations, but I've coached at comp I've coached at Westwood high school. Uh McTavish junior high team stayed away from Merck though, obviously, right? Yes. We don't talk about Merck or Trinity.
Speaker 0 00:15:42 Ah, I love it. I love the rivalry. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:15:46 Yeah. Coach w you know, with a lot of those guys are more coached against them. We don't talk about Merck and Trinity.
Speaker 0 00:15:53 Okay. Yeah. So what's, uh, what's your car? Are you defensive offensive?
Speaker 3 00:15:57 I did a lot of head coaching. Cause I, I left the positional stuff to the guys who had more experience than I just sorta took the role of being the face or I'm the one that dealt with the parents more than that kind of thing. Uh, but I love coaching quarterbacks. That's probably the thing I enjoyed the most or receivers, but I did some defensive coordinating too. You have to do everything when you've only got one or two coaches on a team.
Speaker 0 00:16:22 That's right. That's right.
Speaker 3 00:16:24 Yeah. I love the game. A big Roughrider fan.
Speaker 0 00:16:26 Okay. I was just going to ask, are we talking Canadian? I wanted to know who's your favorite Canadian and American football
Speaker 3 00:16:32 American football team. I watched NFL some I'm big Canadian football. I, a Tom Brady. I like watching him place. I'll I'll cheer for Tampa bay now, but yeah, if there's a Canadian on an NFL team, I'll pick that team. That's right. That's how I go. But CFL is my thing and yeah, I'm a big Roughrider fan. So when you were living
Speaker 0 00:16:56 Down there, did you have an opportunity to go to a lot of games
Speaker 3 00:16:58 Had season tickets for nine years. Really?
Speaker 0 00:17:01 That's cool. You guys are fanatical about that team to say the least
Speaker 3 00:17:06 You're not wrong. Yeah. I've been to lake 16, gray cups, I think. Wow.
Speaker 0 00:17:11 That's awesome. And where did this love of football come
Speaker 3 00:17:14 From? My dad, uh, he played when he was younger, played in university and just, I, and also I think growing up, I liked chess and football's a strategy game. Right. Cause you're stopping and starting and you're making a plan and you're, and where the other games are fluid. Right. I prefer the stop and start and strategy. So I think that's probably why it hooked me.
Speaker 0 00:17:40 Yeah. And so who you are, is football taking place? I don't know with COVID and everything going on. Like, are you coaching current?
Speaker 3 00:17:45 No, I'm actually, I'm done coaching, but I'm still refereeing. Okay.
Speaker 0 00:17:49 Oh, wow. So you're like in the game, doesn't matter what,
Speaker 3 00:17:52 Yeah. I want to be in it. Yeah. I was, uh, I ran, you know, I was on boards too with the teams, like I was on their board of directors and stuff on different teams. So now I'm still reffing. So people get to yell at me on the field, whatever, quite regular. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:18:06 So that's where you built up that thick skin to run for politics.
Speaker 3 00:18:10 You take quite a beating as a rep, so I'm sure there'll be nicer in council than they are on the fear. Eights
Speaker 0 00:18:17 Emotions aren't as high.
Speaker 4 00:18:18 They have a different code of conduct at what's acceptable on a football field versus what's acceptable in a council. A little bit would be like sacking. The quarterback in the mayoral run is probably not your best bet.
Speaker 3 00:18:30 Bet. But yeah. So I guess we got some local games coming October, so we'll be reffing. A few of those.
Speaker 0 00:18:37 Very cool. Yeah. Awesome man. Well, listen, that's it. 20 minutes flies. I know. So thank you for coming. Thank you for reaching out. I tell every guest this and I truly do mean it. Please come back again and again, um, if you, uh, want to come back and talk about like later as the election goes on, you want to come back again? Great. You want to come talk about football with me and Tana. Raul is up for a chat. So please don't make this your only visit to the show. Whoa. Awesome. So the last thing that everybody gets before they leave is a shameless shout out or plug. So the camera's on you. The mic is on, you kind of know what you're going to talk about, but this is your opportunity to be a shameless.
Speaker 3 00:19:15 Cool. I'm shamelessly asking you to vote for me October 18. Uh, hopefully we do some good in council and we'll be at the trade show this weekend, Friday, Saturday, Sunday at Mac.
Speaker 0 00:19:28 There we go. Awesome. Well Fort McMurray, wood, Buffalo, and the rest of the world. That's another episode of the Mac city morning show. Once again. Thank you so much for tuning in. It really does mean the world to me. So thank you. Hopefully you're having a great day and we'll see you tomorrow. Peace.
