Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Good morning, Fort McMurray, wood, Buffalo, and the rest of the world. You've tuned in to the Mac city 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 spending with us truly does mean the world to me. So thank you on that note, Tanner,
Speaker 1 00:00:19 You're listening to the next
Speaker 0 00:00:27 Okay. And we're back. All right. We have a returning guests. I'm very happy to have her here. Last time she was talking about Kumon. I think she has something bigger to talk about this time. As you guys know, I don't introduce my guests because they could do that better themselves. So on that note, can you please re-introduce yourself to the people at home and tell them what your big announcement is?
Speaker 3 00:00:45 <inaudible> how will you, this is IJ, the Kumon lady. And thank you, Tyler, for having me again. Really awesome. Coming back to your studio. I always tell people, uh, uh, Elliot is my brother from another mother.
Speaker 0 00:01:02 I love it.
Speaker 3 00:01:03 Yeah. Yes. And, uh,
Speaker 0 00:01:05 So what's going on? What's new. What are you doing now outside of Kumon? Uh,
Speaker 3 00:01:09 I'm running for cancel for what one. There we go.
Speaker 0 00:01:11 Congratulations.
Speaker 3 00:01:12 Thank you very
Speaker 0 00:01:13 Much. So I'm going to ask you the same question that I ask everybody. I'm just going to get out of the way. Why are you doing this? Why are you running for council? Because I think it's, it's crazy and ludicrous, but so I love to hear people's responses.
Speaker 3 00:01:27 Uh, so I've met people in town I've been going out. I've been talking with people and, uh, there's this hunger, there's this Hodge to have a new voice, to have a strong voice, to see a definite change within the municipality. And, uh, I recall coming into Fort McQuarry, uh, you know, I told you before we were in prince George and I discouraged my husband from doing fly in, fly out, and I wanted to have a family together. So in 2010 we were here and I loved the town. And, uh, as soon as I got in, I went to Melissa Blake's office. And I said, um, from where I'm coming from in prince George, uh, I was part of the international linkage committee and also part of the UN VCs body, uh, walked with the research, uh, group, uh, part of the student appeal and working with young girls and women at the women's center as a public relations officer.
Speaker 3 00:02:31 And so voluntary was something huge. So I went to Melissa's office. I said, I'm new in town. I want to get involved. What can I do? And she was like, wow, this is so cool. When did you come in? I said, just a Monday and you were already in my home. And I was like, yes, I want to get involved. And so she sends me to, uh, there's a site where you have to go to complete some forms. And I got into multicultural walking with modern culture, helping bring out, uh, multicultural events. Uh, we had a couple of black history month and also, uh, supporting with United ways fundraising. Right. Uh, got involved in my church MGA church, uh, also got involved with, uh, uh, the boy, uh, big brother, big sister, volunteer with them. Yes. And, um, also with, um, the past reap first, that was awesome.
Speaker 3 00:03:30 Uh, shout out to Dennis for doing a great job. You know, I was able to, we were able to raise $6,600 to support a charity group here, Rio, both Alliance, and a quasi helping hand. Uh, and, um, for Kumon, we supported, uh, a wood Buffalo library during the summer program, did the presentation to encourage kids, even in summer time to be able to read and to get engaged and also with, uh, the Northern life foundation also supportive. And so it's as being, um, voluntary and all the way for me. And currently I sit on a couple of boards, one of which is the wood, Buffalo development, uh, advisory board. Okay.
Speaker 0 00:04:18 Yeah. Okay. So you definitely have some experience, um, working in the municipality on boards, volunteerings, you're aware of, um, the inner workings, which is good because I think a lot of the candidates are fresh. So to have some experience is good. That will be beneficial to you for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:04:38 Sure, sure. That
Speaker 0 00:04:39 Would be, what does your family think about this?
Speaker 3 00:04:43 Uh, it's not new to them. So for me, good governance began way back in 1982, when my dad was, um, uh, the campaign manager for a local government chairperson for word Warren and I was part of the strategy, uh, team and I got into university. I was also part of good governance in my university, uh, the student union government. And at that time, uh, we were able to ensure that, uh, proceed from the oil boom within my country was put towards developing, uh, the universities, making sure we had infrastructures as simple as having electricity, as simple as having good water and also for the student. And so coming into Canada and getting involved in the, uh, Senate, uh, buddy at a UN BC, and also coming into port Macquarie, walking with the city, working with the mayor on cancel, uh, it's been a great exposure and that experience I want to bring them forward. So
Speaker 0 00:05:47 From a very young age, politics was important to you. Then
Speaker 3 00:05:51 I will say, good governance,
Speaker 0 00:05:52 Good governance. Okay. What's the difference? Explain the difference to somebody like myself, a layman.
Speaker 3 00:05:57 So, you know, with politics, people just connotes it with negativity, but good governance. It's a lot of positive energy where you do the right thing, the first sign, where your focus is all about the community, not your individual self without any strings attached. And so I love to see more of good governance and that is what we need everywhere. Okay. Okay. So if you are fortunate enough to get into council, what are certain things that like you're focused on that you'd like to see change like potentially even continue to be worked on? So for me, I won't say what I want to see. No. Okay. It is what the people have been saying that they will want to see and what, what are the people have been saying? So the first one of the top one for, uh, the, the community is the support for local business.
Speaker 3 00:06:52 And, um, because this are the, the support for local business and the strengthening of a social, uh, service, uh, social profit services decide to strengthen the heart of the community, right? Uh, for a local business, you see this frustration, you hear that hired, you know, trying to do things. There's too many red tapes, too many processes to go through to get something simple done, right. If we can reduce those wreck tapes, it will encourage optimize efficiency and also encourage people to go into local business. And that will boost our municipal. Yeah. You know, and, um, uh, you hear people say, uh, I know there are too many social profits out there. How can we strengthen them? How can we consolidate? Why would we want say a Waypoint or salvation army to be thinking about how do they get fun? I love to say these are the, the hand, the fingers that get into the community where the government, where the municipal can get, right.
Speaker 3 00:08:02 So why can't we strengthen them by collaborating, keep those ones that are doing what is real, what is good? What is beneficial to the community? Not seeing it as a job, something you're doing to strengthen the community, strengthen them and support them. And another thing I hear people talk about is infrastructure. How do we improve our infrastructure? And this is a simple, as simple as filling up the potholes the right time, the first time that's right. Okay. Clare in the pathway, having proper packs for kids to play, can we have an outdoor swimming pool for families? Can we increase the infrastructures? We have, you know, I know you guys all had about TQL closing down that, uh, the Y
Speaker 3 00:09:00 Yeah, that was really sad. That is, that is, I can tell you part of the scene. I hear a lot of families cannot afford my, um, uh, my highlight because it's expensive. So families with four kids, five kids, why should a kid be denied dad, such a fun time because of fun. And, um, some people get those rebates and all of that, that is if you're working in the oil sands, if you're not, what do you do? So we need to have those recreation activities that can help even the very low income people be able to enjoy and feel at home. And, and also part of what I see when you hear in 2016, I'm born and
Speaker 0 00:09:41 Raised here. So,
Speaker 3 00:09:44 So you've seen it all, seen it all. When we had that fire, that was a wake up call for a lot of us. But after five years, Fort McMurray is still a dead end. We want to open up Fort McMurray. What are you B the a, what are ways be the highway 6, 8, 6, let's sit down, talk with the, uh, government provincial federal come to our head. We need to open up our community and that will bring more growth that will help our community. And, and people can see us in a better light, right? We have a wood Buffalo advantage that we can promote, right? There are things that are particular to the north. Can we put more effort into that to promote it? Some of my friends traveled to Germany to just drink beer during the, I know seriously. And they're like, AIG, you cannot believe it. It's so cool. Like you fly down to Germany, you pay the flights, you stay in a hotel. So there's something there in entertainment. Can we promote arts and culture in Fort McMurray? You know? And also the part of the thing people want to see is this collaboration that should happen. And I tell people, we have the best consultants that you can have in Fort McMurray. You don't have to bring someone from Toronto. That's right. So tell us what to do here. The best human capital is in Fort McMurray.
Speaker 0 00:11:24 Love it. Love it. Love it. All right. Tanner just hit me up with his phone. That means it's time for the Mac city minute. I'm just going to be asking you some questions. Best of luck. Tanner hit it with the max 80 minute
Speaker 4 00:11:34 Question. Number one. How do you think working with children will help you with your run for council?
Speaker 3 00:11:40 Oh, lovely. Thank you, Turner. For that question. Uh, children at the legacy of this community, they are the legacy of any nation. If we can support in any form or shape that will help a city, I will tell you, I met a few, uh, grade 12 students. And I said, you're leaving school. Yeah. When you go, when you want to go to university, you understand in town, every one of them said, no. I said, why, oh, we don't have a university here. We don't have the, uh, the program, the future program that we'll want to see. So can we, as a community meals, cancel everyone. Or we can, we collaborate with, uh, Kiana college and see how we can get more programs for kids to stay. We don't want them to leave and being a teacher, if you make of me that just kids can do a lot. That's right. If you keep them here, tap into their minds. Yeah. We can get a lot done.
Speaker 4 00:12:47 There you go. Question number two. How has working with so many local groups in boards, in Fort McMurray changed how you see the city?
Speaker 3 00:12:57 This is the strength of our community. I've gone to the, I've been with Bev. Uh, she wants the, uh, Auburn, uh, the market. And, uh, does the awesome ladies there. And guys that just want to be able to run their business, but the cost of rental is, can be pretty high. And you can testify to justify that, you know, and that's not cheap. It's not cheap. And I've seen some kids that don't want to play hockey. They want to swim. They just want to sit down and draw. They just want to be an artist. Can we encourage that? Yeah. And we, and some of them just want to be wet, just write good things. We encourage that. And so social profits are strong and we need to stand together to support them. And I've spoken with a couple of them and they all say one thing. Yeah. Budget the money. Do you know how beautiful it is? If we're going to have a day and we have every one of them set up their boots and we get the whole community to come out and support them, then, then we promoting them. It will be awesome.
Speaker 4 00:14:16 Question number three. What is one thing you think both Fort McMurray council shares with the council, your dad ran for?
Speaker 3 00:14:24 What do they share? It's all about the heart of community seven, the people. And that's what we want to see when we serve the people. It has to be the people for us. And that's the one thing I love. What, uh, I love to hear when I know not everybody Donald Trump coming controversial, but then he's American first. You know, we one foot Murray first,
Speaker 4 00:14:51 There you go. Question number four. What is one thing you think that Fort McMurray's council does better than any other place?
Speaker 3 00:15:01 The current sitting cancel? We will want to say thank you. It's not an ego job to put forth to your deem hours. And Dave lead some good foundation. We hold a human and we all want to do better and want to see our city do better. And so, uh, as much as even helping with twinning the road, uh, as much as seeing that we expand, you know, you know, a community that is a great job and putting out policies. And like I said, I've been walking with, uh, uh, members of the municipality staffs. And, um, there are policies for engagement that is going on there's policy for downtown revitalization. There is a program for attracting and retaining people. You know, we need to collaborate. We need to walk more to get the stand, have talking to the provincial, to be able to support us, to let the program flourish. There you go. Very great.
Speaker 4 00:16:01 And your final question, what is one thing you think Fort McMurray needs that we don't have,
Speaker 3 00:16:10 Um, the needs of the people various, and I'm sure the needs of Tarnow is different from your need
Speaker 3 00:16:20 But we have a spots here that we can tap into their knowledge that can, uh, give us local initiatives that can give growth within our community. And so let's maximize that resource and, um, people want to shops the ladies, you know, uh, the kids want a university. Uh, some of the guys want, uh, some, uh, low income models want a cheaper daycare for them. And some of them just want to have a cheaper recreation of a facility for them to just go and pay a little fee and enjoy, and most, especially our indigenous community. Yeah. That is a big win for us. If we can promote it. Uh, this is a place where we're so diverse. I know our spirit here is strong. If we can promote that, we would attract a lot of things. No doubt with McMurry.
Speaker 4 00:17:25 And those have been your five questions. Here we go.
Speaker 0 00:17:28 All right. Well, we're just gonna like, yeah. Tennis hidden his watch. I know we're going over. So, uh, so we're at the part of the show where you get your shameless shout out or plug though. So the mic is on you, the camera's on you. I think I know what you're going to promote, but, uh, anyways, you're up.
Speaker 3 00:17:42 Uh, well, I will say thank you for my power and for giving me this opportunity. And, uh, October 18, people are coming out to vote. Uh, I would, um, say, you know, come out and votes, eh, wherever the person is you put in. I know everybody wants to see footnote Marie, uh, in a great light, uh, in a better position, uh, to succeed. And, uh, it will be my, uh, uh, would a sense of, uh, responsibility and, uh, with a spirit of humility, uh, I will solicit that you all vote for IJ. J is Allah on October 18, uh, for what one counselor. And I really, you know, I really dove my heart for everyone that has put out their name there this year election. And don't forget lady IJ, the Kumon lady bring the kids were still teach math and reading and make them better as strong.
Speaker 0 00:18:51 So which camera do you see me on when I snuck off their Tanner?
Speaker 4 00:18:54 I heard is definitely. Yeah. Yeah. There's there was a nice shot of your behind in there that you just stuck it right out.
Speaker 0 00:19:01 That's great. Yeah. Enjoy at home for that. Yeah. That's a gift to the viewers. Well, thank you very much for coming. I do appreciate it. Um, obviously come back again and again, as many times as you want to come back, that seat is always a warm for you. Cool. All right. Well, Fort McMurray, wood, Buffalo, and the rest of the world, that's been another episode of the Mac Sydney morning show. Thank you so much for tuning in. It really does mean the world to me. Hopefully you're having a great day. We'll see you tomorrow. Peace.
