By Kevin J Sabo
For the Advance
Residents of Castor are going to the polls for the first time in over half a decade to decide who will fill the seat on council which was vacated by the resignation of a former council member in January.
When nomination day closed on Feb. 26 two people had entered the race to sit on council, forcing the April 9th byelection.
The candidates on the ballot will be Kevin McDougall and Melanie Robertson, both long time community members, and both bringing different experiences with them. Robertson has been a member of the Castor community for 39 years, during which she has worked for the Castor Advance as an office manager and a reporter and she’s worked for the R.C.M.P. in both the Castor and Coronation offices.
Robertson also brings an experience in governance with her, as past president of the Alberta Association of the Royal Purple, current board chair for the hospital board and foundation, as well as currently sitting on the area Physician Recruitment Committee.
“You need to go in with your ears open and mouth shut until you learn the ropes,” said Robertson, speaking on her plans should she win the byelection. “There’s always a reason things are being done the way they are. You can’t go in with an agenda.”
McDougall is a more recent transplant to Castor living in the community for the past 18 years with his young family. He has worked in various management positions for SK Welding in Coronation over those 18 years and feels that his management experience, where he has been in charge of anywhere from 2 to 30 people, would benefit the community should he be elected.
“I’ve played all the roles,” said McDougall.” I’m not big on titles.”
For McDougall the opportunity to sit on the Town council is about giving back to the community, something that he has already done as a long-term member of the Castor Volunteer Fire Dept.
When asked about how the candidates would deal with conflict in council, McDougall said, “We need to sit down and talk. We need some debate. We need to do the work. In the end we need to support each other regardless of how the vote goes.”
Robertson said “Not everyone is going to have the same opinion. I don’t believe in belittling each other but sometimes we will have to agree to disagree.”
The byelection in Castor for the vacant seat will be Aprril 9th, just before the April 12th deadline set by the Municipal Government Act.
The byelection will be the first of three votes community members will have in 2019. The Alberta general election will be held one week later, on April 16, and the federal election must be held no later than October of this year.