With municipal elections in British Columbia drawing nearer, the Fitzhugh will be running a series of candidate profiles in the coming weeks to let people across the region know what’s going on and help our readers in Valemount and McBride make an informed decision on Nov. 19.

This week we feature profiles of John Grogan and Hollie Blanchette, who are running for Valemount council, and Andru McCracken, who is running to be mayor of Valemount.

The Fitzhugh is in the process of contacting each candidate in Valemount and McBride for interviews. Any candidates wishing to get a jump on the process can feel free to contact reporter Nicole Veerman at reporter@fitzhugh.ca or 780-852-4888.  

Blanchette looking to get even more involved

Hollie Blanchette is running for Valemount village council because she wants to help the community flourish.

“We’ve got a good community here and I’d like to pitch in and see if there’s anything I can do to make it better,” she said.

Blanchette moved to Valemount six and a half years ago when her husband retired from the military.

Since arriving, she has immersed herself in the community by working with the Valemount Marina Association, Valemount Sports Days Committee, Valemount Crafters Guild and the Royal Canadian Legion branch 266.

She also works in the public library as a clerk, specializing in technology. 

It’s because of her involvement in the community that she says she is an ideal candidate for village council.

“I’m on several committees, so I’m in touch with the community at its core and I think that’s a big help. You need somebody that’s living and breathing and working in the community in which you’re trying to help,” she said.

“The library, everybody comes in and out, so you get to meet people there. You get to hear what they want, what they don’t like, what their concerns are. It’s sort of a good place to be.”

Blanchette said it’s important for council to hear those concerns and ideas, so they know what the community wants. Having said that, she said residents have a responsibility to share their thoughts with the municipality, so that council can bring them to life.

“It takes all of us. It’s not just going to take five,” she said. “It’s going to take everybody in town to get us ahead.”

Blanchette said she would like to focus her attention on boosting the community’s economy, by putting emphasis on more industry, including tourism initiatives.

“I’d like to see better jobs,” she said. “I’d like to see a vibrant community again.

“I love living here and I’d like to see it better.”

Educator and HST opponent eyes council seat

People in Valemount might recognize John Grogan as the guy who stood outside the post office petitioning to put an end to the Harmonized Sales Tax.

If not, they might recognize the village council candidate as a former substitute teacher at Valemount Elementary. And if that doesn’t ring a bell, residents might remember him running for mayor a few times in the past. 

Grogan, 61, has been living in Valemount since the late 1970s. He said what he would like to see for his community is more public engagement and consultation.

“Communication is a really important thing to me,” he said. “I’m really concentrating on enhanced participatory democracy, getting people involved in committees. I want to see more public consultation on decisions made by council.”

Grogan has been attending council meetings regularly over the past 15 years. It began when he decided he wanted to broadcast the meetings on the community’s public access television channel. He said at first he was met with resistance, so he decided to build a relationship with the municipality by attending meetings. 

After about five years, his efforts were successful and Valemount Community Television, run by the Valemount Entertainment Society, began broadcasting the meetings. 

Grogan said his devotion to the meetings was re-ignited during the last election cycle when he ran for mayor.

“I thought that I owed it to the respect of the office to see to it that I attended council meetings, so I did for the last three-year cycle. I thought it was really important that everybody know that I was serious about municipal governance,” he said.

Aside from creating greater public involvement, Grogan said as village councillor, he would also like to see Valemount take control of its own destiny.

“We live in a community that not that long ago was self-sufficient, we had lots of little sawmills around and the pioneer spirit. Now what we’re doing is looking for big money to come invest in us and I think that there’s an opportunity for us to invest in ourselves.

“I’d like to see local economies.”

Media man taking a crack at mayor’s chair

Mayoral candidate Andru McCracken says Valemount needs leadership and he’s the man for the job.

“We need someone to say, ‘I’m going to put my neck out here and I’m going to take a stand on this and get behind it.’ 

“I don’t have a problem with making unpopular decisions and then showing my face around, if that’s what needs to happen,” he said. 

McCracken has lived in Valemount since 2001 and has spent the past 10 years working in various media positions in the community, part of which includes covering council meetings.

He said with that experience, he feels he already has a solid understanding of municipal politics – at least in terms of what happens in the public eye. He said that’s one of the reasons he’s running for mayor rather than first running as a candidate for village council.

“Three years on council, I don’t think is going to teach me to become the leader that Valemount needs, instead someone needs to step up and start taking ownership and taking leadership in the challenges that we face,” he said.

Part of that leadership is changing the tone of village council, he said, noting that council should be encouraging residents and businesses rather than always putting up roadblocks.

“When somebody comes (to council), you need to cheer them through the process, the unhappy process, of getting through bylaws and the other stuff,” he said, suggesting residents shouldn’t always feel like they’re “fighting city hall.”

McCracken said that’s just part of running a fair, open and transparent government.

Beyond changing the leadership and tone of village council, McCracken said effort also needs to be put into attracting “urban refugees” to Valemount. He said there are many people in Canada who would love to live in a mountain town that offers so many amazing recreational activities, it’s just a matter of capitalizing on that.

“Valemount’s in the state where every family counts and the schools have so few children in them, (so it’s) really important to invite people to the community,” he said. “It’s a matter of getting our name out there.” 

Attracting people to town isn’t the only solution to Valemount’s problems, McCracken said, but it is a start because once communities grow, so do businesses.

“When community development happens, it’s almost always local businesses growing,” he said. “We’re always wishing for some major development to come along or new industry, particularly in Valemount to replace our mill or something like that, but that’s rarely how it happens. What we have to keep our eyes open for is when local businesses have the opportunity to expand.

“We need to support them.”