The final meeting of Flin Flon’s current city council brought past memories and visions of the future for members who are either stepping back or running for different seats.
The current council met for the final time publicly Oct. 18, sharing memories of their time as Flin Flon’s lead governance group.
Councillor Karen MacKinnon, joining via Zoom from Cape Breton Island - where she has been for several weeks after the death of her father - said she would be attending future meetings as a member of the public, despite not running for reelection.
“I have nothing else but to wish you all the best of luck and everyone who’s running the same in the future. I’ll make a habit to come in and sit in the audience and get the facts straight,” she said.
Leslie Beck, who is running for mayor and therefore will be leaving her current post as councillor, thanked the people who voted for her in a 2021 byelection and said she would continue to serve Flin Flon in some way.
“I’d like thank everyone in the city for putting me in this chair for last 18 months. I’ve enjoyed the time that I’ve spent here and, depending on how things go on the 26th, even if I don’t return, I have made commitments to a lot of the communities that I’ve been associated to through my time on council,” she said.
“I do look forward to, in one way or another, continue serving the city of Flin Flon. It is my home and I truly want the best for it - good luck to everyone who’s running.”
Tim Babcock read from a letter he had wrote to himself back in 2018 as part of the orientation process for reelection. The letter, among other points, includes hopes that 2022 Babcock was doing well physically and mentally and that Flin Flon “is in a better place now than when we started.”
Bill Hanson, the sole incumbent member of council running for reelection to his current spot, praised his counterparts and praised the other contenders in the race.
“I just want to thank everybody for putting me back in this chair 18 months ago. I would like to do another four years in this chair,” he said.
“I want to thank my fellow councillors for the years of service that they put in. It’s been a pleasure for us to serve on council. Good luck to all the people running - whether I win or lose, it will be a blessing.”
Ken Pawlachuk echoed those sentiments, saying he had waffled back and forth on whether he would run again - at one point even picking up the nomination papers - but decided against it.
“I was impressed with the council people, putting in for council and mayor. Thank you guys for putting in work, because sometimes we get nothing - there’s been some youth, there are family people, business people - I think it’s going to be great,” he said.
Outgoing mayor Cal Huntley said he knew it was time for him to step away after 20 years on council in some form or another, saying he could feel his patience starting to wear away after two terms as mayor.
“I had mixed feelings as well - it took me a long time to decide whether I was going to hang in there for one more term. I saw myself with my patience getting thin. That's not a good way to be. You’ve got to have patience, you have to be able to have discussions and you have to be able to explain and you have to take the time to do that. That was my indicator that it's time to take a break from this,” he said.
“Twelve years as a councillor, eight years of mayor and I enjoyed lots of it. Don’t let anybody fool you - there’s a lot of work involved and it can be very satisfying work, but there can be some real frustration points. The provincial and federal governments do not work quickly. It takes a long time to make things happen and what seems to be common sense right in front of their face sometimes doesn’t happen quickly. You’ve got to stay on the horse and keep pushing.”
