The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Tom Therien is our new mayor, to nobody's surprise. Though his challengers are to be commended for putting their names on the ballot, the outcome of this race was never in doubt. Mr. Therien's experience and popularity ensured victory was his, probably no matter who ran against him. He was, after all, the top vote-getter the three times he ran for city council. You can't please everybody, but most voters have put their trust in this man. The big question now is, what kind of mayor will he be? If the issues Mr. Therien raised in a pre-election interview with The Reminder are any indication, he's got his fingers firmly on the pulse of the community. He spoke of the need to pump "as many dollars as we can for infrastructure," mentioning roads as an example. Many residents make too big a deal of our imperfect roads. Surely there are bigger fish to fry. Yet there's no question that any effort to further enhance the roads will enjoy vast popular support. One of Mr. Therien's strongest points came when he discussed recreational infrastructure. He said the city needs to determine whether the CommunityPlex has any realistic hope of garnering the provincial and federal dollars it would require. The CommunityPlex concept first surfaced in 2002. Our community has waited and waited for word from the upper branches of government. Nothing has happened. We can't wait forever for bureaucrats to provide a definitive answer on this project. Certainly the governments' inaction Ð namely not providing any money or suggestions that some is on the way Ð speaks louder than any words. If the CommunityPlex is a dead issue, it's time to move on. It wouldn't be the first time our community was slighted by government. Mr. Therien also mentioned 911 phone service. That priority is particularly meaningful in light of a 2005 survey showing that just two of 500-plus local youths knew all three of Flin Flon's emergency numbers. That's truly frightening. Even if more of us were to memorize the ambulance, fire department and police numbers, would we all have the presence of mind to retrieve them a time of crisis? We need 911. A final plank of Mr. Therien's platform is maintaining good relations with the NOR-MAN Regional Health Authority. If we are to bring in more health care services and address existing concerns, the city must have a powerful voice with which to lobby the Health Authority and government in general. Of course wanting something and getting it are not one and the same. We may now be waiting to see what kind of mayor Mr. Therien will be, but four years from now, we will be asking a different question: How effective was he in bringing his goals to fruition? Only time will tell, but one thing is for certain: Mayor Therien has some daunting tasks ahead of him. Local Angle runs Fridays.
