A man experienced with working with Portage la Prairie in the service sector for nine years is now on the list of candidates for City council.
Mitch Tilk has been involved in many aspects of the community and shares his reasons for the run.
"I've been in Portage for most of my life," notes Tilk. "I work at PCRC, which is a local non-profit, and we deal with a lot of the issues that affect Portage residents day-to-day. Seeing some of the hardships that Portagers have to go through, I thought there has to be a way that we can start to coordinate things a little differently from the city's standpoint."
He says he'd like to see somewhat more of a caring sort of concern for some of the residents of Portage that are getting left behind.
"My portfolio with the PCRC is immigration," continues Tilk. "So, my main concern with my work is making Portage as good as possible for newcomers when they arrive. But a consequence of that work is that it ends up being as good as possible for most residents. My primary concern for people in Portage is with transportation, housing, community safety, well-being, and just trying to create a community that welcomes people from all different backgrounds and values with the other cultures that make up Portage la Prairie."
All in all, Tilk notes transportation is the number one concern.
"I think you should vote for me if you care about this community and the people in it," adds Tilk, "if you care about your neighbours and you want them to have a decent shot at making a go of it in Portage Prairie, if you're looking for somebody that has implemented programming before, has started things from start to finish that have benefited Portagers already, and if you're looking for a little bit more leadership from City Council in terms of helping residents."
Tilk adds that keeping with the theme of transportation, he'd like to challenge the other candidates running for City Council to live without their personal vehicles for a week, if they're able to, and just see what these challenges really are.
"I've been doing that already for the last couple of weeks," says Tilk. "I can say that it is extremely challenging. You have to rely on people around you, friends and family and/or pay for cabs and things like that. It's extremely difficult for people in Portage that have to live that way. So, I would love to see people that are running for positions of leadership in the community to try to take that on, and try to live without their personal vehicles for a week."
He notes it's not too much to ask when considering what others have to go through.
Election date is set for October 26.