A young woman with a passion for agriculture and a member of the Canadian Agricultural Youth Council representing Manitoba would also like to represent Ward 1 in the RM of La Broquerie. Chantele Gouliquer is asking the residents of La Broquerie to vote for her in the October 26th Municipal Election.
Gouliquer and her husband moved to La Broquerie in 2019 and were instantly welcomed into the community with open arms and were immediately treated like family, which is why she decided to go for it.
“It was these factors that made us really fall in love with the area and the community, which led me to decide to serve and give back to my community by running for Council. I just want to look into improving the RM for people that already live here, but also to attract more people to the area, to be able to let them fall in love with all the factors that I did.”
Gouliquer says living in the town of La Broquerie gives her the opportunity to experience everything the community has to offer. “However, I do make it out into the rural portions of the area due to the nature of my job. So, I get to see everything that is going on and there's a lot more you don't necessarily see when you’re on the main roads.”
If elected Gouliquer says her three main points are, “to improve road safety and road quality. Most of the area and the RM of La Broquerie as a whole is rural, which sometimes leads to bad road conditions, but that doesn't mean that they shouldn't be improved and kept safe for everybody. The second thing is recreation, which would include purposeful development and continuous improvement of all the recreational opportunities that we have in the area for people of all ages, as well as just overall representing young families. So being part of a young family that moved to the area, I want to advocate for young families. To provide everything that they could need or want, as well as to be able to keep it as an affordable place to live, for people to raise their families.”
When looking at the town of La Broquerie, Gouliquer sees a lot of potential for growth.
“There is a lot of purposeful development going on in the area with new developments going up, housing projects and everything that is going on, not only in town but also in the rural aspects of the RM. So I believe that although it's not always a fun fact, we do need to be able to incorporate the infrastructure to be able to handle the growing population. But overall, everyone you meet in La Broquerie has a smile on their face, and they're happy to talk to you about all the reasons that they love La Broquerie and that is really what I love and what I see looking out on the RM.”
Gouliquer hopes to bring her passion for agriculture to Council. “So having been on the Youth Council as well as my other volunteer positions and work aspects, I bring over five years of executive experience, which is always a big thing coming on to Council. The thing is, you have to run it (the town) like a business because it is a business in a way. Through the Youth Council and all the other executive experiences that I would be bringing, it's mainly my passion for young families and agriculture that I am running. I'm used to being a consultant, I like listening to the issues people are having and then bringing them back to the people that can help make a difference.”
Gouliquer reiterates her three main reasons for running for Ward 1 Councilor but says, “at the end of the day, if it doesn't resonate with the residents and I don’t give them what they would want to see, it doesn't mean anything. It's just empty promises. So essentially, even though I'm running on these three factors, I want to hear from the residents of Ward 1 who would I be representing. What are your needs? What are your wants? What are your opinions about what works and what doesn't? At the end of the day, I'm representing the people of this beautiful area and I need to be able to know what the issues are so I can try and help.”
