The two candidates running to become the next Mayor for the City of Winkler participated in an all-candidates forum Monday evening, offering voters a chance to hear about their priorities and goals leading up to the October 26th municipal election. The event was hosted by the Winkler and District Chamber of Commerce.
Henry Siemens and Karl Krebs kicked off the evening by offering up opening statements that highlighted their priorities for the coming term, if elected. The pair also answered a series of questions that were submitted online as well as from the floor of the forum. The submitted questions were screened and selected by Chamber staff for relevance to avoid duplication and to assure adherence to the ground rules.
Following are the questions posed to each of the candidates, listed in the order they were asked, as well as each candidate's one minute response in the order given at the forum.
Question #1
The loss of several doctors has significantly hampered C.W. Wiebe Medical Center's ability to deliver primary care service and has led to a reduction in urgent care services. What actions will you take to mitigate the loss of physicians in our community, and how do you plan to recruit physicians back into the area?
Karl Krebs
“I think the fact that doctors have left speaks to the fact that for the last two years we've been lied about, all the way from the Prime Minister's office right down to the municipal levels, and doctors have made choices to practice in other areas.
We need doctors, that's clear.
When I moved here 20 years ago, we had great doctors, and we still have great doctors.
But health care is a private choice, and it has to be between the person and their doctor and their God.
That's as simple as it is.
When we make health care choice divisive, we create division in our health community and in our city.”
Henry Siemens
“This is an extremely difficult question to answer because there is no right answer.
The key for us will be to make the investments we need to relationally and financially into what's needed.
We know that there's a hospital expansion coming. We know that the clinic needs an expansion. Both of those will need some financial investment from the City of Winkler in order to happen.
If we provide good facilities, if we work to repair our relationships. We are an extremely attractive place to be, but it is a multi-part piece that involves more than a few people at the table.
There is no easy answer, but if we invest both financially and reputationally we will be able to recruit those people.”
Question #2
If elected, what is your plan to foster a spirit of unity and cooperation within the City of Winkler and the City Council?
Henry Siemens
“Outside what's already been said, I think we need to stop yelling at each other and I think we need to extend the grace that we expect.”
Karl Krebs
“The word unity is contained in the word community, and that's the coming together. We have to make allowances for each other’s shortcomings and viewpoints that we don't agree with. But as part of my platform, as was sent out to almost every home in this city, is that we have open dialogue with all facets of our city.
Regularly scheduled town hall meetings would do a lot to let the pressure off in our community when the outside world is coming, looking at dismantling our way of life.
That we allow our parents to raise their children according to long held traditions and values.
When we start to recognize that and pull together and know that God has given us a unique opportunity here and we stand on the truth of his word, I believe Winkler will be the shining city on the Prairie.”
Question #3
How do you feel about the options available for transportation in Winkler and what will you do to improve transportation in our city?
Henry Siemens
“Similar to some of the other things that we've talked about, this one doesn't have an easy answer. This one has been at the Council table in one manner or fashion for my entire time there.
We are at the place, though, that we can't not do something anymore. We have to try to find something. I love the idea of creative approaches to it because it's going to take a creative approach. And it's going to take money. The idea that we can do public transit without hundreds of thousands of dollars involvement is simply not the case.
It is going to take money. It is going to take a number of groups. It's going to take the entire Winkler Resource Committee at the table having those discussions. It's going to involve any number of different ideas, any number of different participants.
It's going to involve our business community.
It has to be done, and I believe that we've heard enough here that it will be done, but it will not be easy.”
Karl Krebs
“Public transit is visionary. This is where Council gets to the 30,000-foot level and starts to look beyond our horizon to cities that have had successfully done it. Chances are there's a community out there very much similar in size to us, but in the meantime a simple private business operating a shuttle. Buses might be an answer.
Creating a business opportunity for someone and perhaps the City, making it feasible on the dollars and cents side.
Picture a mobile app and a shuttle bus service in Winkler.
We are a cold climate city. If anybody needs a shuttle bus for people, it's Winkler.
So, that's visionary and that's where council can do its best work up at that level, looking forward and making the commitment and having the guts to do it.”
Question #4
What would you say are priorities for sustainable development?
Henry Siemens
There's a whole bunch of long-winded answers, but it comes down to developing clear, consistent long-term rules that are developed together using best planning practices and in consultation with our developers.
When we do that and provide certainty in terms of this development process, this development system will be around for a period of time. (That) helps to give certainty, and where there is certainty, we can develop a thought that is affordable and sustainable.
There is nothing harder in a business where you have to put tens of millions of dollars in the ground than to expect that the rules may change next year or the year after.
When we build clear, consistent long-term strategies, we will have sustainable development.
Karl Krebs
“Again, that's the vision that Council has to take responsibility for, to see the need before it is something that we have to react to.
We need to be proactive in that, and I do subscribe to the ideology - “build it and they will come”. Community creating that community is going to drive the people here.
Sustainable development will happen as a natural thing that we have to do.
The water waste treatment plant has been talked about to end. It's going to happen anyway. It's like when you outgrow your 34-waist line, you go to a 36. It's just inevitable. So, we are going to build that for no good reason other than the fact that we are at the point where it needs to happen.
Sustainable development, yet responsible development as well.”
Question #5
As Winkler grows more diverse, and as we see neighboring communities like Morden and Altona supporting this diversity in conjunction with the Pembina Valley Pride organization by hosting celebrations and marches, it is the hope of many members of our community that our city will soon follow suit. Would you as a City Council member support events like this, and if so, in what ways?
Karl Krebs
In a community such as ours the ethnicity is, I believe, about 130 different countries. There's a lot of agenda that comes in here. So that's just dealing with the ethnicity. It has nothing to do with your spiritual alignment, your faith elements, or your preference of who you want to be with.
But we have to strike a pathway that is in some ways going to sever off 10 or 15% on the left, and 10 or 15% on the right. And if we can hit a swath of 70%, we are doing well. We cannot accommodate every whim and desire that comes into the city, especially when it chooses to undermine the traditional values of our community. That we are established on a principle that God is our creator, we are in relation to Him and that we serve the best interests of this community. That's what it comes down to.
What do the people feel?”
Henry Siemens
“There are lots of different groups, there are lots of different thoughts. There are lots of different things that happen in our community. Mayor and Council are not involved with all of them, nor should they be expected to be involved with all of them.
Mayor and Council are not in agreement with absolutely every event that happens, nor should they be expected to.
If, in fact, there was a group that chose to move forward with a parade that is their prerogative if they choose to do so, if they choose to follow the local rules that are there around parades.”
Question #6 – This was a question asked only of the mayoral candidates during the forum.
What is your top reason for running?
Henry Siemens
“My top reason for running is that I love this community.
This is where I have resided since I left Morden to come here after high school. Someday I hope that both my kids love this town as much as I do. Someday when they finish their education, I hope they both decide, or at least consider coming back to Winkler.
in order to do that, if I genuinely want that, it is my responsibility to step forward and do absolutely everything that I can to create, or at least participate in and influence as much as I possibly can to create that community for them.
Both of them are here tonight. I want them to know that that's why I'm running.”
Karl Krebs
“This card which if you didn't get one, let me know, I'll give it to you because this states everything that I stand for.
But my primary reason is that in coming to this community 20 years ago, I experienced a faith community that has dissipated, very much so. And I'm concerned about the government coming at us from the highest levels to put Winkler in the crosshairs, as it has been for so long. And we need to stand aground and plant the flag.
There are hills we decided early in the pandemic that we would not die on, but our faith, which has brought us this far, is what is going to take us across the finish line. That is not for sale. We are not mortgaging our faith. We're not mortgaging our kids.”
Question #7
In the past four years, what area of community service have you been involved with and why?
Henry Siemens
“The committee list that our current Council sits on is available on the City of Winkler website. You can feel free to go take a peek at that there. It's long and it's numerous, and it has already been mentioned.
But where I find the greatest fulfillment is in my opportunity to sit on the board at Central Station, my opportunity to sit on the board at Winkler Affordable Housing. Both of those committees have really heavy lifting to do in a time when there's an increase in need that seems to be without end. There is always a greater need. There is always more need.
Both of these organizations have many other board members at the table who are passionate about making a difference.
I find that that there are people in our community prepared to do that, prepared to step in on a regular basis. I find that extremely, extremely invigorating.”
Karl Krebs
“There’s a few things they ask you when you want to run for council or mayor, and they're meant to disqualify you.
Community service. If it were a qualifier, I would be disqualified because of the last 20 years, 13 of them have been spent as a long-distance driver. But I can tell you behind that wheel and looking out the windshield, God has fashioned a heart in me for leadership.
And I've learned that what God is mostly concerned about is your availability. He will give you the ability to serve if you trust him. And that is why I decided to enter this race. To become available, to be used by God, for the betterment of this community.”
Voters head to the polls on October 26th.