In the Thursday, May 30 edition of the simplymastery we profiled each of the candidates running in the by-election to replace councillor Ralph Fossum. Their profiles were based on the following questions and answers, which we are publishing in full online. Some answers have been lightly edited for grammar and proper spelling.
1. List your first and last name and tell me a bit about yourself. Who you are, what you do for work and how long you’ve been in the community for.
Dave Wishnowski. I own and operate Dave’s Guitar Lessons here in 100 Mile. I moved here with my family five years ago from Alberta and before that, we lived in Burnaby.
2. What made you want to run for a seat on the District of 100 Mile House council? Is this a spur-of-the-moment decision or something you’ve been thinking about for some time?
The people of 100 Mile House literally saved my life and I would be honoured and grateful to serve them in return. I owe this community the amazing life that I have here now. A few years ago, my family suffered through a terrible crisis that affected my daughter and me in every awful way imaginable.
Were it not for the kindness and graciousness of the 100 Mile House community I may not be here with you today. But thanks to everyone who helped and supported us from the doctors and nurses, RCMP, our neighbours, the wonderful staff at the Cariboo Family Enrichment Center, and my students and their families we are in the best shape of our lives in every way that matters.
And then recently when the local mountain bike park was torn down the community vocally felt betrayed and defeated. I don’t want to believe there was any ill intent on anyone’s part but very clearly there was a communication breakdown between the (District of 100 Mile House) and the community that could have been prevented.
I started meeting with concerned locals about what could be done to not only prevent something like this from happening again in the future but what could we do together to go bigger and better for families and young people in 100 Mile House. Why stop with a new bike park? Why doesn’t 100 Mile House have an indoor pool and rec center when smaller and less active communities do? Why do we not have a world class skate park when the community is screaming for one instead of that sad little skate park we have now?
All of these events and conversations boiled down to the same sentiment, “We need someone to champion youth and family causes on the City council”. Once I let it be known that I had previous experience not only working in government but also as someone who has led successful projects in the past I was getting asked to run for the next available council seat. And here we are.
3. Do you have prior experience serving on council or another level of government? If so, what is it?
Yes, before I moved to 100 Mile House I served as Entrepreneur Program Manager for a period of time in Alberta which is a position I earned as a result of my previous life experience in the area. You might say I earned a black belt in bureaucracy. I’m not intimidated by the slow-moving system and I don’t believe it when I hear things like, “100 Mile House can never have a pool or more fun things for families because that’s just the way it is.” Then let’s change the way it is.
4. In your own words, what do you think the role of a councillor entails and how will you go about fulfilling it?
The number one thing a councillor needs to do is shut up and listen to what people want and where they are hurting. Then, it becomes your job to show up to work and push the people’s best interests forward. It’s not always easy and it’s rarely without challenges to overcome. But, it is that simple. Listen, care, act.
5. What are the biggest issues you see facing the community right now? If you were on council, how would you address them?
From my personal experience and the experience of those I’ve spoken with the biggest issue is overcoming our growing pains. Our healthcare system and just businesses, in general, are having very real trouble hiring and retaining qualified professionals. When I ask why that is, it’s shocking how often I hear the same response.
Doctors, managers, etc. are given job offers but when these people come up to 100 Mile to check it out with their families they invariably have to turn the offer down because their kids would have almost nothing to do here especially indoors in the winter and there are relatively few jobs in town for teenagers as well. My own daughter had to drive back and forth to Williams Lake every day for work.
That’s why I’m adamant that our community could have something like a world-class indoor pool and rec centre to attract more professional families and employ more locals. But we have to show we really want it and are willing to invest in the future of our community.
Do we have the most amazing hunting and fishing around? Hell yes! And can we improve the quality of life for all of us by attracting more families with even more facilities and opportunities? We can if we want to. And the people I’ve listened to very much want to.
6. Personally, are there any causes or projects you would like to see council support or start?
Yes! Two amazing people I met with early on about the bike park situation have spearheaded a campaign they call “100 Mile Youth Initiative” which you can find on Facebook - their current focus is the development of a skate plaza for the community.
Founded by Maria Reti and the Groundwork Community Service Cooperative, they are working hard and working smart on building a world-class and, most importantly, safe skate park for families in 100 Mile House and, trust me, I would not bet against these people. They are motivated, driven, experienced, and smart. Their vision will not only retain the youth we have but will also help attract more families to our community as tourists that spend locally and as new residents.
I believe this will be the project that shows the community what can be accomplished to benefit everyone here and after the skate park, the momentum will attract more and more support for more complimentary projects like a community pool and rec centre.
Another issue that nearly everyone meets I mentioned is that while they work and spend half their waking hours in 100 Mile House they are not able to vote in local elections due to the current narrow election boundaries. I want to look into expanding those boundaries and giving more locals the power to vote in the future of the community.
7. Many people in 100 Mile House complain about a lack of youth activities and services. What do you think council’s role is in addressing these concerns?
In my opinion, the council’s role is to listen and facilitate. The people of 100 Mile House are already organizing and doing the work of researching and planning for the projects they believe will benefit us all and the council would do well to provide guidance instead of roadblocks. I mean, I know the people organizing these initiatives and there isn’t a roadblock that will stop them so let’s learn to love it and help make it happen. Everybody wins.
8. The majority of 100 Mile House’s population falls into the senior category. How would you support senior citizens on council?
After my divorce, I moved my elderly mother in with me. She has dementia. It was and continues to be, harder than I could have ever imagined. But I was absolutely blown away by the level of services available to seniors and their caregivers in 100 Mile House. From the wonderful staff at Fischer Place, Adult Day Services, the home care support, and even the transport services that take my mother to her appointments when my damn car won’t start have been above and beyond what I could have expected to be available. I would support our senior citizens by promising to not fix what isn’t broken and not stand in the way of those people already doing their best for our seniors.
9. Why should people vote for you?
If people agree with what I want to do for 100 Mile House they can vote with confidence that I will transparently work on their behalf toward those goals. I’m not running because I want to be a politician. I’m running because I owe the people of 100 Mile the life I have now.
10. If you do get onto council, would you run for a full term during the next regular election or do you plan to just be a transitional candidate?
If people approve of the job I’ve done and want me to run again I will. 100 per cent.
11. Is there any other issue or goal you have that you would like people to know about?
I’m a huge supporter of our local Food Bank and the volunteers there and I have experience with it as a volunteer and client myself. On a more playful note, 100 Mile House needs to know how much musical talent we have here!
I have taught music across this country in some of the biggest cities and I’m telling you I have never seen and heard so much musical talent concentrated in one place than I have since I began teaching here. I’m going to start really promoting the talent we have here on social media, especially the young people.
I was going to say there must be something in the water here but frankly, the tap water just kills my coffee maker in 10 seconds flat so the talent must come from somewhere else! Hell, maybe as their teacher I’ll just take credit for it.
12. Any final message you would like to end on?
I just want to thank everyone for considering giving me the opportunity to give back to 100 Mile. I thought I would hate it here when I first saw it was like three blocks long and without a Costco but now that I’ve lived here for years I never want to leave. It’s home. And I’m grateful for the opportunity to be considered for this valuable council seat. Plus, it’s amazing how much more money I have to spend locally when I don’t live near a Costco anymore!
