Skeena Institute » Kathy Bedard

Kathy Bedard

Kathy Bedard’s website: www.bedard4mayor.ca

Kathy is currently a Prince Rupert City Councillor, and is running for mayor.

From her site:

“I am running for Mayor of Prince Rupert in this municipal election and I would be grateful for your support and participation. It has been my honour to have served the City of Prince Rupert and its residents as a City Councillor for the past 15 years. I have spent hundreds of hours in council, committee, board and community meetings learning about the challenges and the opportunities that face us. I am proud to have been an active architect in our always evolving Official Community Plan. I understand Prince Rupert. I love this community and I am dedicated to playing a leadership role in its future. As the Mayor representing the workers, those looking for work, the families, the children, the business people, the single parents, the elders, the students and the future leaders of Prince Rupert, I pledge to you my commitment to involve you in local government. The Mayor and six Councillors cannot navigate the future of our community without your participation.”

From The Northern View October 25, 2011:

“I am currently serving in my 15th year as City Councillor for the City of Prince Rupert.

Professionally, I am the Executive Director for Hecate Strait Employment Development Society, which administers employment-based contracts for both the Province and Canada on the North Coast, including Haida Gwaii. The Society brings in an average of $2 million in funding dollars to the community, employs 26 individuals (currently) with a wage budget of almost $700,000. We also pay taxes of more than $30,000 to the City.

A long-time resident of the region, I have served as a School Trustee/Board Chair for SD #52, I volunteer on various community committees for crime prevention, substance abuse, multiculturalism and I have assisted many not for profits in writing proposals for funding. As a City Councillor, I have provided a strong voice for the social issues locally, provincially and federally and have advocated strongly for the clean up and safety concerns impacting neighbourhoods in the City.

I am now running for the position of Mayor of Prince Rupert. My ongoing vision for the community/region – that we have a very bright future – is now being realized! We must take advantage of the support of partners, such as CN, Maher Terminals, our First Nations neighbours, and the Province, and truly become the Door to the Rest of Canada. That means having a community and region ready participate fully in the opportunities that will come, to create a business climate which attracts new business and sustains the businesses which have supported the area for the long-term. It also means that we must create a balanced approach to community development by meeting both environmental and business/industry growth demands.

I am proud to represent Prince Rupert. I am capable of hard work and I am dedicated to seeing our community and region prosper. I know that Prince Rupert will fulfill its destiny as a growing, world class port and will play an important role in the continuing development of the Province of BC and Canada and I am hopeful for the community’s support in the upcoming election on November 19th.”

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Anonymous

1. What is your stance on CityWest now that it appears unable to compete effectively with the major Telco’s and is rapidly becoming a major liability to the taxpayers of PR? By this I am referencing industry trends to declining land line usage, the dramatic upswing in cellular usages and new technologies that permit video /cable services to be delivered wirelessly and of course the ability of CityWest to compete in product line up, reliability and quality of service against Rogers, Telus and Bell.2. As one of the original council that spun City Tel off to City West and embarked on a regional expansion without a referendum on the business plan, are you satisfied with how CityWest performed against its original business plan? 3. Would you support releasing the original five year plan now that it is a historical document so the citizens of PR could assess how successful this decision to become a regional telecom was?4. As you served on council at the time that CityTel was spun off to CityWest and entered the Cable business, did you vote against proceeding via the alternative approval process or did you press for a referndum?
Kathyb

As the one shareholder of CityWest, the City is ultimately still in control of the entity, so there was no need, at the time, to enter into alternative approval or referendum. As many of the Councillors and mayor candidate found out at a information session held by City West, this was a very successful business opportunity – what other community at least receives $1 million from a utility? Yes, I would prefer that the City received $2 million annually, but that would risk it all. I am confident in the Board of CityWest to keep us informed about the economic benefits of expansion or selling the entity at a “profitable” time.

The public should be more informed about CityWest, and the information session conducted by Mr. Craig should be shared. As your Mayor, I will request this of CityWest.
Alex

Hey,

Ok, so this guys name is Rob Vallee, running for Alderman in Prince Rupert. He is a past owner of DataBoy Computers here. He walked on his partners because he thought they were treating him badly. They were getting pissed at him because of the way he was running the company. He invited two employees to become partners then left the business after taking a draw on his shareholders account over time. That amount exceeded his credit by more than $5000.00.
Items one of his partners says are true-
He was audited a couple years ago and as recently as last year there were Canada Revenue agents looking for him at the store that he bailed out on.
He deducted money from employees for extended medical and when two of the employees went to the dentist they were presented with invoices that the dentist said they had to pay personally as there was no extended coverage for them. It is not known who ended up paying after all.
His partner who now runs DataBoy has had to pay off a number of checks and fees they incurred as a result of checks he bounced to suppliers. He also bounced some payroll checks as well.
He now runs a business out of a converted ambulance rather than a store front.

Problem, the public is unaware of how he runs his show and he is running high enough in the polls to the point that he will probably get in.
Yikes !!