Anthony Vandenberg, owner of the Woodland Inn, will be running for councillor this September. (Nikita Ganovicheff/meadowlakeNOW staff)

By Nikita Ganovicheff

Byelection Q&A

A Q&A with councillor candidate Anthony Vandenberg

Jul 20, 2019 | 8:00 AM

Councillor candidate Anthony Vandenberg sat down with meadowlakeNOW for an interview ahead of the Sept. 18 byelection. As part of our coverage for both the vacant mayoral and soon-to-come councillor seat, meadowlakeNOW will reach out to all candidates as they are announced and pose similar questions. Some answers were amended for clarity.

For people in the community who don’t know who you, please introduce yourself?

I’m a hotelier. I’ve owned and managed a hotel (Woodland Inn) and I’ve been in business now for 27 years. I have a wife, Michelle. We’ve been married for 23 years and have two children, Spencer and Hannah.

Why are you running for city council?

I’ve always been encouraged to become a city councillor and this started back with Henri Lazar when he was on council. I’ve always felt like I was too young or my family was too young to get involved. I was always involved in their clubs. Now that my kids are older and graduated, I feel it’s my time that I can spend some time on council and help the city out.

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What sets you apart from other candidates?

Being a businessman and being here 28 years, I’ve seen where Meadow Lake has come and where it should be going and I want to see that it proceeds in the right direction.

What are the three biggest issues you see in Meadow Lake and how will you address them?

The biggest issue I see right now is the infrastructure. Meadow Lake was never meant to be a city. It was always a small town. We need to improve the infrastructure, what’s underneath the ground before we put any pavement on it that needs to be fixed. Then we can continue from there. We need to look into the future as to where Meadow Lake is going, short-term and long-term, and make changes accordingly.

I also see currently the Stampede grounds is one area we need to overlook. We’ve got problems with the stands and whether they should be torn down or rebuilt or should we look at a totally way of making it a multi-use facility. Personally, I’m in favour of a multi-use facility. We are in a snowbound season for six months and having something indoors for the groups to use would be a great benefit for this community.

As for a third, we’re going to work on that when we get there.

What is one thing you like that is currently being done by the city?

I like that the city has made some informed decisions. Currently, with the change of the paving schedule from not paving the east service road and changing that over to paving over one of the other streets. It’s informed, it is a better use of taxpayer dollars and I think that it’s the right way to go.

What is one thing that city council is doing that you dislike?

There’s nothing that I’m seeing right now that I dislike.

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nikita.ganovicheff@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @Nikitaganov