School trustee runs for Point Douglas ward

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This article was published 16/07/2018 (2880 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

 

The race for the Point Douglas ward has recently got another candidate.

 

Dean Koshelanyk has run for Point Douglas three times — twice for its city council seat, and once at the provincial level — and is currently a Winnipeg School Division trustee for Ward 9. On July 5, he registered his name to be one of the three candidates running for the ward so far, following current councillor Mike Pagtakhan’s decision not to run for re-election.

As a resident and school trustee, Koshelanyk said he has become frustrated with the ways things are being handled at City Hall and has decided to try and contribute with his ideas by running for city council.

Koshelanyk has been living in the ward since it was first created and has been highly involved in the community. Before becoming a school trustee, he was the president of the Tyndall Park Community Centre, coaches several teams and volunteers for the Winnipeg Jets Hockey Academy. 

The candidate said his platform is based in three things: common sense, financial prudence, and safety. One of the projects he would like to get done is a new community centre for Tyndall Park.

“I definitely acknowledge that we need a new centre at Tyndall Park, it’s not going to be a priority, but I’m going to make sure that it gets done, or at least gets started,” he said. 

Koshelanyk also hopes to implement more and better safety initiatives. One example is improved speed control. He said that current speed cameras and signage in place should be more efficient in advising drivers that they are breaking the law by going over the limit.

“Getting a ticket two weeks later doesn’t help much. Even if you get 10 tickets two weeks later, it doesn’t help much,” he explained. “If people are speeding in these areas for one reason or another they just don’t care if they speed or they are not aware that it’s a speed issue.

“I want to vastly improve the signage. Here we seem to just not really care about telling people that they are entering a low-speed zone. They just want to make money after the fact. Safety shouldn’t make you money.”

Koshelanyk wants to continue fostering a helpful community where everybody gets together to share ideas and where he can come in with leadership to help implement plans that are good for the ward.

“My name never goes on any plaque. And it’s because my name doesn’t deserve to be on there. The taxpayers are the ones who built the gym, the schools, and community centres. When you start to make that distinction that it doesn’t matter who you are trying to help,” he said.

Koshelanyk will continue to be a trustee for Ward 9 until the end of the election. To learn more about his candidacy, go to https://www.facebook.com/deankpointdouglas