Doug Ramage is the first candidate to officially throw his hat in the ring for Warman City Council in this fall’s civic election.
Ramage narrowly lost his bid for a council seat four years ago as a relative newcomer to the city. This time around, he brings several years of work as a community volunteer to the table.
“I came close – within 17 votes – in the last election,” said Ramage in an interview. “I had good support but I wasn’t well-known in the community.”
Since then, Ramage has been involved as a volunteer with the Warman Emergency Response Team (WERT), the Warman Neighbourhood Watch, Toastmasters and the Prairie Sky Chamber of Commerce (PSCC).
A professional civil engineer and management consultant, Ramage said he is committed to a program of attracting more business investment and growing the city’s population, while ensuring affordability and community safety.
“We’ve had a strong direction from city council in the past,” said Ramage. “But one of the things that’s happened is we went through an explosion of growth, and when that happens, development is somewhat easier to manage.
“What I believe has to happen now is that we need to leverage Warman’s strengths to attract and diversify business investment.
“There are many opportunities for agribusiness and technology companies to locate here.”
Ramage said another challenge is growing the “daytime population” of the city.
“During the week, the daytime population of Warman drops to about 8,500 to 9,500 due to people commuting elsewhere for work,” he said. “This has a significant impact as approximately $135,000 per month is lost in purchases made outside of Warman.”
Ramage said he is committed to working for high-quality public services and amenities, including a future indoor swimming pool.
“An indoor pool is something a lot of people are interested in seeing here,” said Ramage. “I know council is planning ahead for that and I agree it needs to happen when it becomes feasible.”
He also wants to work with the RCMP to strengthen community safety initiatives.
Ramage said regional cooperation is beneficial for all municipalities in the area.
“Each community has its own unique character,” said Ramage. “I believe Warman has an opportunity to leverage its competitive advantages within the region as a whole.”
Ramage said he believes his experience as an engineer and consultatant working with municipalities will add insight to discussions around the council table.
“We need to move forward in a time when everything is being done differently,” said Ramage.