active thing and it’s usually on small streams. It doesn’t get any better than that: Walking in small streams in the foothills and the mountains. Fly- fishing is a good, head-clearing activity unless you run into a grizzly bear,” jokes Shields.
Shields believes his sense of self-reliance was something his parents taught him on the family farm. But, says Shields, they also taught him a broader perspective of social responsibility, expressed in simple acts of kindness, and being there for friends and neighbours when in need.
“They felt they had a responsibility to help others. When others were in need, you helped them. They just practised these things and it’s what you saw happening, and it was what was transferred to me.”
And with another wry comment, and a smooth transition, Mayor Shields gets right down to business touting his city. It happens so fast there was no way you could ever have seen it coming: Tom Sawyer put carefully away until the call of the wild brings him back out onto the river again.
“There’s no doubt I have my own broader picture of the world, but my challenge is will people agree with it,” Shields jokes. “What is really good right now in the city is we have fantastic citizens that volunteer and cooperate to do so many things. What, in my mind, is strengthened is also the cooperation we have in the area. Here’s one thing I’m really proud of in my years as mayor: I think we’re seeing the real benefits in the County of Newell in working together rather than in isolation; and we’ve got real positive things occurring because of it. So we’ve formed, for the first time, a regional economic development organization which includes all the mayors and reeves.”
Shields believes in the long run this regional perspective will benefit every community in Newell County including his own city. He says the broader perspective he and the other Brooks city councillors bring to the table has begun to transform his city from its traditional reliance on being a one-industry town into a diversified economy that welcomes new energy, new input and new industry from all its regional partners and local citizens.
“I think we are beginning so that in 15 years Brooks is going to be known differently than it is today,” said Shields. “We are working hard at providing all sorts of opportunities in our community — cultural, arts, recreation. And the international flavour of our community, we’re building on that as well. In fact, I think it has meant significant change already. It’s huge when you have a community with 100 languages in it. Do the immigration minister both federally and
Mayor Martin Shields and Reeve Molly Douglass of the County of Newell ham it up at an event in 2011. Mayor Shields is famous both for his mustache and his rugged individualism.
provincially know who I am? Absolutely.”
Shields explains he does not foresee the Lakeside meat packing plant ever not playing an important role in the community economically, but he also foresees a time when Brooks comes into its own as a modern, economically diversified city in its own right.
“That’s why I think the structure and organization, or economic development, in the County of Newell-wide, rather than focusing on something that might fit just inside the Brooks city limits, is so important. If you’re going to diversify, it’s going to need the strength of the region, not just one entity.”
For Shields, the goal of his time in the mayor’s office is to help direct his city down the path toward its own self-reliance and self-sufficiency.
“For those people who haven’t been to the community of Brooks I think they will be surprised. We have great people here. So all I can do is encourage them to come off the highway and come into our community. It’s a great place to be.”
So what happens to Mayor Shields if he ever meets that bear he joked about? Oddly enough he already has.
“It was nine o’clock at night and just a gorgeous evening. And off to the side of the stream I hear this rustling in the bush. And yep, up stands a grizzly bear. I know I can’t outrun him. And I’m
standing in the water smelling of fish, so this isn’t going to work. So I just begin to wonder how long it’s going to be before someone finds out what ever happened to me,” jokes Shields
For the restless Shields the status quo in Brooks is not good enough: It is time to take a chance on a new future and not be afraid to meet the bear. ■
DD
Denture Clinic Inc. *Serving former Wagner & Naismith patients
Medicine Hat
• Complete Dentures • Implant Dentures • Softliners • Partials • Relines • Repairs
Open Monday - Thursday 8:00am-5:00pm
Friday 8:00am-1:00pm (403) 526-0020
Located in the Co-op Mall 106-3030 13th Avenue SE Medicine Hat, AB
MEDICINE HAT DENTURE CLINIC
OUR COMMUNITIES ■ OUR REGION ■ OUR PEOPLE | 99
41110437•03/26/13
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116