Deputy mayor

By Madeline Kerr

La Pêche deputy mayor and Ward 5 Coun. Pamela Ross says that she has unfinished business in the municipality. 

She confirmed to the Low Down that she is seeking a third term as Ward 5 councillor.

Specifically, Ross said she wants to improve the municipality’s “customer service.”

“I want to improve our one-on-one service, our attention to detail,” Ross explained, adding that when residents interact with the municipality about “day-to-day things” like garbage collection, large item pickup, or obtaining a permit, they should expect timely, personalized service. “This isn’t always the case,” she admitted. 

This is what she considers her top priority for the upcoming election. She added that she wants to ensure that large road communities in her district – such as Chemin Lac Bernard, which she said is home to 450 residents, and Chemin Lac Usher – are given greater priority by the municipality. 

Ross’ district of northern La Pêche, which includes Alcove, Lescelles, Rupert and Farrellton, encompasses around 80 km of unpaved road, the most in the municipality, according to Ross. 

The challenges of managing a “uniquely rural” district is one preoccupation for Ross, but she added she’s also focused on the needs of the whole municipality. 

“Our large land mass, significant infrastructure needs,  environmental considerations,  language diversity, rising cost of living, and the pressures that come with being so close to the nation’s capital all present unique challenges,” she said. 

Ross said that she’s “a terrible self-promoter,” and doesn’t find it easy to talk about herself publicly. Still, the Low Down was able to glean that Ross is a life-long La Pêche resident: she was born and raised here and chose to raise their three kids here as well. She sits on the board of Centre Wakefield La Pêche and she’s been a proud minor league hockey coach. She currently works for the Senate of Canada and has spent most of her career in federal politics. 

Although she grew up in an anglophone family, Ross attended school in French. She said she considers herself capable of bridging the divide between French and English cultures in the municipality. 

Ross said she’s proud to have overseen the municipality “modernize itself tenfold” during her time on council. 

“We have a staff who are out seeking funds for us to accomplish betterments in our community… Our budget has increased, we have been able to [secure] so much money that isn’t coming from citizens,” she said, referring to subsidies that the municipality has been granted for major projects such as the new town hall in Masham which opened its doors last year. The award-winning building, which is the first institutional Passivhaus in Quebec, cost $11.5 million, half of which was paid for by the province. 

Although Ross admitted that the “municipal level is maybe the least sexy level of government,” she said that being able to improve her constituents’ lives when it comes to the “day-to-day things” is exciting for her. 

“We only get one life, and every day matters,” Ross said, adding, “if [the municipality] is not doing right by our citizens, then it’s just not good enough, quite frankly.”