The Decision Makers: Councillor Jason Nadeau Wants Volunteerism to Increase in Neepawa

Town Councillor Jason Nadeau speaks with NACTV journalist Rrain Prior about what he wants to tackle on Council this year. When asked what made him choose to run for a second term, Councillor Jason Nadeau talks about the amazing experience that he had the first time around, and how he wants to continue to give back to the community. Indeed, one of Nadeau’s passions is volunteerism, not just as a concept or on a community level, but in his own and his family’s lives.

One of Nadeau’s recent Council appointments is to the newly-formed environmentalism and volunteerism committee, which he is working to form alongside Mayor Hedley. People don’t volunteer in the ways they used to, but they still volunteer, and one of the things they’re looking at is how to bring people into volunteer roles and have them feel valued and fulfilled. He says they realise they don’t need to reinvent the wheel, and are looking at what other successful organisations have done in terms of volunteer recruitment and management.

Nadeau’s background is in education rather than business, and he believes that’s just as important a lens through which to look at Council decisions. Diversity of experience and being able to consider issues from different points of view is valuable, and Nadeau believes we need all those voices to be heard to be able to make the best decisions, including - and maybe especially - the ones you might disagree with.

Neepawa is fortunate enough to have enough interest in Council to run elections and not just acclaim its candidates into the available roles. Nadeau believes that this helps to strengthen the community, and the suggestions and ideas that come from healthy conversations and debates between candidates can and should be seriously considered by Council, no matter who is ultimately elected.

The voices Nadeau believes we should listen to aren’t limited to decision makers, and once again during this election campaign he knocked on every door in town - barring those few he was not able to access - and spoke with as many residents as he could, whether they were voters or not. He compiles all those ideas and brings them forward as he can in Council discussions.

Nadeau wants to ensure that town decisions show a healthy balance between necessity and amenity. While a lot of current focus is on the new hospital, for instance, he believes we shouldn’t sacrifice our quality of life for it or other infrastructure projects. Those are things, he says, that make people choose Neepawa.