ST. PETER’S – A familiar face in the small-business and community-development sectors is setting her sights on a 12-year municipal council veteran in the battle for Richmond County’s District Four.

Amanda Mombourquette, who has served for seven years as the executive director of the Strait Area Chamber of Commerce before leaving the chamber to accept a position at the Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) in April, is pleased with her progress as she heads into the final week of a battle with veteran District Four councilor Gilbert Boucher, who was first elected in 2008 and re-elected in the two subsequent municipal elections.

Mombourquette, a native of L’Ardoise, said she was inspired to run for council after hearing of the Leadership School for Women that sought to train more female candidates for the 2020 municipal elections. She was also spurred on by Richmond Municipal Council’s refusal to spend $500 to sponsor two women from the county to attend the training session, with District One councilor James Goyetche describing such an activity as “kind of stupid.”

In addition to her service with the chamber of commerce, which included an advisory role in the spring to help chamber members cope with the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting business shutdowns, Mombourquette also spent several years as a community developer and planner for the now-defunct Strait-Highlands Regional Development Agency (SH-RDA) and has assisted with many developments and events in St. Peter’s through her executive position on the Village On The Canal Association (VOCA).

With this in mind, Mombourquette is promising a collaborative approach at the council table, and also pledging to seek out ideas from all Richmond County candidates in the 2020 municipal election, whether or not they are successful in their individual districts.

In the meantime, Mombourquette is happy with the pace of her campaign and the support she has received throughout District Four, which includes the communities of St. Peter’s, River Bourgeois, Grande-Greve, Roberta, Sporting Mountain and St. George’s Channel.

“I’ve run out of signs twice now,” Mombourquette laughed, as she credited her mother and her adult daughter for inspiring her to run and keeping her spirits up throughout the campaign.