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Candidate profile: Christine Fernie

Rimbey Councillor
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Christine Fernie

Running for: Rimbey Town Councillor

Christine Fernie offers her broad knowledge base and unique perspectives to the Town of Rimbey. Christine was born into a military family and then served 20 years herself as a metal technician, administrator and after attending the Royal Military College to complete her degree, she became a logistician (moving people and material). Retiring in 1996, she articled in Edmonton to earn her Chartered Accountant designation. In 2004, she moved to Nova Scotia with her military spouse.

Christine returned to Alberta in 2015 to help her mother. After moving, she joined the Rimbey Legion and has been the treasurer and an active volunteer since. She has been the volunteer treasurer of Servas Canada since 2017 and does some private bookkeeping. She joined the Christmas Day dinner volunteer team in 2018. In December 2019, she started working part-time as the bookkeeper and administrator for the Rimbey United Church, just before COVID struck. Christine’s role models are her mother and grandmother who were home economists and as their families shrunk, they gave more to their communities.

When relaxing, you will find Christine digging in a garden, dancing, studying stoic philosophy, building something, at a dinner theatre or rodeo or riding her motorcycle. Her pet peeves are litter and insecure loads on vehicles. Not only is litter unsightly, but she has had several life-threatening mishaps on her motorcycle from debris on the road or items falling off of a vehicle ahead of her. She also finds electoral signs on the landscape unsightly so consider this her sign to you that she wants the opportunity to serve you.

COVID provided a lot of nothingness for many and a great number of challenges for all. Hard times are here and that creates an opportunity for us to grow stronger both as individuals and as a community. Hercules did not grow strong by sitting at home, eating bonbons, watching Netflix and complaining. We have seen numerous issues come to light in seniors care, mental health, challenges to our freedoms and how we handle polar views. With a vision of collaboration and community, this can be a time for us to explore possibilities, access our creativity, seek new knowledge and develop new skills so we emerge from this crisis stronger. Or, we can refuse to listen to each other, fight in uncivilized and disrespectful ways until we erode and destroy our sense of community and the richness the pioneers and veterans worked to build for us all to enjoy.

What is your vision for a better future? My test for defining “better” answers 3 questions: Is it good for me? Is it good for you? Is it good for the community? How can we collaborate and innovate to bring our ideas together to improve services, increase communication and connection, cut costs and increase profitability? I am not a person of half measures so if you want someone on your team that plays full out and acts with integrity.