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Female councillors get personal with Women of Whistler

Representing Whistler requires some personal sacrifices When Councillor Caroline Lamont was elected to Whistler council over a year ago, she dreaded taking her young child to Nesters lest there be a toddler meltdown in the vegetable aisle.

Representing Whistler requires some personal sacrifices

When Councillor Caroline Lamont was elected to Whistler council over a year ago, she dreaded taking her young child to Nesters lest there be a toddler meltdown in the vegetable aisle.

Everyone would judge her parenting skills accordingly, she joked, because she would no longer be just an anonymous parent shopping with her kid. Her every move, even the way she disciplined her children, would be under the community microscope, open to public scrutiny, once she became Councillor Lamont.

"The reality is you’re a public figure," she said.

Lamont and fellow female councillors Marianne Wade and Kristi Wells shared some of these personal experiences of life as a public figure at Tuesday’s Women of Whistler meeting.

They talked about assuming the public face as well as some of the current politics unfolding at municipal hall.

About 30 Whistler women came to the meeting to get an inside look at local politics from the female point of view.

Since getting into politics each female councillor has had to make some sacrifices in their own lives for their public work.

For example Lamont juggles her municipal responsibilities along with a planning job at Brent Harley & Associates and a family life with a husband and two children. She is also a keen mountain biker, trail runner, hockey player and cross-country and downhill skier.

Something had to give a little when she became a councillor.

"Recreation is so important to me and I’ll be honest, that’s taken the biggest hit," she said.

For Marianne Wade, who was elected along with Lamont in the 2002 fall election, her new role has affected her professional career. This in turn has had some financial repercussions.

Wade is a planning consultant who works on a contract basis but due to conflicts of interest she had to look for work beyond Whistler.

This proves to be even more difficult at times because with all her various meetings as an elected official, it can be hard to get out of Whistler and network in her field.

It was a choice however that she didn’t mind making to become involved in local politics.

Councillor Kristi Wells first made that decision 11 years ago, before she had even been to a single council meeting or knew what a rezoning was. She delved right into the game, which she said was the best possible hands-on education. Last election she even considered running for mayor.

Though she believed she was ready for the challenge, she also recognized that being mayor is a full-time commitment. She had a two-year-old baby girl at home and she ultimately made the decision that it wasn’t the right time in her life to run for mayor.

"The rest of my life has to line up to make that commitment," she said.

Wells added that if she had run for mayor she also had to be prepared to lose the battle.

"I don’t think I was ready to walk away from it," she said.

The councillors also talked about some of the challenges currently facing this council.

Wells said the biggest challenge right now is the relationship between council and municipal staff. It should be a sharing relationship based on trust.

"Currently our governance model and structure with the staff does not reflect that at all," she said.

This is cause for concern, she said, especially as council grapples with some key decisions around the Community Sustainability Plan and the Olympics in the coming months.

In November Wells called for a structural review of municipal hall that would examine the way the municipality as a whole conducts its business. The motion was defeated at the council table. Instead councillors voted to do a governance review that would examine this relationship between council and staff.

That governance review has yet to get underway as a third party reviewer has yet to be hired.

Wade supported this structural review in November and echoed Wells’ comments about the friction among staff and council.

Coming from a planning background, Wade said she is a detail-oriented person. As such, she likes to ask some tough questions of staff. Sometimes it can get emotional if staff feel as though councillors are questioning their work.

"I’m not really a rubber stamper," admitted Wade.

"I like to know the details."

Another political topic that was touched on at the meeting was Bill 75, a brand new piece of provincial legislation that allows the Liberal government to fast track any project it deems is provincially significant, potentially overriding any actions already taken by a local government.

Projects that could be considered for designation are major transportation infrastructure projects, independent power projects or major resort developments. Any Olympic project could also be fast-tracked under Bill 75.

"It’s the most Draconian piece of legislation that I’ve ever seen," said Wells.

"It’s a big red flag."

All of these things combined has Councillor Wells more than a little concerned about what’s to come. She said other than a few presentations since the Olympic win in July Whistler has had almost no role to date.

"There’s so much coming," she said.

"I’m a little afraid right now."

If these women make the job look easy that’s because the few hours of televised council meetings are just a small part of the job.

There are hours of committee meetings and last minute council meetings, not to mention reams of reading to prepare for the meetings.

If anyone was thinking about getting into local politics it should be for a passionate love of the game, said Lamont.

"I thought there were a lot more fringe benefits," she joked.

"I wouldn’t go into it certainly not for the perks or the paycheque!"

The next council meeting will take place on Monday, Jan. 19 at 6:30 p.m. in council chambers at municipal hall. All members of the public are welcome to attend and a public question and answer process kicks off each meeting.