Throughout the next few weeks, we'll be featuring interviews from the fifteen Moose Javians running for city council in this year's municipal election. Jamaal James is one of those candidates. 

Each candidate was asked the same list of questions. Here are James’s answers. 

 

Q: Can you introduce yourself to our readers? 

A: I'm a local guy, lived here all my life. I have a common-law wife and a stepdaughter. I am a past Kinsmen member and I operated their social media accounts for a couple of years. And I'm currently a union grievance co-chair with my workplace, I'm a railroader. I want to sit on council because being a citizen and walking the city and seeing so much potential that we have, I want to be a part of making that come to fruition. 

Q: What do you think is the most significant accomplishment of the current city council?  

A: I think by far the biggest thing was getting started on the infrastructure projects, the cast iron replacement, and upgrading the water and sewer lines. That was a huge thing that we spent years neglecting that needed to start. 

Q: What could be improved?  

A: I think the process by which we do these things could be improved significantly. We have experienced city workers who have been doing this for years. They know their stuff and we should be leaning on them for advice on how to do this stuff properly so we don't have to keep going back and passing over it over and over again. We also need to look at our fiscal responsibility and see how we can maximize our tax bucks and make sure that the people start getting value for what they pay. 

Q: What experience or knowledge do you bring to the table?  

A: I think I just generally bring an understanding of the city. We've got a great city here and we have visitors that come through all the time that rave about how beautiful this place is and they didn't expect to find such a great little town here. But I think that we can always improve on that and do a lot better. We've had a lot of tough losses over the last bunch of years in terms of losing business, and I really think that drawing on past experiences and knowing what the city is capable of is the key to rebuilding it to what it once was in terms of activity and job creation. 

Q: How do you envision the city coming out of the pandemic? 

A: Coming out of the pandemic, we're going to have to do a lot of work to try and try and bring back the business and the tourism that we've lost. A big part of that starts with doing all of the necessary infrastructure upgrades. It's going to be a matter of promoting our city and doing all of the work to make sure all the ‘meat and potatoes’ are in place to make people want to come here and set up shop. 

Q: What is your overall vision for the city of Moose Jaw?  

A: My vision for the city of Moose Jaw is a place where everybody feels welcome, where taxpayers feel valued, where people have their voices heard and where we address their needs efficiently. 

Election day is on Nov. 9. 

*(Some answers have been edited for clarity and length.)*