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. Trevor McPherson is one of those candidates.

Each candidate was asked the same list of questions. Here are McPherson's answers.

Q: Can you introduce yourself to our readers? 

A: I moved here in 2009 to take over the Head Pro job up at the Hillcrest. Been in the golf industry since 1993. I'm originally from Regina. I got headhunted from Royal Lapage to kind of come in and work in the real estate industry. They figured I had the personality for it. I received my real estate license in 2014 and been doing that ever since. 

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

A: There's some progress of things that have gone on. Infrastructure is a big thing and there is a lot of construction going on. Was that a decision forced by deferred maintenance that just absolutely had to be done now? Infrastructure has been an issue in this city for years, as it is with any municipality. You always gotta spend some money and fix things at some point in time. And there's been some business development here. I mean the projects coming in town with the Saskpower plant. 

Q: What could be improved? 

A: We need some change. I mean you need to get some positive energy going in your development, get your business community thinking outside the box to move things forward. A little bit more transparency. You talk to some of the investors and stuff like that in town and even out of town, the big provincial guys, and sometimes working in Moose Jaw is just frustrating. Investors have had difficulties dealing in town and you just kind of pull your hair out and they just say 'the heck with it' and move on. So, if we can kind of fix that up and figure out what's a better way of addressing some of the shortfalls that might be problems moving forward, then it just becomes more simplistic and it becomes a smoother transition to do business here. 

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

A: I've been around development and for a while, I've had to answer to boards and been in board meetings, and right now I deal with negotiations and contracts on a weekly daily basis. I have a business diploma from Lethbridge which is part of my golf criteria. Sitting on boards and in board meetings, budgets and fiscal responsibility and human resource management, conflict management. I've done it for 20-something years; coaching mentoring, policies and procedures, human resource management, 

Q: What are some of the biggest issues facing Moose Jaw right now? 

A: People historically don't like change. Nobody likes change. They all want to see something different, but then you do something different and they don't like it. In order to change, you gotta be uncomfortable. Like in my profession in golf, people want change, but they're not willing to be uncomfortable for that change and anytime you form some form of change, it's going to take years to get to the overall picture. It's just like a big jigsaw puzzle, we gotta look at the big picture. Get everybody on the same page and you put the pieces together. With lots of user groups, everybody has their own agendas. Everybody has their own issues, but I believe in clear communication and concise conceptual ideas. You can sit there and say, yeah, we can’t have it all. But there's no reason why you can't be a booming thriving metropolis. It’s like going to the gym. You cant go to the gym for one day and come out and say “I’m in shape.”  

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

A: This city has so much potential, so much ability to move to the next level. As I say, it just comes down to getting to a comfortable level where everybody is comfortable with it and moving forward. Yes, it's going to be a little bit uncomfortable to begin with, but you gotta find that common threshold. Everybody's dollar stretched to the maximum everybody wants. Nobody wants to pay. Everybody pays and not everybody gets. You got to find that happy balance to get to the end result. And I do believe that you have to sit down and I have open communication with everybody and say “What do you see?”. Everybody left the province because that's the only way they could prosper and move forward. But they all moved back. I run into that all the time with seniors and stuff coming back. “We’re from Nova Scotia”, “We’re from Vancouver", ”We’re from Toronto”, but they all come back. Why can't Moose Jaw just be a good place just to be? It’s a very good place to be. It's a great place to raise kids. It's very quiet. The people are very friendly, but for some reason, advancement never seems to catch hold here.  We need change. We'd like to change. I'm not saying everybody wants change, but the common group that I run with or the people that I've talked to, they want to see some form of change and growth city. 

Election day is on Nov. 9. 

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