Starting Monday, the city council by-election officially gets underway as city hall begins to accept nomination papers.

Our first candidate is Doug Blanc, a long time resident and government employee who has done a lot of work with unions. He's semi-retired and believes his past work experience will set him up perfectly for a seat on council.

"I worked for the provincial government for about 28 years, and during that time I got involved with the Saskatchewan Government Employees Union and was a steward for many many years, Vice President of SGEU for about 10 years, and I was also President of SGEU. I retired a number of years ago from SGEU and became kind of a private consultant."

Blanc believes his lengthy experience in these roles will give him the tools to succeed.

"All of the groups I dealt with have all said the same thing; I'm very straightforward, I don't pull any punches, but at the same time, I don't take anything personally. I believe that I have the ability to get to the facts and get the best results for both parties."

"I think one of the biggest drawbacks is lack of communication with the public. There's been some communication; certainly, the front garbage pickup was a highly contentious issue, but I don't think council has been able to communicate with the public properly. I've also questioned whether there has been good communication between some of the contractors and council. A good example is High Street".

Blanc believes the council's major shortfall is communication with the public and finding funding sources for infrastructure but says our city is a great place to live, something he's long promoted during his travels.

Nominations for the by-election close September 12th and then we vote for one councilor on October 17th.