Quesnel Clr Coralee Oakes will not seek re-election

From Coralee Oakes's Facebook Page:

Editor's Note - While I'm saddened to see Coralee not persue a 3rd term, she's been a great ambassador for Quesnel and I truly wish her the very best in her future endeavours

I will not be seeking re-election this term to better focus my energy on rural health care needs. “Over the past six years, it has been my privilege to work for the amazing community of Quesnel as a City Councillor and to put my heart into this rewarding job. I am proud of the excellent job our City staff and leadership team of Mayor and Council continue to accomplish. Sometimes we forget the vision and passion it has taken everyone on the team to bring in millions of dollars into this community, in fact it is almost ten million in the past three years alone. We should all be proud of this. It is important to be prudent with the tax dollars entrusted to us as elected officials and I can assure you that there are strong policy and processes in place today in the City of Quesnel. Further, I encourage everyone to attend the open budget meetings and get involved with the process. This is the time to really affect fiscal change. The future may hold tough economic times for Quesnel and I ask everyone to take on the larger task of focusing on a long term vision and strategy of what is best for our community. Focus on a team that is able to bring in investment and much needed Provincial and Federal funding that is critical to our long-term sustainability.”

In Canada, as a private citizen our voices can carry extraordinary weight. The decision to take a break from City Council has been difficult. There are important issues that I feel I must get involved with. I will be focusing my energy on raising awareness around the need for a Federal Dementia strategy and I will be a strong private citizen advocate for health care in rural communities. The Province will soon begin talks with Ottawa around the renewed Federal Health Accord scheduled in 2014. We need to all raise our voices to protect rural health care services. I will also be a champion to ensure that our elderly be treated with dignity and respect and be included as a priority in health care planning. I will be doing this under no official capacity but rather, as a volunteer and private citizen concerned about our future. I will be setting up a facebook page “Rural Voices,” to share information and ideas on how to address Health Care in the future. I invite the young people of our community to become involved and check like on the facebook page and be a part of the conversation.

To the Citizens of Quesnel, my esteemed colleagues on Council and our Champion Mayor Mary, City staff and to all of the city committees and groups such as RCMP, Volunteer Firefighters, ESS, Citizens on Patrol, Environment, which I have had the opportunity to directly work with in my portfolios over the last 6 years, I sincerely thank you from the bottom of my heart for your dedication to the citizens and community of Quesnel. The City of Quesnel fills me with great pride and I will continue to work and support this community and our region with every opportunity I receive.