A Q&A with Jason Gobiel, head of the Westman Regional Cabinet office

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This article was published 26/12/2024 (362 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The province launched a Westman Regional Cabinet office a year ago to connect our area of the province with movers and shakers in Winnipeg. The office is led by Jason Gobiel, who has a history as a former trustee of the Brandon School Division with more than 10 years experience as a community co-ordinator across the Westman region. The Sun caught up with Gobiel for a Q&A to discuss how the Westman cabinet office is going after a year of work.

Q: In your time meeting with locals, have you gained a sense of what people in Westman say they need?

A: You know, it’s no different than what we hear right across the province. One of the biggest things that we’ve heard out here in Westman over the last year has definitely been around health. And not only that, the closure of a lot of our departments within health in our small, rural pockets of southwest Manitoba. So, working with our municipalities and with the regional municipalities to develop plans … These are some of the things that we’re working on and advocating on behalf of our municipalities and of our Manitobans here in Westman. Working within departments to make sure that meetings are getting set, that communications are moving not just one way, but both ways, and that we’re getting responses to some of our questions… . We’d be sitting there with questions with no answers. And we might not always get the answer we’re looking for, but at least we’re getting a response that helps us move the direction of our own local actions.

Q: How would you describe your work at the cabinet office?

A: It’s building on relationships. It’s making sure that we’re not just corresponding, but living our communications, both in and out of government, and working on the behalf of Manitobans… . The relationship that our office has here, especially being a cabinet office directly related to our ministers and their staff, has made communications a little bit easier… Making sure within government that we’re getting the actions on the ground moving forward.

Q: Can you think of an example that stands out to you as a good conversation?

A: This summer, one of the number 1 topics was highways. So really, working with some of our communities, much like the community of Alexander and the RM right there. Working through communications, and you know, our transportation and infrastructure department, and making sure that [the communities’] words are not only just being received, but being acted upon, and that we’re able to solve some of these problems. Now, we can’t fix everything, but we are working to meet the timeline of a plan that’s been put in place by our government to reach a lot of those goals.

When I think of other things that came up in this past summer, a lot of it was around our A.I.S. issues — aquatic invasive species — and the zebra mussels. So working with communities much like Killarney and the residents around Pelican Lake to develop plans of being proactive rather than being reactive. And then working with government to make sure that they have the volunteers in place to work those [boat] cleaning stations. That way, we’re being knowledgeable of what’s going into our bodies of water and what’s coming out. These are just some of the smaller examples of working with our municipalities. I’ve been able to meet with the directors of child care here in western Manitoba, and sit down, and truly listen to some of their concerns within early childhood development and childcare deliveries.

Q: What strengths personally are you bringing to this job that allow you to do it?

A: My understanding of municipalities and my ability to work in building relationships has been a strong skill set of mine for a number of years. I have always worked in roles [in] advocacy or advocating for others, or the silent ones. And I think that my cultural background as well, too, in being somebody that has used a lot of my own experiences, in sitting in ceremony and sitting on land, has really helped me understand that business doesn’t just start with a handshake, but starts in understanding who we are as individuals and as peoples, and where this is going to take us in that walk of building a strong relationship together.

Q: What challenges are Westman facing, or challenges are you guys working to help overcome?

A: I think the challenge we all face on a daily basis is that we can’t make things happen overnight. But we are doing the best that we can through our communications and our actions as local governments in supporting one another to make a better tomorrow. Now we’ve got the next three years ahead of us to make some real good change. … What this is going to do for us in building a strong province that sees that opportunity exists past the perimeter, and that opportunity in Westman in developing, not only just relationships and economic driving force, but seeing the potential that we all have in playing a role, not just in communicating and working together, but building a strong future for the next generations that walk behind us.

Q: What are your hopes going forward in this role?

A: I would like to see the developments of outreach grow. And one of the things we continue to talk about is making sure that we’ve created a position, much like what we see here in Westman and southern Manitoba, but one in the north. So if we can see the development of outreach grow and give additional supports to northern Manitoba, I think that there is true opportunity that exists in northern Manitoba.