I am seeking your support to serve as your next Mayor (Head of Council) of the Rural Municipality (RM) of Springfield. If elected, my goal is to improve government transparency, implement vital reforms, and restore the public’s role in our municipal governance to better serve everybody, protect your civic voice and our rural communities!
- Governance & Civics
- Responsible Spending in Harder Economic Times
- Protecting Springfield’s Rural Character
- Forward Thinking & Sensible Development
- Effective Community Safety
- Local Trust & Oversight
Explore my core platform to advance our government and move forward together. A digital version of my brochure is available.
Transparency. Reform. Accountability. Let’s work together to turn the page and start the next PAGE for Springfield!
Have a beautiful day!
Governance & Civics
Immaculate Conception Church, Cooks Creek, August 2026
Event, June 4, 2026
Daniel’s Message
Modern governance must strive to be open, transparent, and easy to understand. It is critical that Council embrace these values, to publicly re-open and listen.
If elected Head of Council, it is my mandate to move our government forward to one that is open, transparent, and accessible, and strive toward a better model for serving the people of our RM in the long term and into the future.
- As Chair, I will advance institutionally neutral principles at meetings, which supports procedural fairness and hearing many different views. People may disagree sometimes, but process matters.
- Support a positive and respectful environment at meetings that welcomes constructive, sometimes difficult discussions, where we seek to respect the rights of everyone present.
- Support civic engagement in governance, and advocate for the principle that government business should be conducted openly whenever possible.
Whether it be critical financial policy, local development, how government works for you and your tax dollars, foundationally trust and integrity in good policy-making follows from good governance and how decisions are actually made!
Restoring Your Voice, Improving Governance & Civics
“Transparency and openness of the local government cultivate trust and engagement among residents, businesses and organizations.” – RM of Springfield 10-Year Vision Plan (2018-2028), Strategic Priority #1, Page 14.
Council failed to stay true to Strategic Priority #1 of the RM’s Vision Plan (2018 – 2028). This same plan outlines the RM’s first three core values as accountability, transparency, and fairness and integrity. I will champion these values, as they fundamentally strengthen work toward other RM priorities supported by the public. This creates a vital two-way street that provides residents, businesses, and organizations with info to engage in meaningful discussion, and actively participate in government decisions and, in part, their community’s future!
Embrace Public Consultation. Omitting the public is akin to a government with no opposition to sharpen policy and achieve wider public consent.
- Inform residents in advance upcoming legislative plans of council.
- Support open meetings, town halls, and open invitations for residents to come give input on by laws.
- Use questionnaires, and other democratic tools appropriately such as official plebiscites and referendums.
Back-to-Basics. A procedural by-law dictates the rules of meetings and process for decision making, subject to the MB Municipal Act. I will propose improvements, including:
- Stronger legislative process, that supports public input and confidence in process. Making Council deliberate in its process supports integrity, engagement, and transparency.
- Improve notification for meetings and local matters affecting you.
- Restore and enhance public participation, so you can be heard. For instance, a new Open Comment Period near the start of meetings, and structured opportunities for public questions.
Advance Accessibility and Modernization. Reduce administrative gatekeeping of public info, by supporting positive, impactful and affordable steps toward modernization and accessibility, such as:
- Create official video recordings of meetings and establish an open archive, similar to other municipalities.
- Use video hosting, livestream technologies for RM events.
- Use existing e-mailing lists and social media more effectively.
- Advocate for enhancing website info, e.g. list of active by-laws.
Responsible Spending in Harder Economic Times
In the 2026 Financial Plan, total expenditures exceed 50 million dollars with a projected rise to almost 52 million dollars in 2027 (2026 Financial Plan, Page 1). Local businesses and residents, including young families and those on fixed incomes, are often facing higher taxes alongside difficult, uncertain economic realities.
Pending Capital Expenditures Review. While things continue to get more expensive due to various factors, the RM’s everyday municipal services are generally not the main driver of the RM’s budget spike (5% budgeted increase 2025-2026, see 2026 Financial Plan Presentation). Instead, this spike is largely driven by long-term infrastructure and capital projects. Some projects are pending and rely presently on borrowing at-large (2026 Financial Plan, Pages 13-14). Re-assess this situation through a clearer plan by listening to our residents, to move forward.
Responsible Reductions in Spending and Waste. Find cost-effective solutions, identify efficiencies, and reduce waste. It is essential to not do so to the detriment of very used public services, e.g. revisit Hillside Tree and Brush collection program.
The Fundamentals. I believe we should give priority to existing infrastructure and local challenges of today, such as better addressing needed core infrastructure (e.g. roads) and services (e.g. dust control, land drainage).
I strive to listen to you, be more sensitive to spending and future borrowing, and ultimately show restraint and respect for your public dollars.
Protecting Springfield’s Rural Character
Our RM is our home, its varieties, its rural character, valued for its resources, nature, including our lands and water. In these times of economic instability, I value protecting Springfield’s rural character, land, environment, water, and resources, from unnecessary fragmentation, and urban sprawl, that too compound challenges of today.
Protecting Agricultural Preserve Areas. Protect our RM’s roots by preserving prime agriculture lands for generations to come. I will continue to firmly defend its protection (Development Plan 18-09, Section 4.1) to support our local farmers.
Water Protections. Seek to responsibly protect our drinking water and our vital natural resources, e.g. local aquifers. If elected, I strive to be a strong, scientifically-minded municipal representative with the Province, e.g. Sio Silica’s 2nd application.
Development Plan. This sets land designations for development for years to come and likely will be reviewed in the new term (Development Plan 18-09, Section 12.1). I am committed to safeguarding this process so residents play a major role in it.
Forward Thinking & Sensible Development
Support Responsible, Sustainable Development. There are ample opportunities for development in our RM, including many that are presently ongoing and those supported by existing secondary plans, e.g. West Pine Ridge Secondary Plan.
- Pro-Business. Large amounts of available employment land throughout the RM for commercial and industrial businesses exist, including within existing industrial and business parks.
- Promote revitalization of existing urban land that is zoned commercial or for mixed uses (e.g., Oakbank Main Street), rather than focusing solely on new development.
- Help steer current developments or projects brought to Council, while listening to the public, openly and transparently.
Local Autonomy. At the present time, the RM does not belong to the Winnipeg Metropolitan Region/Capital Planning Region (WMR/CPR). The RM exited WMR/CPR in 2026 using MB Bill 4 (The Planning Amendment Act). I do not support re-joining the WMR/CPR at this time, regional planning can be supported by working directly with neighbouring municipalities and other organizations, e.g. Association of Manitoba Municipalities. I did not support WMR’s proposed Plan 20-50.
“No Cart Before the Horse.” Generally, new development should be directed to where it is already zoned first, before considering premature expansions. Whenever feasibly possible, prioritize current infrastructure or local problems of existing residents and businesses before they further strain or compound issues into the near future. No to overdevelopment.
Effective Community Safety
Supporting Protective Services. Proactively support cost-effective methods of advancing community safety (e.g. policing, fire, emergency), best utilizing our existing infrastructure and utilities, with continued input.
RCMP Advisory Committee. Consider also establishing a RCMP Advisory Committee (MB Police Services Act, Section 84), which is an inexpensive and collaborative way to help local law enforcement be more effective in such a large municipality.
Local Trust & Oversight
Beyond the policies outlined, I strive to welcome more ways to support accountability for the public, enhance and advance government operations and service, and save public dollars.
Restore Title of “Reeve.” Amend the Organizational By-Law to return the title of Head of Council to Reeve, appropriately. Springfield is a rural municipality, not an urban municipality, and consists of a plurality of rural communities and businesses.
Recall Legislation. Recall legislation is a democratic tool that ensures accountability by empowering residents to remove elected officials between elections. I seek to pursue the viability of Recall Legislation, in a balanced way, to recall elected officials. Elected officials, including myself, should be able to be removed, should they breach the principles they were elected upon.
End Arbitrary Expression Restrictions. Align municipal rules with Provincial and Federal legislation and support the public’s freedom of expression, by removing risks of arbitrary enforcement against citizen expression, such as bans on signs (By-Law 24-10, Section 16(d)) and hats (“Hat Rule” – Resolution 23-045) at public meetings.
Advancing Integrity of Municipal Business. Uphold that municipal business be conducted as transparently as possible, free from hidden agendas and conflicts of interest, and support policy to enhance this. Support establishing safe and transparent environments for direct resident meetings, e.g. regularly held Open Door Meetings with the Head of Council at the RM building.
Platform Brochure
This brochure includes other information, such as a bit more about Daniel. Any corrections are listed below from the initial print version. All corrections appear in the digital version of the tri-fold brochure posted.
- August 31, 2026: Small typo fix of “muncipalities” to “municipalities” in one instance in the rightmost column (around in the middle) inside of brochure. Also, at top-middle of middle column on outside of brochure, “utiltes” has been corrected to “utilities”.
- October 1, 2026: Small typo fix of “be be” to “be” in the leftmost column near the bottom of the outside of the brochure.