When Trevor McPherson was the head golf professional at the Hillcrest Golf Club, a large portion of what he did revolved around change.
When you’re offering lessons to players looking to evolve their game, change is the only thing that helps, as tough as it might be to get a handle on. But once it’s accepted, change can make all the difference in a positive future.
That’s the idea McPherson is carrying into his candidacy for Moose Jaw city council -- sometimes change is good. And necessary.
“Just because you tried something once and it doesn’t go well, it doesn’t mean you quit,” McPherson said. “In my world, I ran golf courses forever and in real estate, sometimes you get into negotiations that get heated and at the end of the day it’s what’s in the interest of both parties.
“Change is uncomfortable, I’ve taught so many lessons and people are like ‘this is weird’ and ‘yeah, it is, it’s called change’. They’re reluctant to try and then they go ‘that kind of works’ and you just keep going. Eventually you’re going to gain momentum to get where you need to, it’s just putting all the pieces in place to get moving forward.”
Rather than fixing a swing or straightening out a slice, this time around McPherson would like to see Moose Jaw city council take a good look at some of the ideas that cross their plate. He pointed to a time in the mid-90s when the city seemed to be languishing, with little major development in the works. Then the Temple Gardens Mineral Spa came around, became a major attraction in the city and helped transform the community into the tourism hub it is today.
McPherson also used the town of Warman as an example -- he was working at the golf course in the community right as their massive boom started to take shape.
“When I was there there was an old mentality inside the town and they were looking at opportunities to grow… they always found a way to make things to work, ‘can we find a way to make this move forward’, McPherson said.
“Then all of a sudden there was a big project that came in for the golf course and residential area. And when that gained momentum and traction, it just took off. It was one project that pushed this in an expedited manner.”
Creating that kind of an environment through a variety of civic improvements could help keep people in the city, McPherson says, adding that would be of benefit to everyone.
“Saskatchewan was a good place to be from, but people moved away to make their money, then they’d come back because it’s a little safer, a little cheaper and we kind of miss home,” he said. “You get that feeling with Moose Jaw and why can’t we do that here, why can’t we build that kind of business platform, economic development, industry and job and stay here and do the same thing?”
McPherson plans to use the business skill he developed as a golf pro and in his recent work at Royal LePage Landmart to help promote and develop those ideas. But it will never be a simple and clear-cut decision.
“I’ll be the first to tell you, I’m not back and white and I can be abrasive at times, but I can take both sides of the story and figure it out,” McPherson said. “I don’t pass judgement just because I think something is right or you think something is right, I’m a very honest person.
For me, it’s all about rules, regulations and public safety.”
He points to the Wakamow Valley subdivision as an example of his mindset.
“Economic growth and development is one thing, and there’s been concerns with development down in the park,” McPherson said. “At this point in time I can’t give you an opinion on it because I haven’t seen any documentation, I haven’t seen anything, and I’m not going to give an opinion as to it being a good thing or a bad thing unless I’ve seen the due diligence reports… I have to hear both sides of the story to form any opinion, you need to see a combined effort to move forward.”
From what McPherson has heard around town, that kind of thinking will prove popular. And that’s why he’s running in 2020.
“Everybody kept telling me to, I had a lot of people I run into say ‘we need some change’ and talking to them, we’d bounce some ideas off each other, and they’d say ‘you should run for council’,” he said “I just chucked my hat in the ring because people said they like my ideas, they like what I was talking about and they want to see change. And I might be a guy to help move us along.”
The 2020 civic election is on Nov. 9.
