Neil Menard will be hard at work the next four years — something he’s well accustomed to.
“I’m just an ordinary, everyday, semi-retired person,” Menard said.
The 71-year-old has worked steadily his whole life and through his retirement, but now he’s taking on the role as Merritt’s mayor after a landslide victory over the incumbent in November’s municipal election.
In under a year’s time, Menard has had a rapid ascent in Merritt’s municipal government, getting his feet wet with an eight-month stint as a city councillor after winning a byelection in February.
Now he’s head of the council table.
On Dec. 1, Menard took hold of the Bible and swore his oath of office at the inaugural city council meeting, officially marking the start of his term as mayor.
Menard said he decided to run for mayor because a number of people asked him if he would consider it.
He said at first, he disregarded the request, feeling he needed more experience. However, he was eventually convinced by people that he did indeed have enough experience in council-related areas, and chose to run.
He said the main reason he got involved in municipal politics in the first place was the amount of infighting he noticed and heard about amongst the past council.
Menard said there’s still a learning curve to the job, but there are staff and fellow councillors who are seasoned in the municipality.
“I’m going to be learning until the day I die, that’s not going to end. I’m never, ever going to say that I know it all,” Menard said.
He said council procedure is similar to that of the International Woodworkers of America (IWA), where he worked in a position that required him to be elected.
For the past decade, Menard has called Merritt home, choosing to retire here given the connections he had to the community over the course of his working life. Two of his children even played for the Merritt Centennials.
Menard grew up in Hudson Bay, Sask. and began working in the forestry industry at age 16. When he was 18, a friend of his decided he wanted to join the Royal Canadian Navy and Menard decided to join him.
His friend wasn’t successful in joining the navy, but Menard was and he served for three years as an able seaman in the signal corps. He said he left the navy because he felt the discipline had waned since boot camp.
Menard then worked for a few years as an iron worker, until he hurt his back in an industrial accident. It was the same year he was married to his wife, whom he met in Prince Albert, Sask.
After spending two years in and out of the hospital recuperating, Menard went to work for IWA in Saskatchewan. He soon became the vice president for its regional council and became a vice president of IWA Canada after council mergers in the ’80s.
Menard moved to B.C. in 1976 and worked out of the union’s Vancouver office until he retired. As vice president, he came to Merritt off-and-on for work with forestry companies in town.
Some of his responsibilities as a VP included collective bargaining, occupational health and safety and establishing employee and family assistance programs.
Menard retired in 2003, but it was in name only as he continued to work by helping to manage the IWA’s alcohol and drug counselling programs until about 2006.
He said he decided to leave that behind as he was working just as much as he was prior to his retirement.
But Menard didn’t stay away from work for long. He began working for an oil company based out of Alberta, establishing their alcohol and drug safety program.
He worked for that company for the next three years.
Again, Menard found himself working too much, and spending a lot of time away from home.
These days, he is fully integrated with the community. He works as a jail guard at the Merritt police detachment. He is also involved with the Nicola Valley Search and Rescue team and is the president for the Merritt Centennials. He’s also a fixture at the team’s home games, where he sometimes works security.
