Judy Kucharuk (filed as Judy Laine Kucharuk)
Candidate for Councillor. All council candidates
| Running for | Councillor |
|---|---|
| Status | First-time candidate |
| Occupation | Project manager, South Peace Division of Family Practice; formerly director of marketing and corporate partnerships, Ovintiv Events Centre[1] |
| Ties to Dawson Creek | Over 35 years |
| Campaign page | |
| Nomination package | City PDF (redacted) |
Background
The longtime Alaska Highway News and Dawson Creek Mirror humour and opinion columnist ("Green-Eyed Girl", roughly 2013 to 2023, about 470 archived columns), a CBC Daybreak North contributor, and the author of two humour books. In Dawson Creek over 35 years; grew up on a farm in northern Alberta; married with adult children and grandchildren. Age not published.
Current job: project manager with the South Peace Division of Family Practice, the physicians' non-profit. Previously director of marketing and corporate partnerships at the Ovintiv Events Centre (Oak View Group), where she presented the centre's annual report to council every year from 2022 to June 15, 2026.[2] Before that: owner of Footprint Management Systems (event management, 2009-2015); coordinator of the Northern Women's Symposium, the BC Oil and Gas Conference (2011), Ignite Peace Region (2012) and the Spark leadership conference (2014). No education record found.
From her LinkedIn announcement: "I left the Ovintiv Events Centre... to move into a Project Manager role with the South Peace Division of Family Practice. What a pivot!"[1]
Electoral history
None. "Running for City Council has always been something that I have wanted to pursue."[1]
Organizations
Member of the Rotary Club of Dawson Creek Sunrise (2016). Moderated Women in Energy (2016), a South Peace mayors' panel (2018) and Words North sessions. Wildfire reception-centre volunteer (2016). No board directorships found.
Positions from her columns
Her columns are the only decade-long public record of opinions among the challengers. Representative positions from archived columns:[3][4][5]
- Crime. "Frustrated by the brazen activities of individuals who have no respect for private property" (2017). "I don't want Joe Farmer to feel like he needs to use a firearm... I don't want drug-addicted 19-year-old Johnny to get shot" (2018). Supported RCMP carbines (2018).
- Health care. After her mother's 90-minute ambulance wait she filed a formal complaint and wrote "We all need to be Mockingjays... so that the Powers-That-Be realize that we need change" (2017). Asked "what can we the community do to support the recruitment and retention of medical professionals" (2021).
- Transparency. On Fair Share secrecy: "Trust works both ways" (2015). On Doug Ford cutting Toronto council: "like watching a bully on a playground" (2018).
- Resource economy. Pro-Trans Mountain. Against the 2019 caribou draft agreement ("This is about restricting industry"). Praised Rachel Notley as a pragmatist.
- Social issues. Defended SD59's SOGI inclusion policy ("Are we really going to debate who gets to go into which bathroom to pee?", 2018). On the 2022 convoy, sympathetic to participants but condemned extremist flags. "I've been accused of virtue signalling and being a left wing elitist" (2018).
- Civic life. Talk to your neighbour before calling bylaw (2019). Shop local (2020). "Laziness is no excuse. You have absolutely no excuse to not vote" (2017).
2026 platform
From LinkedIn: "I am passionate about economic development and recognize that healthy, growing communities NEED economic development. I want to learn more about how we... are currently promoting ourselves... and if there are barriers to investment... I believe in transparency and thoroughly understanding the 'why' of something before taking action." Also: "I don't know what I don't know."[1]
Her campaign page (about 139 followers) offers a quality-of-life checklist (affordable homes, jobs, safety downtown, parks and arts, reliable infrastructure, a vibrant downtown) and a September 18 essay on the community's "scarcity mindset": "we tend to not view city management, mayor and council through a lens of civic partnership. Instead, we view through a lens of deep suspicion, hyper-criticism... If we spend money on anything outside of absolute survival infrastructure, we view it as an offensive waste of tax dollars."[6]
No position yet on the pipeline, the tax rate, the shelter or the RCMP.
News coverage
Energeticcity.ca, September 4, 2026: "It isn't something that is taken lightly, and we all are putting ourselves out there, which can be an intimidating perspective."[7] City Council Highlights, June 15, 2026 (Ovintiv annual report).[2] Many neutral event items from 2009 to 2017. No negative coverage.
What the record shows
Facts. About 15 years running marketing and sponsorship for the city-owned events centre, five annual presentations to council, and the only challenger with a decade-long public record of opinions.
Our reading (inference, not fact). A strong communicator and connector who is self-aware about her municipal-governance gap. Consistently pro-industry, tough on property crime but not punitive, socially liberal and pro-transparency. The "scarcity mindset" post reads as a defence of spending beyond core infrastructure and gives tax-focused opponents quotable material.
Questions worth asking. Conflict-of-interest optics: her employer (the physicians' Division) and former employer (Oak View Group, a city contractor) both come before council. Her position on the pipeline and the tax rate.
Sources cited on this page
- Judy Kucharuk, LinkedIn post announcing her candidacy (2026). linkedin.com/posts/judykucharuk_last-month-i-shared-my-intent-to-run-fo…
- City of Dawson Creek, Council Highlights, June 15, 2026. dawsoncreek.ca/news/posts/council-highlights-june-15-2026/
- Alaska Highway News, 2018 column, "Everyone loses as rural crime epidemic persists" (Wayback Machine). web.archive.org/web/20180314213716/http://www.alaskahighwaynews.ca/opin…
- Alaska Highway News, 2015 column, "Fair Share silence is unfair" (Wayback Machine). web.archive.org/web/20150723183745/http://www.alaskahighwaynews.ca/opin…
- Alaska Highway News, 2021 column, "Northeast healthcare needs a lifeline" (Wayback Machine). web.archive.org/web/20210817175816/https://www.alaskahighwaynews.ca/opi…
- Judy Kucharuk, Dawson Creek City Council 2026 (Facebook page). facebook.com/p/Judy-Kucharuk-Dawson-Creek-City-Council-2026-61590866088…
- Energeticcity.ca, Sept 4, 2026, "2026 B.C. General Election nomination period week one wrap-up". energeticcity.ca/2026/09/04/2026-b-c-general-election-nomination-period…