The mayor of La Ronge, Saskatchewan has heard a higher calling and will be leaving his post to train as a pilot for Flair Air. Colin Ratushniak is a commercial pilot but prospects dried up during the pandemic. The industry is rebounding and Ratushniak answered the call. “You can’t just rely on the professional part of your life, you need balance and ultimately that’s where my decision had to come from and now that we are almost out of the pandemic, the time was right for me to go. And my industry is on the up and up,” Ratushniak told CTV.
Ratushniak ran for major in 2020 as an agent for change in the isolated northern community. He is the town’s first openly gay mayor and one of a handful in the country. His platform was based on acceptance and improving the quality of life in La Ronge and it resonated with citizens. “That was a full circle moment for me realizing that people in our community wanted change and they wanted the landscape of change to happen,” he said.