Dave Pearson left his home in Nova Scotia at the age of 16, originally planning on moving to Edmonton in hopes of a better future for himself and leaving a less than ideal situation at home. He was able to stay with an aunt for the summer and quickly found a job working at the newly opened Walmart MacDonalds. Dave started working as many hours as he could, opening and closing the store Monday to Friday and picking up hours on the weekends when he could. He lived on a friends’ couches for a couple of years, unable to rent a stable space to live on his own. He worked at various restaurants in Leduc walking kilometers a day to get to and from the job.

When Dave was 18 he got his first apartment and first job in the oilfield, manufacturing shaker screens. He later moved to field service and then oilfield sales where he attended NAIT for Project and Operations Management. He also began volunteering in Leduc with Scouts Canada.

That sales position later tried to transfer Dave to either Houston or Calgary. Instead Dave decided to stay in Leduc and opened his own numbered company in Leduc moving furniture (Workwell Moving) and doing snow removal while attending a program for new entrepreneurs in Edmonton. Dave then returned to field service for 6 years eventually running two cased hole wireline trucks based in the Edmonton region.

When COVID happened Dave like many other workers lost his job. He followed a lifelong passion for animals which led him and his step-daughter, Savannah to create a business serving animals. They made a business plan, got government funding for training and started Dave’s Grooming (now Beast to Beauty Grooming) in his garage with what remained of his savings.

A year later business had grown enough it was no longer suited to a residential neighborhood, Dave rented a small 800SqFt shop north of Telford lake and renovated it in the evenings after grooming dogs all day. Dave later leased the adjoining unit in 2023 and within that 2400SqFt employs 4 people besides himself and his step daughter building a team with over 50 years of combined experience.

Dave has recently taken on the volunteer role of Treasurer with the Leduc Drama Society, cleaning up their former year without an active treasurer. With a low turnout for male actors auditioning for Big Fish, Dave decided to see what all the buzz was about getting on stage, singing, acting and dancing in his first Broadway Musical: Big Fish (February 2025 at the MacLab Theatre) is in rehearsals for the One-Act Festival with East of 60 Productions in Gossamer Feast (April 2025).

Realizing the importance of the 2025 election for the future of the City of Leduc with so many issues in the last term and so many councilors not running for re-election, Dave has decided to put his name forward to represent the residents of Leduc. Dave’s experience in leadership, business, hard work, and collaboration set him apart from other first time candidates. Experiencing life in our community from being homeless adjacent to a place where he can give back with actions in the community make him a well rounded candidate to represent the diversity of our community.