More than 45 years after he first ran for Nanaimo city council, Kevin Storrie thinks his timing is right in 2018.
Storrie, who also ran in last summer’s municipal byelection, has another council campaign underway.
His first brush with politics came in 1972, when he ran for council with the sole platform plank of trying to preserve the old foundry land for park use.
He moved to Campbell River in the late ’70s and was elected to city council there in 1980, serving a pair of two-year terms.
After working in the construction business most of his career and starting his own contracting company, he’s now retired in Nanaimo. Three or four years ago, he said, people began asking him to run for council due to his range of experience in politics and business.
“The city is in serious trouble because of this council. That was the primary reason for me to run, is just to try to help out the city and also to do some good…” he said. “Ninety per cent of the people I talk to say the same thing – the council has got to go.”
Storrie finished eighth out of 13 candidates in last summer’s byelection won by Coun. Sheryl Armstrong, but he said he and his team are optimistic nevertheless.
“In discussion with her supporters and amongst others that voted, I was the second choice,” said Storrie. “So we’re quite confident that we’ll do well.”
He said he thinks a new council can spark business investment in Nanaimo, adding he knows of companies that haven’t wished to come to the city in the current municipal landscape.
The 68-year-old will pitch the idea of a seniors’ advisory committee, and said he’d also like to see regular open forums throughout the community so citizens can talk about the municipal topics that matter to them.
Another issue Storrie will talk about on the campaign trail is affordable housing and homelessness, including tent city, which he said has become overly politicized. It’s detox and treatment beds that are much-needed in the region, he said, adding that he’s also personally written to the premier asking for a “more suitable” piece of land on which to camp. That kind of advocacy, he said, would carry a lot more weight if he has a seat around the council table.
Storrie hopes that the next Nanaimo city council will consist of a range of genders, ages and backgrounds, with experience in politics or other fields, who are free thinkers, and who “can enter a discussion or a debate, not agree with each other, but at the end of the day, shake hands and move on to the next item. I certainly would love to be part of a team like that.”
For interviews with other local government election candidates, click here.
editor@nanaimobulletin.com
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