The host of a local radio talk show is hoping to take her voice from the radio waves to council chambers.
Rae Kornberger announced this evening that she will be running for city council in this fall’s municipal election. Kornberger held a press conference Thursday outside the CHLY station, where she hosts the program A Sense of Justice.
She said it’s been a dream of hers to be a city councillor, and “it’s time to stop being so afraid and do something that I think that I would be really good at doing.”
She decided to make the announcement on June 7 because it was the birthday of her youngest child, who died about three and a half years ago. She wanted all her children to be part of her campaign, and so choosing Thursday to launch her candidacy was a way to do that, she said.
Kornberger said her first task if she’s elected would be to help develop a forward-thinking and robust strategic plan.
She would like to see the City of Nanaimo take measures toward gender parity in the workforce and also create opportunities for First Nations people and people with disabilities.
She said there’s a “broken relationship” with the Snuneymuxw First Nation right now, and repairing that has to be a priority.
“We reside on their unceded lands and a change is needed in order to [bring] the nation into discussions where development is concerned,” she said.
Kornberger said community revitalization and environmental sustainability are other priorities, adding that they can go hand in hand. She also spoke about the south downtown waterfront and wants markets, coffee shops and a transit hub there and potentially higher buildings in order to reserve more of the land for park.
Kornberger said if she’s elected, she hopes she would be joined on council by like-minded people, but she would be willing to take on the challenge of trying to work with others who don’t share her views.
She said there is a hunger for change in Nanaimo.
“I think that we have an electorate that is extremely angry, they’re fed up and they want nine people to come together and actually work to what is the benefit of Nanaimo,” she said.
And while she said she’s tried to “criticize constructively” on her radio show, she’ll now take on other topics and said she won’t talk local politics on A Sense of Justice.
“I do not want to have an unfair advantage over any of the other candidates,” she said.
editor@nanaimobulletin.com
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