26-year-old latest candidate in Vernon mayoral race | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Vernon News

26-year-old latest candidate in Vernon mayoral race

Erik Olesen is running for mayor of Vernon.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Erik Olesen

VERNON - A 26-year-old convenience store operator is the latest candidate to enter the race to become mayor of Vernon.

Erik Olesen officially announced his intention to run for mayor today, Aug. 28. Olesen, who operates two 24 hour convenience stores, says in a media release the idea of a younger candidate entering the race has "peeked interest in the community."

Olesen says the three most pressing issues in Vernon are homelessness, drug addiction and housing affordability. He says he has had daily dealings with these issues from running the convenience stores and has recently toured the Turning Points Collaborative recovery and addictions support-housing complex to see the situation first hand.

Despite his age, Olesen says he isn't new to politics as he ran for a seat in the provincial legislature in 2017 and for a seat on city council in Ottawa when he was 18 years old. According to his release, he's also worked on seven municipal, provincial and federal political campaigns.

Olesen joins addictions specialist Darrin Taylor and former mayoral challenger Victor Cumming, along with Art Gourley, who ran an unsuccessful campaign for council in 2014, in the race for the top job. The current mayor Akbal Mund has not yet said whether he will run again.

Candidates have from Sept. 4 until Sept. 10 to register. Municipal election day is Oct. 20.

— This story was corrected for spelling on Sept. 21. A previous version had the incorrect spelling of Erik Olesen's name.


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