Glen Thompson.
Image Credit: Contributed
September 25, 2014 - 12:31 PM
KAMLOOPS - Yes Ajax is a big issue, but small businesses should be where the city focuses resources according to the most recent candidate to announce he is running for a city council seat.
Glen Thompson, 51, moved to Kamloops earlier this year. He has been a community activist for most of his life and has spent more than 20 years working with small businesses as a consultant. He has also helped with political campaigns in the past.
He says he has always been the type of person who couldn’t just walk by something, whether it be a piece of garbage on the street or larger issues impacting the community.
“Someone has to stand up for these issues,” he says. “I have a hard time walking by things.”
Thompson is currently working with a group involved in an environmental-based lawsuit in Chilliwack, where he used to live, and says while environment is a hot-button issue to him Ajax isn’t really the biggest issue in this election.
“Ajax is important, I’m not convinced the siting issues have been resolved… it doesn’t make sense to mix mining trucks and schools buses (and) at this point I’m reluctant to support it,” he says. “But we need to focus on the not so sexy things. Small business will make or break downtown… There’s no small business committee, this is the ball falling off the table here. I’m not sure the city has the right focus.”
Thompson is one of 16 people who have announced they are running for city council, and one of four candidates currently endorsed by the local labour council. Nomination papers are to be filed between Sept. 30 and Oct. 10.
Municipal elections will take place Nov. 15 and will see Kamloops vote for one mayor, eight councillors and five school trustees.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Jennifer Stahn at jstahn@infonews.ca or call 250-819-3723. To contact an editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
— This story was updated at 2:13 p.m., Sept. 25 to clarify his role as a consultant.
News from © iNFOnews, 2014