Originally born in Sechelt, I graduated from Chatelech Secondary in 2004 and moved to Vancouver to pursue an education and a career. After completing an electrical apprenticeship, I returned to the Sunshine Coast in 2014 with my wife and young child to take over a long-running business in Sechelt’s downtown (Sew Easy in Trail Bay Centre) and live in my childhood home. I got involved in the Sechelt Downtown Business Association from 2014-2018 (after volunteering with communications as a teenager), and I got an introduction to politics through that organization. During my time with the SDBA, I quickly rose up to First Vice President, and helped to oversee a funding transformation of the organization. That funding model is still unique in BC, as other Business Improvement Areas explore new and innovate methods of funding their work. Eventually I served a period as Acting President, and oversaw a transition to a new Board of Directors.
I’ve never really considered myself a political person. I find that I want to help everyone, regardless of their problems and how they got into their predicament. I was a teenager during an era of deep cuts to social services, and my mother spent many years as a volunteer advocate, helping people navigate an increasingly complex system that frequently left people with nowhere to turn, and no one else willing to help them. I spent a lot of time helping her with that work, and I still get the occasional comment of recognition from people in the street, even though that was 20 years ago now.
Politics is something I came into out a need to help my community do better. I first ran for Council in 2018 with a goal towards developing Tomorrow’s Sechelt, a place where my kid could graduate from high school, and pursue further education, and decide to live and work and love here. I still firmly believe in that goal, that Sechelt needs to be a welcoming, prosperous community full of opportunities for all ages and walks of life.
I think it’s something that everyone should give consideration to, and I hope you’ll take the time to learn a bit more about me, about the election, and about the other candidates who have put their names forward. I truly believe that everyone who decides to run for Council has their communities best interests at heart, the differences lie in how we get there.