12 News

Prince George
Mayoral Race

James Mangan
Team Member

t is election season in Prince George, and
students need to get into the electoral
mindset. The overall tone PG residents
are voicing in this race seems to be one
of dissatisfaction, especially towards our
current mayor Shari Green, who announced
that she will not seek re-election.

Campaigning to take over the position as
mayor are two former city councillors,
Lyn Hall and Don Zurowski. The first
mayoral debate took place on October

15 at the public library, where the
candidates were asked about their
stances on some of Prince George’s most
pressing issues. Students, who often feel
underrepresented and underappreciated
in municipal affairs, have as mucha
stake in the outcome of this election as
any other residents of Prince George.
Unfortunately, if students remain apathetic
towards municipal politics, they'll remain
underrepresented and underappreciated.

Both Hall and Zurowski have much to offer
the citizens of Prince George. Zurowski
has served on city council from 1999 to

2008. This is Zurowski’s second run for
mayor, as he lost to Dan Rogers in the

2008 municipal election. During the 2005
election, Zurowksi received more votes than
any other city councillor. On his campaign
website, Zurowski states that he holds the
position of Chair on both the BC Passenger
Transportation board and the International
Bioenergy Conference & Exhibition Society.
He is also currently serving as Director for
both the Prince George Airport Authority,
as well as the BC Pavilion Corporation.

In the 2011 municipal election, Hall
received more votes than any other

city councillor. Hall offers three years

of service on city council prior to this
election, as well as 10 years working on
the Board of Education for School District
#57, including five years as Chairman.

Hall and Zurowski have made their priorities
clear. Building off of Prince George’s
dissatisfaction with City Hall’s management,
Hall promised to strengthen communication
between staffers, senior staff, and council
members. Hall detailed his view of a city
council made up of individual councillors
voicing their opinions upon policy
deliberation, yet practicing consensus upon
adopting said policy. Hall also prioritized

continued investment in local infrastructure,
specifically referencing council’s increased
funding for road renovation and snow
removal over the past three years. Residents
of Prince George remember last winter,
when disputes between city employees

and their managers halted snow removal,
rendering many streets unusable.

Zurowski began the debate by stating his
“three pillars:” growing Prince George, needs
before wants, and civic pride. Zurowski
promised that as Mayor, he’d see Prince
George’s population grow by another 20,000
residents, bringing the total population to
around 100,000. He claimed this could be
done by proving to British Columbia that
Prince George is “open for business.” In
regards to public infrastructure, Zurowski
has stated that the city needs to concentrate
on its needs, such as road infrastructure,
while putting the cities wants, such as the
renovation of the Library’s front entrance,
“on the backburner.” Zurowski is confident
that civic pride will increase as Prince George
grows, but this requires effort from the local
residents, who have a role to play in selling
Prince George to the rest of the province.

Students have not been ignored
during this election. As a part of

Suln Lee | OTE

downtown revitalization, both

Hall and Zurowski support the
development of student residences in
the downtown region to accommodate
students of both UNBC and CNC.

Both candidates also discussed bolstering
downtown entertainment in order to
make downtown a destination at which
students, as well as other residents, can
spend their evenings. Hall specifically
discussed the possibility of improved
transportation routes for students from
their schools to the downtown region.

Such promises to students are easy to make
as they can be incorporated into a larger
downtown revitalization policy, which is
overwhelmingly supported by the voters
of Prince George. However, the candidates
will determine how important these

issues are to students after examining the
young-voter turnout rate. Both candidates
are not interested in paying for costly
infrastructure projects unless they are held
as important to the residents of Prince
George. If students aren’t even willing to
give a candidate their support by ballot,
why should the candidates bother fulfilling
a student-oriented campaign promise?