PARKSVILLE — The current Mayor of Parksville wants to keep moving forward with his plans of trying to attract a younger demographic to the city.
Mayor Ed Mayne is once again running for the top job in the municipal election this fall, and he told NanaimoNewsNOW he doesn’t believe his work is finished yet.
“I still have work to do. That’s really what it comes down to, I have some things I would like to get done before I finish.”
Mayne was previously Parksville’s Mayor from 2008 until 2011 when he resigned his seat with one year remaining to try what was ultimately an unsuccessful bid for the leadership of the BC Liberal Party.
He said he still has a few things he wants to get done before his time in politics is over.
“We gotta continue to attract young families into Parksville. We’re one of the oldest demographics in Canada, and what that does is it doesn’t provide us a very large workforce. Only 27 per cent of our population is between 20-55 years old.”
Another important and personal issue for Mayne is to reach out to the provincial government to formulate a plan to attract more doctors to the community.
He also stresses the importance of revitalizing Parksville’s downtown core.
“Adding more people to the downtown core as far as living accommodations, but also to fix up the main street going through, adding parking, bicycle lanes, wide sidewalks so we can have tables in the summertime and so on, all of those things are important to the downtown core.”
Looking back at his last four years as Mayor, Mayne said it might have been one of the most active councils in the history of the community.
“We are considered in the top five, for the last two or three years, of the most sustainable communities in British Columbia which is something to be very proud of. Parksville has virtually no debt whatsoever, and that’s a great thing.”
He said it puts the community in a good position when they start working on other major infrastructure projects, like putting in a new swimming pool and creating a multiplex, if that comes to fruition.
If elected again, Mayne said he plans on continuing the vision he originally had for Parksville.
“We still have a long way to go to get to that vision. And we never will, you never get to the end of the voyage, you just keep going step by step by step and hopefully improving upon it. There’s so much we can do to make life even better in Parksville.”
Mayne will be challenges by current city councillor Doug O’Brien, who NanaimoNewsNOW will profile on Sunday, Sep. 11.
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jordan@nanaimonewsnow.com
On Twitter: @JordanDHeyNow