A retired Canada Customs officer and local farmer wants to help steer Powell River in a new direction.
Jan Gisborne is one of four candidates for mayor.
She spent 25 years searching deep sea freighters for contraband and now has a multi-generational farm with her son, daughter-in-law and three grandchildren.
She’s been involved from the sidelines in municipal politics – her late husband was a qathet Area B director for 31 years and her son, Marc, has been acclaimed for a third term.
This would be her first foray into politics after Gisborne says she was approached by people to run “to try to get a new direction for how our city is working, to bridge all the political divisions, (address) community safety and of course the economic pressures that are going on.”
Gisborne says she would like a city council that feels safe to express opinions even if some on council disagree with a particular issue.
“Historically, the best mayors are the ones where most of the people around them, council, the residents, even the staff, don’t know their personal stance. They’re the leader. They’re the ones to set the tone and make people work as a team,” Gisborne said in an interview with Vista Radio.
As for dealing with the big issues, Gisborne says council needs to have specific targets, strategies and collaborate with other municipalities when lobbying senior governments.
“(A)nd specifics on what you actually want done, what’s an actionable item. Because just going and saying, we don’t like BC Ferries or we don’t like homelessness, we don’t like the fact that there’s no recovery plan for people. How do we help people? They’ve already heard that.”
She says her Canada Customs job gave her knowledge about federal, provincial and municipal legislation.
Gisborne also noted her work with the Rotary Club of Powell River and being a district director has given her “multiple years of training on governance.”
Advance voting starts Wednesday (Oct. 7) with voting day on October 17th.
