Long-time City Councillor Arjun Singh has announced his bid to become Mayor of Kamloops.
Speaking during a news conference Friday morning, the four-term City Councillor said he will “propose bold ideas” noting he will be announcing these proposals in the weeks and months to come.
“We need experienced leadership on Council. I bring 30 years of public policy experience, 13-plus years on city council, and experience as full time acting Mayor in some tough situations,” Singh, who is also on the board of the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, said. “I’ve served as President of the Union of BC Municipalities, and as a board member for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.”
“I am humbly putting my name forward as a candidate for Mayor. I really look forward to a great civic election campaign with many good candidates from which citizens can make the best choices.”
He says after his time on council, he is ready for the next step.
“Being on council is an amazing thing and I think it’s always a we job not a me job. But to help lead that team, to help steward the community through some amazingly, hopefully opportune times, would be a real pleasure,” Singh said.
“We’ve been through a tough time in the pandemic. We were isolated and we have had probably more polarization than we have seen in a lot of years. Kamloops, I know, is very good at coming together and so coming out of the pandemic I think it’s really important that we reunite people and try to find the best solutions for the issues we have.”
The Kamloops native is the first person to officially announce his intention to run for Mayor, after incumbent Ken Christian announced that he would not be seeking another term.
“I am making this announcement now to allow those who would seek to become Mayor a clear runway to organize and finance a solid campaign and vision for the future of Kamloops,” Christian said in a statement on Family Day.
“I will not endorse nor become involved in the 2022 election except to correct the record should anyone misrepresent the work of the administration.”
Former Kamloops Councillor, Ray Dhaliwal, who served between 2017 and 2018, has also stated his intent to run for Mayor on facebook as part of the newly formed Action 22 Kamloops civic political party. The plan, he says, is to run a “full slate” of candidates, though the campaign hasn’t officially been launched yet.
Dhaliwal says Action 22 is inspired by former mayor Phil Gaglardi’s Action Team ’88, from his 1988 municipal election run.
Incumbent councillor Dieter Dudy, who almost beat then mayor (and current Kamloops-North Thompson MLA) Peter Milobar in 2011, is also rumoured to be considering another run for Mayor, but he hasn’t yet announced his intensions publicly.
The 2022 BC Municipal Election is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 15.
Elections B.C. says the pre-campaign period will begin on July 18, at which point candidates can start advertising.
– With files from Jeff Andreas
