A 27-year-old local man seeking a Terrace city council seat says he’ll bring a progressive perspective to local government.
Dan LeFrancois, who was born and raised in Terrace and is now a baker at Save On Foods, says he’s no stranger to the boom and bust cycles that come along with a resource-based economy.
And, given his age, he says he’s been more familiar with the bust part of the cycle.
“There haven’t really been a whole lot of ups,” he said.
“So many people turn to retail jobs,” he continued, noting not everyone taking these jobs is fulfilled by the work.
He’s cautious about getting too excited about talking of a coming boom, saying Terrace needs to find innovative ways to sustain jobs even when the boom ends.
“I don’t think I have any answers to this,” he said in response to being asked how he’d reach the goal of keeping jobs in place when a boom does end.
“But having a fresh perspective...I’m willing to take a chance.
“I think the main thing is about gathering perspective from the community. It shouldn’t be about ‘I voted for this person. I hope they do what they said they were going to do,’” he said.
“When you have seven members [of council], that’s only seven ideas.”
LeFrancois said governing a community is not about making big promises, but making steady changes through citizen involvement.
“I want to see government take more of a community role,” he said. “It seems to me too shrouded in mystery and I’d like to change that.”