By Grace Romund (The Cascade) – Email
Date Posted: October 27, 2011
Print Edition: October 26, 2011
Seventeen-year-old Travis Daleman is one of five mayoral candidates who have thrown their hats into the ring for this year’s municipal elections happening in Abbotsford on November 19. Having grown up in Abbotsford for most of his life and recently graduated from W. J. Mouat Secondary, Daleman can be found at most Abbotsford city council meetings immersing himself in local politics. Amidst campaigning for the upcoming mayoral election, Daleman also has found the time to begin his university studies at UFV this semester. Daleman was kind enough to answer some questions regarding his recent decision to run for mayor in Abbotsford.
Why run for mayor of Abbotsford at your age?
A lot of people are asking me, “Why mayor?” and not a just council member, et cetera. I think that by running for mayor I’m making a bigger impact and I’m able to have more effect on the decisions that local politics include. By doing so, it’s made a big impact on people following politics locally. I’m noticing many young people talking to their parents about politics too.
How is your campaign going so far?
It’s been nonstop press and media coverage because of my age. I expected the media to have fun with the fact that I am 17 and I am involved, but I figure lots of people will get to hear my name and what I’m all about and it would involve them in politics. I had no idea it would become so big so fast.
What are your goals in running for mayor?
I haven’t really thought about what exactly it is I want to do. I don’t have a one-sentence answer of what my platform is. Regarding municipal elections, I don’t think that there is one platform because it is where you stand on every individual issue. We have hundreds of issues municipally.
This election is largely going to be about water. What are your opinions on the proposed P3 project?
It’s a big issue facing everyone locally here. A lot of people are concerned about it even if they don’t know everything regarding it. They are opinionated and passionate about the subject. I believe that it is our number one issue currently in Abbotsford. There is a lot of confusing information about it out there, including the referendum question. The way they phrased the referendum question, it seemed like they were trying to confuse people. I would like to see more open, real statistics and information on the matter so that we can open it up to general public. By postponing the referendum, we could get more public input, because right now all we have is P3 or not the P3. It seems that they are running it as a fear campaign. It seems like there are no other options edging people towards voting “yes” on P3, which I oppose. I think that privatizing our water is not the best way to go.
What differentiates you from other candidates?
My age – how I view problems because of my age. I would see things in a new way, and hopefully be able to solve problems in a new way than they were created. It’s an older generation of thinking that has created all these problems for us. Therefore, a new generation has to think differently to solve the same problems. I would say that is the biggest thing that differentiates me from the other candidates.
