Ward 8 city councillor Gary Kaschak is seeking re-election.
Kaschak is the first councillor on the current council to file nomination papers for October’s municipal election.
He was first elected to council in 2018 and was re-elected in 2022, receiving 60.72 per cent of the vote in the last election.
Kaschak feels the timing is right to announce his re-election bid.
“A lot of people over the past year kept asking me if I was going to run, and I think they like the consistency, they trust me, and they like the results,” says Kaschak. “There’s been lots of good things happening, lots of upgrades and improvements in Ward 8.”
He says he’s been getting really good feedback from the Ward 8 community.
Kaschak says some even asked him to run for mayor.
“I like what I do, I like negotiating, I like talking, I like making the community a better place,” says Kaschak. “So I decided that yes, I’m going to run one more time.”
He says he’s surprised no one on the current council has announced their intentions yet.
“The feeling was good, the feeling was good, and I just said, ‘Let’s just get this done,’” he says. “Nobody on council has moved their name forward yet of the current council, so I thought, why not go first? Why not be the leadoff hitter here and get things started?”
Kaschak says if re-elected, he’ll continue to push for improvements in the ward.
He’ll focus on traffic calming measures throughout the ward and near the new Costco site.
Kaschak says he would also like to see a community centre in the ward.
As of June 29, there are no other candidates seeking the Ward 8 seat.