A CANADIAN Armed Forces veteran has announced he’s running for a Terrace city council seat.
Mike Ross, who retired from the military as a communications specialist in 1994 and moved to Terrace in 1996, says he would make a good city councillor because he spent years serving his country.
“They risk themselves for the community,” he said of people in uniform. “Not for money, but for what they believe in.”
Ross says his specific motivation comes from a strong belief in the fundamentals of democracy.
“I’ve been to countries where people were actually told if they showed up to vote they’d be shot,” he said. “And they still came, because they realized the freedom that came with the ability to vote.”
Ross said he will practice his theory of democratic involvement by ensuring that how he votes reflects the people he represents.
“The more divided we are on any issue, the more closely we have to look at it,” he said, noting that beyond basic municipal services such as roads, infrastructure and safety, he would poll residents to determine what they wanted.
Ross said the city should not have ventured into the real estate speculation business by buying the Terrace Co-op property and should not be putting money into My Mountain Co-op’s efforts to open and run Shames Mountain as a ski hill, describing the latter as a failed business.
He’s not convinced the majority of electors in Terrace supported both spending decisions.
Ross said he would have delayed a decision on the two issues until he had a chance to determine what the majority of Terrace residents wanted.
Regardless of his personal stance on an issue, Ross said his extensive military experience has taught him to be impartial, meaning that if the majority of the public wants something, that’s how he’ll vote.
“In three years, I’ll be able to face people and say I’ve voted on the right side of every issue,” he said.
While Ross is now supported by a military pension and works part time for Greyhound, he said he’s already told his employer that if he’s elected, he will quit and focus solely on being a city councillor.
