Earl Babich was the last candidate to file his nomination papers to enter the race for Mission’s empty mayor’s chair.
The “businessman, developer and now homeless man” said he waited until the last minute because he “was not going to run as mayor if a qualified female and/or person of minority ran for the office.”
In a written statement given to the Record, Babich noted he was educated in Applied Science from UBC and has a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree from UFV with minors in Economics and Spatial Development.
“I graduated from Grade 12 with Honours in Langley, B.C. and moved to Mission over 30 years ago with my parents.”
“I promise with all my heart if you have lived in Mission for 100 years or one month and call the City of Mission your home I will treat you and your family with all the empathy, dignity and social justice each and every person on this planet deserves.”
Babich ran in the past three municipal elections as a trustee candidate for Mission Public Schools and has been advising and providing input at points in time that he feels “are very critical to the community and right now is the most critical time in the development of the City of Mission and the way forward in a post pandemic period of history.”
He wrote Mission has the unique opportunity of a mayoral by-election, with no incumbent running for office, to set forth the “New Vision for the City of Mission”.
Babich has become a “significant advocate for healthcare and an expert regarding the management of our health care system” since his father, Ernest, who has been on life support five times since the summer of 2018, became ill.
“This expertise is vital as mayor in expanding the health care offered and provided in The City of Mission Hospital and Fraser Valley Health System.”
He also said he will not delay with the waterfront development on the Braich Properties and will have shovels in the ground within 90 days to establish green park areas for the public use as soon as possible.
“I plan to have six crossings across the railway lands between Cedar Street and the Information Center east of Stave Lake Street with three for use of pedestrians, wheelchairs, bikes, scooters and so-forth.”
He also said as mayor he will “fast track any development project that is in the interests of the public with the strategic goal of building parks, increasing and protecting wild salmon and eliminating homelessness.”
“I am a huge supporter of Universal Basic Income for all persons in need of assistance, essentially CERB during the pandemic. To me elimination of homelessness shall always be a state of emergency … Honestly, I am so far to the left on the political spectrum that I am on the right.”
