A former Salmo village councillor who ran unsuccessfully for mayor says he would definitely consider running again in the next election.
“I guarantee that I would do it again,” says Jon Heatlie. “I am not upset that I lost, but I do enjoy the work I did as a council member.”
Heatlie says although he was not elected he remains active and vigilant by attending meetings and being available to help the new council.
“I haven’t let go,” he says. “I am still going to every meeting and doing all my research trying to help the new council get their feet wet.”
Heatlie says he is grateful for the opportunity to run for mayor, and he wouldn’t change a thing about his campaign. The only thing that he thinks could be done better is getting more residents who can vote out to the polls.
“I thought my campaign went very well,” he says. “I have very strong support, but if you look at the margin by which I lost, all we could do better is encourage people to get out to vote.”
He says the turnout of 48 per cent is actually great for Salmo. According to Heatlie, council said at their first meeting they are already looking ahead to the next election to find better ways to help people get to the polls.
“They are trying to find ways to get people to vote,” he says. “We did curbside voting, but they are looking at possibly doing multiple days to vote, or doing it through a remote location.”
He lost by 30 votes to incumbent mayor Diana Lockwood.