April Montague wants to be a voice for the under-privileged and underrepresented in Fernie.
“I’ve always been passionate about governance, and I’ve always wanted to become more involved in the democratic process, providing much-needed representation for lower-income individuals and families, because there’s not many voices for my less-privileged community members.
“That will be my primary focus,” she said in an interview with The Free Press.
Montague has lived in Fernie (on and off) for the last ten years with her small family, and works as a contractor with the School Board in grounds maintenance.
“I’ve never run before, this is definitely my first election” she said. “So this is exciting and nerve wracking at the same time.”
She said she was motivated to run by a lack of engagement with those most affected by a lack of affordable housing in the community.
“Everybody in Fernie knows that housing is a big issue, and I want to bring a perspective from the lower-income community because we get let out a lot when decisions are made.”
An example she gave was the city’s new maintenance shop built in the last few years next to new New Horizons village, which she said residents who had lived there for years said hadn’t recalled any consultation from the city, despite how loud and bright it was.
“Stuff like that, I really want to get involved and give my community a voice. It doesn’t matter if you’re poor, doesn’t matter if you come from a different background, you can still try to be a part of the democratic process and hopefully successful and make some changes, speaking for people that don’t always get heard.”
Montague also touched on sustainability in development and infrastructure.
“I think when we look at the future of Fernie, we need to make sure it has an ecologically sustainable future for our kids, for the families that want to live here in the future.”
She said infrastructure needed to be thought about in the long-term.
“When we talk about infrastructure we can’t just do patch-jobs, we have to look and save to do infrastructure projects properly.”
She said that if she was successful in getting on city council, she would do her best to be a voice for lower-income families and individuals.
“I am probably one of the only people running that’s not a property owner, probably one of the only people running that makes under $30K a year, and I think we need more representation, so that’s why I’m running, and why I think people should vote for me.
“We need a variety of voices, not just the same voices when we go to council.”
READ MORE: Fernie to decide between two mayoral candidates and 15 council candidates
scott.tibballs@thefreepress.ca
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