The City of North Vancouver has its first declared challenger for the mayor's chair in this November's municipal elections.
Kerry Morris, a council watcher and critic of incumbent Mayor Darrell Mussatto, announced his candidacy and launched his kerrymorris.ca campaign website on the Easter weekend.
Among the planks in his platform, Morris lists reining in residential and commercial redevelopment with an aim to lessen the stress on the North Shore's current infrastructure and services, tightly controlling the city's spending habits, and exploring public-private partnerships for capital projects, like the Harry Jerome Recreation
Centre redevelopment.
"We seem to be fixated on growing the city to absorb people who don't live here, at the expense and quality of life of those who do. We need to refocus our concerns and efforts on making North Vancouver a better and more cost-effective place to live for our existing residents. They are our primary concern," Morris said.
Drawing a distinction between himself and Mussatto and his council allies, Morris said he will not accept donations from noncity businesses and residents. He also vowed to recuse himself from votes where donors have an interest in the outcome and to cap all contributions at $300.
British Columbians will go to the polls on Nov. 15 to elect local government representatives for four-year terms.
