Robert George or as many know him, “Mr. George”, or “Bob” is throwing his hat in the ring to run for the seat of councillor in the March 1 by-election for the District of Barriere (DOB).
There are four candidates running for the councillor’s seat vacated by Kerslake who resigned when choosing to run for mayor in the upcoming election.
DOB councillor candidate nominees are Stephen Boylan, former DOB councillor, Alan Fortin, Bob George and Brody Mosdell who is the youngest candidate running.
Two candidates are running for the position of mayor - former mayor of Barriere, Bill Humphreys, and former deputy mayor and district councillor, Rob Kerslake.
Robert George hasn’t run for office in Barriere before, but at 92-years-old, he feels he has something to say and contribute after residing in the North Thompson for so many years as a property owner.
“I’d like to see this town look to the future a bit more than it has in the past. I’m concerned about traffic going through Barriere and feel that people are driving too fast through the town and on the highway. The speed limit should be 80 right past Chinook Cove Golf Course. We need better policing, I’m concerned about the future – just more thinking about the future,” said George.
George doesn’t hold back and says he “tells it like it is” about the need for people to drive with more care, less speeding and that “police need to do a better job of enforcement” when it comes to speeding on Highway 5 and also through the town of Barriere itself.
He and his wife Carol decided to move to Barriere having friends in the area many years ago, trading island life for cattle ranching and now in later years no longer raising cattle but still maintaining a hay ranch of 25 acres just outside of Barriere on the 70 acres they own.
The former bi-plane pilot, island water taxi driver, and co-store owner of a general store on Vancouver Island, told Black Press on Friday February 7 about his life experience, adding, “I was an Island Trust, trustee for Pender Island, wrote a newspaper column, operated a welding shop and ran a water taxi for the school kids from Galiano to get to school each day and back. My wife Carol ran a busy little store there as well. I thought I’d have a run at being on Barriere council here now. We need seniors housing and for local residents built for the old timers and also housing built for newcomers to buy the seniors homes so they will be able to move into the new seniors housing.”
George also feels there should be significant sidewalk improvements in downtown Barriere, especially with so many senior residents. “I’d like to see the improvements on widening the sidewalks or adding to them to allow for golf carts or scooters to safely travel to shopping and the businesses downtown from the Credit Union to the Seniors Centre,” he said.
“I don’t want to see the town destroyed. I’d like to see Barriere become more user friendly. Such as being able to have seniors using electric golf carts on wider sidewalks to go shopping safely. What’s wrong with that?” he asks.
The couple own a small commercial strip in the Barriere downtown area and George says they enjoy living a more rural life. “It’s home and I just want to see a better, safer future for people living here,” he said.
