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Al Holt makes mayoralty race a three-way contest

Sechelt
al holt
Sechelt mayoralty candidate Al Holt takes questions for a Coast Reporter Radio interview.

A third contender has come forward to run for mayor of Sechelt in October’s municipal elections.

Al Holt told Coast Reporter this week that he wants to reverse what he sees as a trend of Sechelt residents voting someone out and offer them someone to vote in.

“The last five elections have been ‘let’s get rid of the last council.’ It’s been bitter and twisted; that’s not the way it should be,” he said.

Holt, 71, is a resident of Halfmoon Bay. He and his wife also own a home in West Sechelt and he said taxes, along with “water, water, and water” and economic development, are the key issues he’ll be running on.

“A blind squirrel could cut taxes,” Holt said. “If you can’t find government waste, you’re not looking.”

On water, which Sechelt gets through the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD), Holt believes the solution is equally straightforward. “Raise the [Chapman Lake] dam. That to me is a no-brainer, but all I hear over and over is that it’s in a park.  Well, let’s look at how the park got formed – the park was formed to protect the water, not the other way around.”

Holt also said with two directors at the board table Sechelt should be taking the lead at the SCRD. “Sechelt should be the economic hub of the Sunshine Coast, and should be driving the bus.”

Holt’s background includes time in the publishing and newspaper business and as a small business owner and entrepreneur. He said on the economic development file, moving forward with an airport expansion and a revitalized downtown should be top of the list.

“You have empty stores downtown. There should not be one empty store downtown. When we first moved here you couldn’t find a parking spot downtown – downtown was the place to be,” Holt said. “The Sechelt Indian Band, I think, is taking the right approach. They’re going to grow, there’s no doubt about it, and Sechelt has to keep up or your downtown business core will be up by the gravel pit.”

Holt said he knows three business owners, although he wouldn’t name them, who decided not to locate in Sechelt “because they couldn’t put up with the bullshit that they dealt with at city hall.”

Holt, who ran as a candidate for the Western Block Party in the 2011 federal election, said when it comes to experience at the municipal level he’s “just a taxpayer who pays attention.”

One of the issues Holt has been paying attention to lately is the district’s decision to move fastball games out of Hackett Park, although the league was allowed to return to Hackett for the playoffs. Holt is involved with the fastball association, and said council should have stepped in to reverse the original parks department decision to move fastball games to Kinnikinnick.

He said taking activities like the fastball games away from the downtown thwarts the goal of revitalizing the area.

“I’ve been all around the Lower Mainland in the last month-and-a-half and checked out every ball park. Guess where they are? Right downtown where there’s houses, cars and people, and all of a sudden we have to move ours?”

Holt said he doesn’t plan to have a campaign office or hold any events, but will build his campaign around meeting voters one-on-one. “I’d like to sit down and talk to people.” 

Holt said anyone interested in hearing more about his campaign can connect with him on Facebook.

Our full interview will Al Holt will be available at www.coastreporter.net/audio on Friday.