After topping the polls in his first city council campaign in 2011, Ken Christian is seeking re-election on Nov. 15. The former longtime school trustee is running on a platform that includes increasing direct flight destinations from Kamloops Airport and having the city support affordable-housing opportunities.
As he makes a bid for re-election to Kamloops city council, Coun. Ken Christian is looking to make it easier for some citizens to get out of town.
At his campaign launch, Christian said he’s running on a platform that includes increasing direct flight destinations from Kamloops Airport.
“There are a lot of Kamloops residents now that are working and doing business in northern Alberta and northern British Columbia and I think it’s time that we had an opportunity to fly directly into places like Fort McMurray, like Edmonton, like Fort St. John and like Prince George,” Christian said.
“There’s certainly a market there.”
Christian said there are new, smaller airplanes being adopted by the companies that are cheaper to run and that could make smaller markets more lucrative.
“I think as those aircraft start to come on board, Kamloops starts to become a more attractive location,” he said.
“Obviously, 737s are expensive to run and we don’t really have the passenger loads for them, but to put those other aircraft on those routes makes sense.”
While flight decisions are in the hands of executives at WestJet and Air Canada, Christian believes the city has some clout when it comes to airline negotiations.
Christian, who served as a Kamloops-Thompson school district trustee for 18 years before joining council in 2011 (he topped the polls during his inaugural run), said he wants to see the city go after the small-convention and sport-tourism markets more aggressively to bring in tourism dollars during the shoulder season.
He also wants the city to support affordable-housing opportunities.
Christian said he wants to see the city’s next council hold the line on spending, with any property-tax increases below the rate of inflation.
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