With municipal elections having come and gone, many municipalities throughout the province are now being run by notably younger mayors and councillors.
Calgary re-elected 41-year-old Mayor Naheed Nenshi, Edmonton chose 34-year-old Don Iveson to run the city and Red Deer elected 35-year-old Tara Veer.
Locally, two municipalities saw the average age of their mayors drop significantly, with Bonnyville electing Gene Sobolewski over incumbent Ernie Isley and Glendon choosing Laura Papirny over William Moleschi.
“I don't know if it is a trend because it just happened this go around, but I think it is a good thing,” said 69-year-old Bonnyville Coun. Ray Prevost. “They bring new ideals and a fresh pair of eyes. There is nothing wrong with that at all. Edmonton made that choice. Glendon made that choice and Bonnyille obviously made that choice.”
Glendon elected an entirely new three-person council that is being led by Papirny, a 34-year-old registered nurse, first-time mayor, and mother of two.
Papirny said it was the need for change in the village that ultimately convinced her to run in the election.
“There are a lot of questions that I have had throughout the last four years. Communication was not really there with the previous council,” said Papirny. “I really wanted to see change and I felt the best way to do that was to go through with (running for council) and help out with it as much as I could.”
Papirny added, “I wasn't expecting to be mayor, but that's what ended up happening. If you would have asked me six months ago I would have laughed at you.”
Papirny says that there are some challenges in balancing her family life, with her job and her mayoral duties.
“I am a busy mom. I work part-time but often full-time hours as a registered nurse. I have another part-time job besides my current position working at another hospital. It keeps me busy,” said Papirny.
She believes the need for political change might be the reason why so many younger people have stepped into municipal politics throughout the province.
“I think people are just interested in change and I think they might be hopeful that younger people have different ideas, different perspectives and something different than the norm.”
Unfortunately for Prevost, none of the younger people were willing to step up in Bonnyville.
He spent the summer trying to convince younger people in the community to run for town council but was unsuccessful.
“When I started in August looking for people to run I was almost sure that I was going to get two or three young people,” said Prevost. “But nobody is really interested.”
“You try and get some people interested, but having said that they don't even go out and vote. We only got 19 percent (voter turnout),” added Prevost.
Prevost is worried about the situation Bonnyville could be put into in four years time, when the current term ends.
“Look at the situation we are in. If you look at our council right now, when this term ends there is not one councillor there that will not get a seniors pension,” said Prevost. “We are probably going to be all walking away at the same time. You could potentially see five new faces on the next council, maybe even six.”
The youngest councillor of the six in Bonnyville is 61-year-old Rene Van Brabant.
According to Prevost many of the current councillors aren't interested in running in the next election, including himself.
At their meeting on Nov. 12, council talked about hiring a private firm to look into Bonnyville councillor remuneration rates. Council looked at possibly raising the remuneration, which might entice a younger generation to jump into municipal politics.
“Of the eleven people I approached in the summer I think (the low pay) came up four times,” said Prevost.
Papirny thought increasing the remuneration might help in Bonnyville, but said it isn't an option in Glendon.
“For us in this village we have a very limited budget as it is. With that being how it is right now you are in it for the right reasons, you are not in it for the money. You are committed because you actually want to make change.”
