Erin for Mayor

As some of you may know, I have plans to become a municipal politician at some point in my life. The seed was planted when I attended my first city council meeting in Vancouver as a requirement for a journalism school assignment, and it continued to grow as I covered Tofino district council meetings for the Westerly News. When one of my female journalism instructors was elected to Vancouver council (right on, Anne Roberts!), I was inspired to follow in her footsteps, though she told me that I need not wait for my hair to turn grey to get involved. And then there was that dream I had where I was the mayor of Sechelt. More recently the inspiration has come from Sonya Chandler (left), the 30 year old Victoria city councillor. She's a hip nurse, just like my Mom and my sister, and she works on many wonderful initiatives here in Victoria. I saw her in action at a council meeting last month that I attended for an urban politics class (funnily enough, I'm writing this post whilst avoiding an assignment for said class). Isn't it wonderful that she's so young? Part of my report highlights the fact that the youngest councillor, Sonya, is 30 and the oldest is in her 70s (I'm waiting to see if Helen Hughes (right) feels comfortable emailing me her exact age - and don't be fooled by the picture; it was surely taken a few years back). I guess I'm inspired by the fact that five out of nine Victoria city councillors are women, and their various ages prove I have at least a few years to pick a city, develop a platform, run for mayor and perfect my studio smile.