Prince George city council candidate Nour Salim hopes to bring different experience and a fresh perspective to local government.
Salim works as an IT project manager for Northern Health and has lived in communities in the Middle East, Europe and across Canada. He’s lived in small villages and big cities, and in very poor communities to wealthy and prosperous ones.
“I have a lot of life experience to bring to the table,” Salim said. “Since I came to Prince George I’ve been seeing the problems, not just in Prince George, but across B.C. Even though we have provincial problems, it’s easier to solve them in Prince George.”
The avid chess player and martial arts coach said he wants to see the city be a place where people, and the local economy, can thrive.
Tackling the social issues facing the downtown is an important first step, he said, because business can’t thrive downtown until it is a welcoming place. But the larger, long-term issue, is making Prince George a place which attracts growth and new residents, while retaining its current ones.
“We need more collaboration with our teaching institutions and skilled labour and industry in our city,” Salim said.
Salim said he’d like to see the city to work with business and industry to identify the skills they’ll need now, and in the future, and coordinate with educational institutions from high schools up to the university level to provide and promote training to meet those needs.
Salim said he’ll “aggressively and relentlessly advocate for collaboration,” if elected, and has already begun having discussions with the city’s post-secondary institutions about the idea.
“The city as a whole wants to retain its young people,” he said, adding that if young people leave the city for education many won’t come back.
Making Prince George a more livable and affordable city is also critical to retaining a skilled workforce, Salim said.
“We have to be generous to our residents, it’s the only way to bring them here and keep them here,” he said. “(I would support) no more increases in property taxes.”
The City of Prince George needs to look at ways to bring new development to grow the tax base, cut costs and diversify its revenue, he said, rather than coming to taxpayers for more money each year.
Salim said he’d be in favour of developing a network of protected bike lanes throughout the city, from College Heights to the Hart.
“December to February, I spent exclusively on a bike every day,” he said. “I probably almost got hit eight times.”
For more information about his platform and campaign, go to his website.
