Re-elect
Leonard Krog

It is always worth remembering that the provision and maintenance of physical civic assets is the essence of a City Council’s responsibility. The benefits we receive from those assets – clean water, sewers and treated wastewater, roads, parks, pools, the tools and people needed to do the work that keeps them running – are the primary source of the costs that are paid by
property taxes.
Despite the ever-increasing costs of asset provision and maintenance, I am proud of the improvements to and maintenance of the essential infrastructure that have been undertaken in our rapidly growing City over the past four years. During this time, we have planned and managed major improvements to water distribution systems, ongoing sewer maintenance investments, road and street improvement projects, and recreational facility maintenance.
Nanaimo is one of the fastest-growing cities in western Canada. More people means more demand for just about every service, and we have responded accordingly.
Cooperation with other groups and agencies has been a leading theme of my leadership. One of the responsibilities of the Mayor is to guide the important work with the other communities in the Regional District of Nanaimo and its member communities on such subjects as the bus network; improving trails for hikers and mountain bikers; working with VIU in its efforts to build on its already fine reputation in a changing student environment; supporting the efforts of the Airport and Port in their mandates for trade through and access to central Vancouver Island.

I am hugely supportive of, and grateful to, the community leaders who are pressing the Province on the need to improve Nanaimo Regional General Hospital. The startling service gap between Vancouver Island north of the Malahat with the Victoria area needs to be closed. New cancer facilities do not answer the need of critical heart patients and the main patient tower is
well beyond its “best before” date. The medical services community in Nanaimo is important not only to our physical and mental health but also to our economic well-being. People who decide to live here and raise families deserve health care resources that are at least on par with those who choose to live further south.

Over the past eight years, I have applied my experience to lead a Council whose conduct, deliberations and actions have enabled Nanaimo to cast off iits previous reputation as one of the most dysfunctional civic governments in the country. With cooperation and confidence restored, we must continue to build on the momentum we have created.
The City will continue to recruit and retain qualified staff who provide Council with key information and who implement Council’s decisions. I was elected 8 years ago on a promise to restore confidence in City Hall. I am grateful to the members of two successive Councils who have served with me and for their contributions to returning respectful governance to our residents. While I stand by my motto of “Commitment made, Commitment kept” I fully recognize that while much has been accomplished, much remains to be done.

Nanaimo has seen perhaps the most rapid growth in its history over the past few years; the value of building permits reached record levels during the past four years, and the City’s population now exceeds 112,000. Nanaimo has become a favoured destination for Canadians new and older to call home.
This evident and rapid growth brings considerable challenges, and addressing them is a vital function of our municipal government. We have to maintain an expanding network of roads, sidewalks, trails and traffic controls.

Our water and sewage disposal systems require constant attention. And we have to continue to improve turn-around times for investors who propose projects large and small. We also have need to recognize that the City does not operate alone in our region. Working together with neighbours which include smaller communities, major institutions like the Port, the Airport, VIU and our Regional Hospital, as well as the Snuneymuxw First Nation is critical.
Building cooperative relationships with the needs and aspirations of other governments and agencies deserves consistent focus.  The evidence of the last few years demonstrates that Investors have confidence in how Nanaimo is conducting its complex affairs and maintaining this confidence is a critical task for City Council.

Over the past eight years, I have been a powerful voice, working together with other cities and communities all over the province, in pushing for different and forceful changes in order to restore order to downtown areas, providing relief to overstretched first responders, and the chance of a better future for those people who are affected by addictions, mental health and homelessness, and for their families.
Action from the provincial government in providing safe and supervised locations for treatment is no longer optional. And, since these problems are occurring nationwide, the Government of Canada has a responsibility to act in concert with British Columbia. To suggest that this is a problem for Nanaimo to resolve is simply not realistic.
Our RCMP detachment officers, Volunteer Agencies and health care providers are all working to provide the best possible response to the addiction and mental health crisis. I am grateful for the support of many of these agencies as we continue to press for safe and supervised treatment facilities and housing for those with problems.
I am profoundly grateful for the support that I have been given for my consistent protestations to provincial and federal governments about the services that this City needs to treat addictions and mental health. I make no
apologies for my support for improved services, “dry housing” and involuntary confinement for those whose personal situations adversely affect the publicsafety of the vast majority of our residents.