Terrace mayoral candidate Diana Penner is campaigning on a focus on seniors’ housing, public safety and what she describes as responsible use of taxpayer dollars.
Penner said she has lived in the Terrace area for 61 years and has spent much of her life advocating for seniors and other groups in the community.
She said her decision to run comes from frustration with what she sees as parts of the population being left behind by local politics.
“I am frustrated to some degree with the way that politics has continued to leave behind big parts of our population. For me right now as a senior, I have been advocating for seniors’ rights for probably the last 20 years,” Penner said.
Penner previously sat on the City of Terrace’s Seniors Advisory Committee and is now president of the Skeena Valley Seniors Society. She said that work has connected her with stakeholders across the community and brought attention to issues beyond seniors.
“I’ve discovered that not only are seniors’ needs are falling behind, but our healthcare needs are falling behind. There’s various other sectors that are not getting very front-page news when it comes to an awful lot of what happens in our community,” she said.
Penner identified seniors housing, public safety and the use of taxpayer dollars as three of Terrace’s biggest issues.
She said those issues are connected and need to be addressed while maintaining fiscal responsibility.
“One of the biggest issues that comes up on a regular basis is seniors housing. Another one is public safety, another one is the use of the taxpayer dollars, and using it fiscally and responsibly,” Penner said.
Penner said the lack of seniors housing is contributing to some older residents leaving Terrace, separating them from established social networks.
She also connected social inclusion with homelessness, saying people have a natural need to feel they belong in their community.
Penner said she wants to work with stakeholders and partner organizations to find solutions to the issues facing Terrace.
Her vision for the city also includes building on what she sees as Terrace’s natural appeal and creating a stronger sense of community.
“We live in the most beautiful place in the world as far as I’m concerned. I’ve travelled an awful lot and I come back to Terrace every time, there is a wow factor in Terrace,” Penner said.
If elected, Penner said she wants Terrace to be a place where people feel safe, belong, and want to live, raise their children, and retire.
“For me, if I was to be mayor and hopefully be mayor for not just one term, but for many terms, hopefully as we carry this legacy forward of creating a place where we’re safe, a place where we want to be, belonging, where we want to live, where we want to raise our children, where we want to retire in. That’s my ultimate goal,” she said.
Terrace residents head to the polls on Oct. 17.
