Another high-profile provincial politician is seriously considering jumping into municipal politics — although in this case, it’s more a matter of jumping back into municipal politics.
Former Education Minister Peter Fassbender tells Global News he’s being encouraged to run for mayor of the City of Langley.
Fassbender had previously served a term as a Langley city councillor and three terms as its mayor, from 2005 to 2011.
He said he’s been getting encouragement to seek the job again from unexpected quarters.
“I even had a gas station attendant come out of the blue and say, ‘you need to run, I need to vote for you, and I want to encourage people to vote for you,'” he said.
“It’s been humbling that people believe I’ve done a good job in the past.”
Fassbender said he’ll likely take most of July to mull the move over, and that he hasn’t made any concrete decisions yet.
“I am thinking about it seriously,” he said. “My wife and I have been talking but have made no final decision.”
“A lot of implications, of course.”
Fassbender lost his seat in the Surrey-Fleetwood riding in the 2017 provincial election to the NDP’s Jagrup Brar.
He’s not the only politician with provincial stature who could be seeking a job at the civic level come the Oct. 20 election.
NDP MLA Leonard Krog announced his bid to seek the mayor’s job in Nanaimo last month.
And BC Liberal MLA Rich Coleman is weighing a potential run at the mayor’s chair in Surrey.