Nicholas Hoeppner hopes that his candidacy for mayor of Morden will engage other young people in the community.
The 24-year-old has let his name stand in the Dec. 20 by-election against council incumbent Nancy Penner.
Hoeppner sees it as an important goal to get more younger people involved “especially if they are going to be the next generation to take over.
“I hope that by me running that I can promote and encourage younger citizens to take part in politics,” he said. “They have a say in the issues that’s happening and occurring in their city.
“No one’s really interested in politics at a young age until it really affects them,” observed Hoeppner. “Even in small ways, everyone has a say … but some people just say, oh, my vote won’t count … your vote does help and does count toward specific issues or topics.”
It was some of his own personal interests that led him to put his name on the ballot.
“I’ve been studying ancient Greek history a lot and, in their culture, it was like everyone needed to get involved. It affects everybody. There’s not a lot of young people getting involved in politics here, so I thought maybe me getting involved would get other people involved and encourage our young generation to get involved.”
Hoeppner grew up in Morden and worked in Fort McMurray, Alberta for a time before returning to Manitoba. He currently spends a lot of time studying at home while looking for a new career opportunity. He would ideally love to find something connected to him being “interested in ancient cultures and how societies began and how we evolved … how democracy and western politics started, and how we’ve been influenced by other cultures.
“Morden needs new, fresh minds with ideas to help every single citizen of Morden, making life easier for the citizens,” Hoeppner said. “If I can make a difference for the citizens who live in our beautiful city of Morden, I will.
“I hope to see Morden grow and thrive … I encourage people to build Morden up more,” he added. “I see this as a challenge.”
The by-election will see the City of Morden get two new city council members as well as a new mayor.
Following the earlier resignations of councillor Florian Lassnig and then Brandon Burley as mayor, current councillor Nancy Penner announced she was resigning from council to seek the mayor’s chair.
As of the nomination deadline last week, seven names were registered for the vote to elect two new councillors: Chris Abrams, Megan Giesbrecht, Dave Hildebrand, Brenda Klassen, Tracey Krause, Allan Spearman, and Darlene Wiebe. The Voice will be profiling each of the council candidates in an upcoming edition.
Voting will take place Wednesday, Dec. 20 between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. at St. Paul’s United Church. A mobile voting station will also be set up at Boundary Trails Health Centre, Tabor Home and Homestead South on election day.
Advance voting will be at Morden Civic Centre Thursday, Dec. 7.
