New to the process, but hoping to make a difference

He's possibly the youngest of candidates to make a run for City council in recent years, but for Jason Shellenberg he's hoping that his youthfulness won't count against him when it comes to count the votes.

His main points in the current campaign revolve around the cleanliness of the city which he hopes will become a higher priority with the city and the vandalism issue, for which he weighs in on the current debate, suggesting that the frequent targeting of young people isn't always appropriate when it comes to the higher profile incidents of late.

While those youngsters that have found themselves under the glare of the old folks of late might appreciate his support, the problem is they don't have a vote just yet.

Though his point is a valid one, as the bulk of the vandalism in the downtown core seems to be fed by the bar crowd. Whether that observation will be enough to bring the over 18 crowd with the vote onside remains to be seen on November 15th.

The Wednesday Daily News provided a brief biography of his quest for a seat on council.

Candidate looks to add youthful voice
At just 20, Jason Shellenberg is hoping to make a difference
By George T. Baker
The Daily News
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Pages one and three

There are not many 20 year olds who would give up the freedom of youth for the responsibility of civic politics.

Jason Shellenberg will gladly do just that. The young candidate for city council said he will sacrifice any of the joys of being young man for the right to sit on council come December.
And he's not worried that his lack of life experience will get in the way.

"It's funny because the common perception is that age equals experience, hence equals knowledge, which equals better. But that's not always the case," said Schellenberg.

While he doesn't discount that age might be a factor when it comes to public trust, Shellenberg does not think that the age thing should be such a big deal.

"For example, our last (federal) election; it is funny how normally people vote that look older - age, experience - like Nathan Cullen. He looks a lot older because he is bald but he's not as old as he looks and there might be advantages to (being younger)," said Shellenberg.

Age aside, Shellenberg thinks the biggest issue he sees right now in Prince Rupert is the cleanliness of the city streets. He wants the garbage that he says is polluting the public space to be cleaned up and, if elected, he will make sure the streets remain clean.

Shellenberg took a photography course in Grade 12 and that, he said, opened his eyes to the mess the city was in.

"Through the camera lens there is one thing you see: garbage everywhere. I am very concerned about the garbage in our city," said Shellenberg.

He also wants to support local tourism endeavours and perhaps increase the city's capacity to create more revenues through the tourism industry.

But age is the big thing with him and it is exemplified by another concern.

Shellenberg thinks the vandalism that has spread down Second Avenue West is not just the specialty of youth.

"It's funny for people to see broken windows - or another good example was the election signs that were knocked or taken down during the election. It's funny that it's always 'teenage vandals' but that is not always the case. One of the places that are consistently getting their windows broken is Subway. And guess what's above Subway? It's the Surf. And people get kicked out after last call, or maybe get over-served. It's not who people always think that's causing the problems," said Shellenberg.

The young civic politico is a political science student at Northwest Community College. He said the course has taught him to be very politically involved and he wants to begin the big march in his political career here in his hometown.

Shellenberg hopes that his first step into the sea of politics will come Nov. 15.