Rob Kirkham never saw it coming.
Squamish’s incumbent mayor expected to get the opportunity to lead Squamish for the next four years, but as the numbers poured in on Saturday, Nov. 15, the realization that Patricia Heintzman had edged him to win the race hit him.
“I thought I had a pretty good chance and I thought we put up a good fight,” he said. “I’m stunned and disappointed.”
Kirkham said everything he and his supporters had been hearing indicated things were running smoothly for his re-election.
“I thought the all-candidates meeting went well, and I was getting good feedback from all the groups and organizations,” he said. “It’s unfortunate because I see such incredible opportunities for this community and we have some great projects in the works and in our future, and I’m sorry I won’t be a part of it.”
Heintzman beat out Kirkham by an unofficial total of 289 votes, but Kirkham said he had no regrets about the way he ran his campaign. He said he hasn’t changed his stance on the divisive liquefied natural gas plant issue and hoped it didn’t cost him votes.
“I’ve been dealing with LNG the same way for the last year or more,” he said. “Yes there are a lot of benefits to the project, but the bottom line is the safety of our local environment. Through the process of the committee and the environmental assessment process, if there was something that was specifically identified as unacceptable, then I was not going to be on board.”
He said he’s most proud about the work he and his team did on the Squamish Oceanfront project.
“When I ran last time the main thing was that the Oceanfront was like an albatross around our necks,” he said. “I made a commitment that we will be taking it to the market and we will prove whether or not it’s a viable project by taking it out and getting developers to express interest in it to run with it or not. It was time to take some action, either get with the community vision or take alternatives. The deal hasn’t closed yet but it’s being worked on by district staff – I’m most proud of that.”
He expressed concerns about the future of the Oceanfront project, as well as issues such as economic diversification, the lack of industrial taxes and local jobs.
But he wished Heintzman luck for the next four years.
“Congrats to Patty and her team and I wish them all the best,” he said.
Asked about his future plans, Kirkham said he has no idea what’s next. He took early retirement from his position as manager of the Scotiabank in Squamish in 2011 to devote his energy full-time to being mayor.
