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Sidhu makes another mayoral run

The mayoral race in Whitehorse is getting an injection of youth for the second straight election. Mandeep Sidhu, 30, is running for the top municipal spot once again.

The mayoral race in Whitehorse is getting an injection of youth for the second straight election.

Mandeep Sidhu, 30, is running for the top municipal spot once again.

Sidhu, who received 480 votes in the 2012 election, is up against Wilf Carter and incumbent Dan Curtis.

He said he doesn’t see his age or lack of experience on city council as a disadvantage.

“My plan all along was to wait and see who the (mayoral) candidates were,” he said, “and I wasn’t going to submit my papers if I saw a strong candidate running.

“For the past three years with Dan Curtis, I don’t know what he’s done. I don’t think he’s the best individual for inter-governmental relations.”

Sidhu said he has the right work ethic for the demanding position of mayor and is willing to be “more cordial” when developing relationships with other levels of government.

“I put in hours that people can’t believe,” he said, adding that he manages the family’s laundromat on Fourth Avenue and helps out at his father’s business, Sidhu Trucking, with IT issues.

There are a number of issues Sidhu would like to tackle if elected, including admissions at the Canada Games Centre, speed limits around the city and unsafe crosswalks.

City employees and their families get a 50 per cent discount at the centre, which is too high, he said.

“A manager there told me they’re operating at a 60 per cent loss, so why not make the discount a bit lower?” he said.

The speed limit in the Hillcrest neighbourhood, set at 40 km/hr by city council last year, is also too high according to Sidhu. He’d rather see it at 30 km/hr.

“There are more and more families moving up there,” he said. “You can’t do 40 on those roads, I tried.”

The pedestrian crossing on Fourth Avenue, near McDonald’s, deserves overhead lights similar to the ones on Second Avenue, Sidhu said.

According to the CBC, there have been 70 crashes in the past six years on Fourth Avenue. Eleven of those involved pedestrians.

There is a pedestrian crossing sign that illuminates, but Sidhu said it gets covered with mud after it’s rained and the street sweeper goes by.

“I e-mailed Dan about it but nothing was done,” Sidhu said. “There are six entrances and exits there, it’s a high traffic area.”

Sidhu said he also wants the city to communicate better with its older residents, who may not have access to the Internet.

Without computers, they aren’t able to stay up-to-date with decisions made at city council, he added.

The solution to that would be to communicate the old-fashioned way - with flyers.

“Or you could set up a special phone number where people could call and take a survey on an issue,” he said.

Sidhu graduated from the University of Victoria in 2010 with a double major in English and political science.

Born and raised in Whitehorse, he’s lived here full-time for the past three years.

Contact Myles Dolphin at

myles@yukon-news.com