Allan Buckingham, a 10-year resident of Banff, plans to seek a seat on town council in the October municipal election.
Allan Buckingham, a 10-year resident of Banff, plans to seek a seat on town council in the October municipal election.
The 35-year-old full-time father, who works for himself as an audio-visual consultant and creates worship resources for churches, submitted his notice of intent to run in the Oct. 16 election to the Town of Banff on Monday (June 5).
“I'm not running because I feel like current council is doing a horrible job. I think they're doing great things and I want to make sure the momentum to try new things and work towards a better Banff keeps going,” Buckingham said.
“Part of why I'm announcing my intention now is that I'm looking forward to a summer of conversation with people. I want to talk to people and hear their different ideas.”
The Local Authorities Election Act requires all candidates intending to run in the next municipal election register with the municipality prior to accepting campaign contributions or contributing personal funds toward their election campaign.
Prospective candidates, however, don't need to identify whether they plan to run for mayor or councillor until they submit their papers on the official nomination day on Sept. 18.
One of the key issues for Buckingham is living within the commercial growth cap and what that means for the community moving forward.
“We're fortunate and challenged by living in a national park and by the restraints the government has put on us. I think we have to be that much more intentional about what we do as we hit commercial buildout,” he said.
“We're not going to get new commercial development, but how do we provide viable businesses for our community? How do we deal with changes that are going to happen as businesses change and need to make a profit, even though they can't expand or grow?”
Parking, transit and affordable and livable housing are important issues for Buckingham, noting sustainability of the Banff townsite and surrounding national park are paramount.
“It's important we hit the balance of being ideally a model sustainable community and still a place that people can live and do the things they want to do,” he said.
“I have lots of ideas always. What I enjoy doing is throwing out ideas and having discussions with people and come up with what's a good way forward. Being on council would be a different forum for that.”
Buckingham is married to Ali Buckingham and they have a five-year-old daughter, Devon.
