A political veteran at 23
Social services worker Steven Soos plans to run for Otonabee Ward city council seat
Steven Soos says he’s going to run for a council seat in Otonabee Ward in the municipal election in October.
Soos, 23, is a social services worker living in Peterborough. He graduated from Trent University in 2016 with a bachelor of arts degree in international development studies and philosophy.
While he was still a student at Trent in 2015, Soos planned to run for the NDP in the federal election in Peterborough.
But he changed his mind and didn’t run; he said that was due to “fundamental disagreements” with the party.
Instead he moved to Niagara Falls and ran in the 2015 federal election for the Green Party (he finished his Trent courses online).
Soos says he likes the idea of running in the municipal election because it’s non-partisan.
“I get to be Steven Soos,” he said, rather than a candidate representing any particular political party.
Also he’s done it before: when he was 19, he ran for municipal council in Welland and received 386 votes (the incumbent was re-elected with 883 votes).
Right now, the Otonabee Ward councillors are Lesley Parnell and Dan McWilliams. Neither has announced whether they will seek another term in October.
Soos said that if he’s elected, he’ll run regular ward meetings and town halls.
“For too long, politicians have been telling citizens what’s important,” he said, adding that it should be the other way around.
Only one councillor has announced he’s running for re-election so far: Coun. Dean Pappas will seek another term in Town Ward.
Mayor Daryl Bennett has been asked by The Examiner whether he’ll run again, and he’s said he won’t decide until May.
Meanwhile Jeff Day, whore signed in December from his job as executive director of Community Futures Peterborough, told Kawartha Now earlier this week he will run for council in the Oct. 22 election (he did not say which ward).