A familiar name has tossed his hat into the ring for the position of Mayor of Williams Lake.
Walt Cobb is letting his name stand.
Cobb will be seeking a fourth term as he also served from 1990 to 1996, and from 2014 to 2022.
“A lot of thought went into the decision to run, but I’ve had a lot of people approach me and suggest that maybe things weren’t going in the right direction or the way they wanted them to, and would I consider running again, so I finally made the decision.”
Cobb sees public safety and helping out the struggling forest industry as two of the key issues in Williams Lake.
In terms of public safety, Cobb says in the time he’s had off he has walked around the streets a lot and he says some of the people on drugs just need help.
“One guy, actually just yesterday I was talking to him down in the Stampede Grounds, and he had been waiting months to get a bed. He wants to get himself clean and the center that they’ve allowed to happen in Williams Lake is not providing that service, and he says he won’t go there because there’s too much drugs being handed around. An addict has to stay away from that stuff, so he’s kind of living on the streets all by himself hoping that he’s going to get taken care of.”
Cobb says they need the provincial and federal governments to step up.
“Of course the biggest mistake is the fact they’re giving out free dogs. Also, when I take my dog for a walk, I have a recovering alcoholic. And he says you know when I was drinking and whatever, he said if the government was going to provide me with a dry place to sleep and all the booze I want, he says I would have never sobered up, so that’s the same with these addicts.”
Cobb’s last term as Mayor ended in a bit of controversy over a Facebook post that he shared on “the other side of residential shools.”
We asked Cobb if he were elected if he would be able to work with First Nations.
“Oh for sure, I mean I’ve got lots of First Nations friends. There was an incident that caused some people to have hard feelings but at the end of the day I don’t think that should define anything.”
Cobb feels his stint as an MLA can be a valuable resource if he were elected adding that he would have some insight on how to deal with the senior governments because he knows how things work.
