The race is officially on in North Battleford, as Ryan Bater announced Friday his intentions to seek the mayor’s chair.
Bater, a first-term city councillor and the former provincial leader of the Liberal party, confirmed his intentions in a news release.
“After long contemplation and discussions with my colleagues, friends and family I have officially filed nomination papers to become a candidate for mayor of the City of North Battleford,” Bater’s statement reads.
“My motivation is to ensure the continued economic development of our city, manage infrastructure spending and value for money for services our residents receive from their civic government.”
His decision to run for mayor comes on the heels of the announcement earlier this week by Mayor Ian Hamilton that he will not be running for mayor for a third term.
Bater’s background is in the economic development and tourism field. For several years he was general manager of the Battlefords Regional Economic Development Association.
In 2008 he took over leadership of the Saskatchewan Liberals and led it into the 2011 provincial election campaign, but the party again failed to win a seat.
After leaving the Liberal leadership in 2012, Bater took on duties as executive director of Battlefords Tourism and Convention Association and was at the helm through the reorganization that saw it renamed as Destination Battlefords in 2015.
He holds a BA in business economics from the University of Saskatchewan and a certificate in economic development from the University of Waterloo.
There was still time remaining for other potential candidates to come forward in both the mayor’s and council races in North Battleford. The filing deadline is 4 p.m. Wednesday and there is a 24-hour window after that to allow candidates to remove their name from the ballot. Municipal election day is Oct. 26.
