Jonathan X. Cote, 35, is the mayor-elect for New Westminster. When Cote assumes office in ‘Western Canada’s oldest city,’ he will be the region’s youngest mayor. The Vancouver Sun spoke with the three-time city councillor about age, polite politics and the meaning of his middle name. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: You’re probably the only mayor in the region with X as a middle initial. What does it stand for?
A: The X is a bit unusual. My middle name is actually Xerxes. My dad really enjoyed studying Middle Eastern history and Xerxes was a Persian king. If my dad had his way it would have been my first name, but thankfully my mother negotiated it to be my middle name.
Q: That’s not the biggest reason you’re known in politics. You’re also 35 years old, turning 36. Does age matter in politics?
A: When I first got elected in 2005, I remember going to my first municipal conference and certainly the age demographic of elected officials was more on the senior side. That’s an important representation to have on local government, but it’s also important that the voices of young families and other age groups are represented as well.
Q: Wayne Wright is the outgoing mayor of the city. He’s 71 years old and a four-term incumbent mayor. Did that intimidate you, running against him?
A: Certainly we knew we were in for a tough race. He’s been a popular mayor and he’s done a lot of good things for the city. I certainly didn’t run a campaign against his record. It was a pleasure to have a mayor’s race that wasn’t antagonist. I think it really illustrated the type of relationship we’ve had, even though we ultimately were running against each other.
Q: Clean races aren’t something you see very often in politics. Were you ever tempted to start slinging mud?
A: I’ve had a lot of people say we should take a more aggressive tack against the current mayor, but that’s never been my style. I first got elected by talking about my ideas and my vision and I wanted to stay true to what I’ve been about since I first got elected.
Q: You ran a fairly modern campaign. Did it make a difference?
A: We did a lot of the traditional campaigning; I knocked on over 5,000 doors. But we also used social media to engage with a non-traditional voting base. We were getting a lot of people involved on Twitter and Facebook about the discussion about the future of our city and when we heard from our volunteers that it looked like a younger demographic was coming to the polls, we knew that was a good sign for our campaign.
Q: At any point were you worried that you might not get the win?
A: I probably worried up until the results were released. I think when the election first started we were pretty sure that we were behind, but we knew we had run the better campaign, and in particular in the last two weeks things were looking very positive. I was doing a lot of door knocking and a lot of the undecided votes earlier on were all kind of shifting in our direction. So we were feeling confident, but anytime you’re waiting for election results you’re always nervous.
Q: You’re not new to politics, but you’re new to the position of mayor. What are you looking forward to in that role?
A: I think New Westminster is an incredible city. It’s got so many opportunities and some real difficult challenges. I’m looking forward to taking the city to its new step.
Q: Let’s talk about the challenges – what are some of them?
A: The biggest one is transportation. We’re right in the middle of Metro Vancouver, we have more than 400,000 vehicles driving through New Westminster each day. We feel the pressure of regional traffic and, knocking on doors, that was the thing that came up time and time again. Transportation is going to be my top priority once I get into the mayor’s office.
Q: What’s your vision for a successful four-year-term?
A: During my campaign I put out an extensive (platform) with everything from transportation to the local economy, dealing with our aging infrastructure and even public engagement. To me, it’s looking back on the platform I ran on and saying we’ve accomplished the vast majority of the ideas that sparked peoples’ interest in this campaign.
Q: The outgoing mayor is now 71. Do you see yourself in politics at his age?
A: That’s a long ways away. We’re going to take this four years at a time.
Q: Do you have any words of encouragement or advice for other young people who are interested in getting into politics?
A: Just get involved. When I first ran, not many people gave me a chance. If you get involved and you’re passionate about it, people connect with that. It worked out and I love being involved with city government.
