PAUL Mahil, a third-generation Abbotsford farmer and small business owner Paul Mahil is the second South Asian to file his nomination papers to run for Mayor of Abbotsford.
There are four candidates in the fray for the mayoral race: Sukhi Dhami, Paul Mahil, David Pellikaan and incumbent mayor Ross Siemens.
Mahil has called Abbotsford home since 2001, though his family’s roots in the city run far deeper. His grandfather bought the family’s first farm in Abbotsford in 1974, and the Mahil family has worked the land for three generations since. Paul carries that legacy as a farmer today. He also runs a small snow-and-ice removal business.
Mahil says in a press release that his “decision to run follows years of hands-on community involvement — the kind of work that happens away from cameras and press releases. During the Sumas Prairie floods, he helped coordinate food, sandbags and even helicopter flights to get supplies to families who had lost everything. He has toured and completed volunteer training with Joshua House, and has worked alongside Kirpa Collective and the Teri Oat Free Services Society delivering food and supplies to Abbotsford residents in need.
“Doing good for others should be part of your everyday life,” Mahil says of the outlook that shaped his decision to run.
He says no single event pushed him to run — “it was watching Abbotsford grow year after year while the people doing the actual growing kept getting squeezed. Rising property taxes. A homelessness crisis with no real plan behind it. Trucks parked wherever they can find room because there isn’t enough space for them. Farmland at risk. And … a city hall that spends more energy protecting itself than fixing any of it. So he’s doing what he says regular people do when they’re tired of waiting for someone else to fix it: he’s stepping up himself.”
His platform includes:
– Opening Abbotsford up for business
– building a logistics and manufacturing hub around Abbotsford International Airport, and a new entertainment district and convention centre nearby, so growth creates local jobs instead of just local traffic
– Holding the line on property tax increases, and making sure every homeowner knows their right to appeal an unfair assessment
– Directing city support toward homelessness and addiction-recovery organizations with a proven track record of results — not just the ones with the best-connected boards
– Pursuing real, cross-border flood protection in partnership with Washington State — without re-flooding the Sumas Prairie
– Protecting Abbotsford’s working farmland under the Agricultural Land Reserve, because the farmers who built this city shouldn’t be the ones who pay for its growth
– Bringing transparency to city hall through open, competitive bidding on city contracts, publicly published spending, and an independent integrity commissioner.
