SACKVILLE, N.B. – Julia Feltham is a mother, an entrepreneur, a facilitator, a singing cellist and a touring musician.
She soon hopes to add Sackville town councillor to her list.
Feltham is one of five candidates vying for a seat on town council in the upcoming municipal byelection, a decision she said she made because of her passion for her community and her enthusiastic desire to see Sackville reach its full potential.
“I think Sackville could be the centre for rural innovation for all of Atlantic Canada,” said Feltham.
A professional community developer, Feltham says Sackville has so much to offer, with one of the most walkable downtowns in Atlantic Canada and with its location as the “cultural crossroads” of the Maritimes. And she wants to be a part of helping bring more new ideas and innovation to the table.
Feltham says her skills and experience as a social entrepreneur has helped her develop new approaches, using market and business tools, to solve environmental, social and economic problems.
“I would love for Sackville to be known as a place that is home to the solution economy,” she said, “where we look at all our problems as our best opportunities.
For example, she points to the untapped potential in our region for wind and tidal energy, as well as economic opportunities around a climate change adaptation sector.
“All of the jobs for green energy and retrofitting need tradespeople . . . there’s no reason this can’t be the best place for young professionals to live in Canada.”
Feltham said another reason she is running for the council seat, which was vacated by councillor Megan Mitton when she stepped down after being elected the region’s new MLA, is because she loves public engagement and wants to make sure the municipality and its citizens have healthier conversations.
She said the level of public discourse, particularly in an era of social media and hyper-partisanship, could be improved – with more team-building, discussing solutions with each other, and using the community’s own resources.
“We live in a community where we can actually host conversations where we compete solutions rather than just fight each other about how you’re making the problems worse,” said Feltham. “My biggest hope is we reframe our problems to be the amazing opportunities they could be . . . as long as we use the outstanding talent we have in this town and let them know we’re working on shared solutions to public problems.”
She said she’s excited about the high caliber of candidates who are running in the byelection and feels they could all bring different talents and skillsets to the table.
“I feel like most of the people who are candidates actually feel they can make a positive difference and have very particular ideas; and I think that is beautiful and really enriches the conversation.”
Co-founder of the Sackville Commons, the town's first coworking space, Feltham said being on council would be another great way for her to be an ambassador for this town she has come to love so much. But even if she is not elected come Dec. 10, she said she just really wants people to know she is still always on board to talk about the future of Sackville.
RELATED:
Dietz adds her name to ballot for Sackville town council seat
