Looking back, Cavers doesn’t regret his controversial stances on council

Cavers, who was also running for school trustee, finished 13th in the council race with 5,705 votes — 1,513 behind Bill Sarai, the final candidate to earn a council seat.

Cavers says looking back during his two terms on council, his push for better transportation is something he’s most proud about.

“Transportation’s definitely been a big thing for me, active transportation, making sure that we have places where people can bike safely and walk safely is really important to me,” noted Cavers. “I like to talk about transportation diversity and our community has a lot of room for improvement.”

During his seven years as a councillor, Cavers has got into some hot water over his unrelenting stances against the Ajax mine project, which was eventually rejected by the NDP government last December. However, Cavers doesn’t have any regrets about it.

“No, I definitely don’t and I would encourage any of the new councillors, if they have strong convictions about some things, to stand by them and not to bite their tongue and to be vocal,” he said.

Some of his colleagues say he was a polarizing figure but someone who has a passion for the community.

“Donovan is a great community guy,” said councillor Arjun Singh, who garnered the most amount of council votes on Saturday with 12,203. “He’s a controversial figure in the community, no doubt, but I love him like a brother and I think he’s worked sincerely in many ways to advance the causes of many people in this community. Many people owe him a debt of gratitude for the work he’s done, and I’ll miss him.”

Cavers likes the mix of new councillors and says it’s always good to see new faces at City Hall. As for running again for any political position, he says it’s too early to say.

“Yeah I’m definitely going to stay involved in community issues. Maybe I’ll join a city committee,” said Cavers. “I’m definitely not going to make any decisions right now on whether to run again at any level of politics.”

Without politics in his life in the short term, he will now put his energy into becoming a teacher, hoping to get into Thompson Rivers University next fall.

by Chad Klassen

Looking back, Cavers doesn’t regret his controversial stances on council

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