At 19, Jack Kukolic isn’t old enough to have ever voted in a municipal election.
But last week, the Sheridan College student decided to register to run for the town’s top job.
Kukolic, a second-year film student, joins Rob Burton and Julia Hanna in competition for the mayor’s position in the Oct. 24 election.
“I’m running for mayor to inspire young people to take a more active role in our town,” he says in a press release. “As a film student, I will document the process and share what it’s like to get involved in municipal politics with no budget.”
Interested in politics for years, Kukolic says he penned a letter to the editor at age 11 urging the lowering of the voting age to 16.
In Grade 12, he was president of the student council at St. Thomas Aquinas high school.
While returning to school in September, he says he will campaign around his school obligations and will use social media to share information about the election.
“I’m putting my name out there to get young people to pay attention,” he said, noting that only 37 per cent of Oakville voters voted in the 2018 municipal election.
Kukolic has run his film and photography business since he was 14, photographing weddings and working at the Oakville Festival of Film and Art.
He says one of the things he would like to see locally is social workers situated in libraries to help connect people with mental health resources.
“All you can do is put your hat in the ring and try,” he said. “So, I’m out there. I’m campaigning. I’m listening to people. I want to make change.”
In 2018, voters also had the choice between three mayoral candidates.
Two of those candidates – Burton, who has held the position since 2006, and local restaurant owner Julia Hanna – will again battle for the job.
In 2018, Burton won with 49.6 per cent of the vote. Hanna captured 42 per cent of the vote, while third-place finisher John McLaughlin earned the remaining 8.4 per cent.