A former West Kelowna city councilor’s desire for a political comeback was expressed first this week on old-fashioned campaign signs rather than on the Internet.
Signs promoting the candidacy of Rusty Ensign appeared on city streets while his personal homepage was still offering his congratulations Friday morning to those who defeated him in 2018.
“I’ve been chasing my web guy for three weeks to change that page,” Ensign said with a sigh Friday in an interview. “My sign guy got a little bit over-exuberant because other signs were starting to pop up.”
Ensign, a lifelong Westsider who has recently retired from the land development and gravel extraction business that bears his family’s name, was one of three incumbents who lost their seats four years ago.
He says he decided to seek election again partly because he’s now retired, and because he believes the business skills and community connections he’s built up over many decades could be put to valuable use by city council.
“I’m not a quitter, and I’ve still got a lot to offer,” said Ensign, 63. “There’s nobody on council who was born and raised here. With my life experiences, I know a lot of the history of the area, I’ve worked on a lot of the infrastructure we have, and I think I can help us be an even better, fast-growing community.”
In the spring of 2007, Ensign was the main public face of a group that promoted the incorporation of the Westside over the option of joining Kelowna.
Voters narrowly expressed a preference for creating a new city but deep ambivalence about the outcome was reflected in the first civic election in the fall of that year.
Rosalind Neis, whose entire platform rested on her pledge to somehow undo the referendum result and effect amalgamation with Kelowna, was elected mayor. Ensign came fourth.
He ran unsuccessfully for councillor in 2011 but was elected in 2014. He says he was surprised by his defeat, and that of Bryden Winsby and Neis, who by then was a councillor rather than mayor, in 2018.
“I guess there was a desire for change,” Ensign said. “Some people might have thought I’d been on council forever, but I was only there for one term. I really enjoyed the work and I’m going to campaign hard to convince voters to get me back on council.”
As of Friday afternoon, Ensign’s personal homepage had been changed to reflect the fact he’s in the race.
