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Dave Sidhu to seek council seat with AbbotsfordFirst slate

Patrika general manager will run in October’s municipal election
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Dave Sidhu, the general manager of Punjabi/English newspaper The Patrika, is running for a council seat as part of the AbbotsfordFirst slate. Submitted Dave Sidhu, the general manager of Punjabi/English newspaper The Patrika, is running for a council seat as part of the AbbotsfordFirst slate. Submitted

The general manager of Punjabi/English newspaper the Patrika is running for council as part of the AbbotsfordFirst slate, the local party announced today.

Dave Sidhu’s candidacy was announced at an event Wednesday night.

Sidhu runs The Patrika, a bilingual paper that publishes weekly out of Abbotsford. He is also vice-president of the Indo-Canadian Business Association and is chair of the organization’s 31st annual Vaisakhi Luncheon. He is the son of Patrika founder Andy Sidhu, who was recently named the new chancellor of the University of the Fraser Valley.

“I am excited for the opportunity to run for council,” Sidhu said in a press release. “Community service has always been an important aspect of my life and I’m hoping to serve the citizens of Abbotsford on council so I can continue this passion of mine.”

Markus Delves, AbbotsfordFirst’s president, said the organization’s board voted unanimously to approve Sidhu’s candidacy.

“Dave is a person of good character, a leader in our community, and most importantly, we believe he will make an excellent councillor,” he said in a release.

Delves said the party will be “announcing additional candidates in the near future.”

Four of the city’s eight councillors are currently affiliated with AbbotsfordFirst. Couns. Sandy Blue, Kelly Chahal, Brenda Falk and Ross Siemens attended Sidhu’s announcement. None have indicated their plans for the coming election, which will be held Oct. 20.

Only independent Coun. Les Barkman has announced his intention to run for re-election. Mayor Henry Braun and Couns. Moe Gill, Dave Loewen and Patricia Ross haven’t yet announced their intentions.

No new candidates have come forward with their intentions of running.

AbbotsfordFirst isn’t expected to field a mayoral candidate, with Delves saying in October that the organization was “very impressed” with Braun’s performance. In 2014, the slate ran five candidates, with only Vince Dimanno failing to win election.


@ty_olsen
tolsen@abbynews.com

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