Teen runs for council seat

(Update)

A young Hamilton man who’s barely old enough to drink isn’t letting his age get in the way of a political career. At the age of 19, Cam Galindo is running for city council in the municipal election coming up this fall. He says it’s a way of paying back Canada for what it’s given him.

Cam Galindo is already campaigning for October’s municipal election, hoping to take over Ward 9 in Stoney Creek left open by Brad Clark’s decision to run for mayor.  And hoping to bring some new life to city council.

Cam Galindo, City Council Candidate: “Because it’s time for a fresh start for ward nine and for Hamilton as a whole. It’s time to bring some fresh ideas and new blood into the system.”

A seat on council would be another stage of a remarkable life story so far for Galindo, his brother Daniel and their family.

They came to Canada as refugess from Medellin, Colombia, as Cam’s father escaped death threats and murder attempts in the midst of drug cartel violence: “They held a gun to his head while he was in the taxi.”

Galindo says a life of public service would be a way of giving back to Canada — the country that gave him and his family refuge. He already has a record of hospital volunteering, youth councils and other public services. But says volunteer work showed him he has to do more: “And that’s when I realized that if I really wanted to have an impact on the community, I would have to consider running for office in order to make those positive changes that I have in mind at a government level.”

He’s focused on issues like poverty, and ward issues like transit. He says the reception so far is all positive.

Cam neighbours said: “I think it’s inspiring. It should inpsire a lot of people in the community that at any age you can achieve any goal.”

“It’ll encourage more younger people about getting into politics and getting into voting.”

Cam added: “There’s gonna be people that argue I’m either too young or too inexperienced for the job.” But he says you’re never too young.

Galindo is currently working on a degree in politics and economics at McMaster. He says he’d have to work around that if he’s elected to council, and representing his ward would come first. Right now, his major challenge is raising the money to run an election campaign.