John Mar would be the first to tell you that no-one, least of all him, is entitled to another term on Calgary City Council.

That’s why I need to step up and say to you that as someone who also understands the Beltline and our centre-city communities, as someone who has dedicated himself to strong and effective municipal governance, and especially as someone who recognises the crucial role our public transit system plays in moving Calgarians and building neighbourhoods, John Mar has earned my trust as my Ward 8 alderman over the past six years. John has earned my support for another four years on City Council.

In addition to ward and neighbourhood issues like public safety and prudent management, transit matters to John. As one of nearly 300,000 Calgarians who chooses to take the C-Train on any given weekday, John knows first-hand how important it is to make the investments in transit infrastructure, vehicle fleets, and system maintenance that will continue to give the people of this city reliable and sustainable transportation options. John’s support at City Council for the RouteAhead thirty-year transit strategy has for the first time given our transit network planning process a tangible and official vision, direction, and scale.

Most importantly, John is the only candidate running in this ward for a City Council seat who has the insight to see the strategic implications of building transit capacity and frequency now in our inner city to support an eventual centre city streetcar system–and to understand implicitly how making this system the linchpin of RouteAhead’s Centre City Strategy will reinforce the vitality and the vibrancy of Calgary’s urban core for everyone who lives, works, shops, and plays here.

John Mar has been a strong and dedicated advocate for public transit in Ward 8 and across Calgary since 2007. He has been a pleasure to work with on these issues. I’m proud to support John’s bid for re-election to City Council. If you believe as strongly as I do that effective public transit is one of the most crucial tools we have for building better cities together, then John Mar deserves your vote so that he can continue the work that we’ve started.

– William Hamilton, Beltline resident and transit advocate