The rumours about the mayor’s political future began to swirl as soon as his wife, MLA Kathy Corrigan decided she was retiring from provincial politics at the end of her term in 2017.
But Derek Corrigan insists he hasn’t made a decision on whether he’ll seek another term as mayor of Burnaby in 2018.
“At this stage I would be leaning toward running again,” he told the NOW recently when asked about his future. “I’m really going to have to have a hard look at it as I get closer to the election date.”
That said, Corrigan pointed out he turned 65 this year, and any decision would be based on health and how he feels about the job.
“You sign up for a four-year term and you want to be able to give it everything it needs,” he said, noting he would be 71 years old at the end of another term.
Corrigan has been in civic politics for almost 30 years, first as a city councillor, and then becoming mayor in 2002. He’s been re-elected four times since. In 2014, Corrigan was re-elected as mayor with 28,113 votes, or 68.9 per cent of the ballots cast.
The mayor said he hasn’t lost his passion for the job but suggested the issues he wants to tackle in the position never end, adding that at some point he’ll have to leave it someone else to handle.
Corrigan also said he’ll be looking closely at how the public feels about him before making a decision.
“You always have to be brutally honest where you’re contributing and whether the public sees you as contributing,” he said. “If at any stage I wasn’t fulfilling what the public wanted, I would get out before I was kicked out.”
In the spring, Kathy Corrigan announced she would not be seeking a second term as Burnaby- Deer Lake MLA, citing a bad back and the potential to spend more time with her family.
The mayor said he’ll be watching how his wife handles retirement, noting he has three grandchildren on the way and would love to spend time with them.
Depending on how the provincial election plays out next May, the makeup of city council could look very different by the 2018 civic election.
Coun. Anne Kang replaced Corrigan as the NDP candidate for Burnaby-Deer Lake while Coun. James Wang is in the running for the NDP’s spot in Burnaby North.
In 2014, the Burnaby Citizens Association took the city with another full sweep, with candidates snagging every last council and school board seat for the third time in a row.
