Click here to view the original article

To kick off our coverage of the municipal election, the Pointe-Claire Record sat down with Brent Cowan at a Valois coffee shop to learn more about him and his motivations for entering the mayoral race.

Brent Cowan, currently serving his 2nd term as councillor for District 8 in Pointe-Claire, will be running for mayor in this November election. Married for 32 years, Cowan moved to Pointe-Claire with his wife, Christiane, in 1994, first putting down roots near the Pointe-Claire Village, where they raised their two children, Stephanie and Tristan.

A staunch believer in sound decision-making, Cowan strikes a balance between the discipline learned in 12 years of service with Canada's Black Watch, leadership as a churchwarden, and experience as a small business owner, with his passion for wanting residents to be heard. "No one will follow you if you're miscalibrated and not in tune with where the people are,” said Cowan. He continued by explaining his belief that to move the city forward, citizens require "coherent guidance" and that "democracy is about bringing people enthusiastically towards it." 

When asked what would motivate him, a councillor with what seems like a safe seat, to run for mayor, Cowan explained that he was disheartened by what he has witnessed in his past four years serving on city council. Cowan is looking to improve the governance of Pointe-Claire and stated in his recent press release his desire to "prepare our city for what the future will bring without sacrificing any of the character that makes Pointe-Claire so special, so eco- and family-friendly, and so loved."

In the late 2000s, finding that his concerns as a citizen weren’t being listened to, both at council meetings and at early PMAD (Metropolitan Land Use and Development Plan) consultations, Cowan became interested in the workings of city hall. He first embarked on his political career in 2013 when his brother-in-law urged him to “shut up and run.” While he came in second in that election, Cowan bounced back in 2017 and regrouped with a new election strategy and an even greater determination to ensure that Pointe-Claire citizens would have their concerns taken seriously. He handily won his bid for reelection in 2021, proving again that campaigning based on what people want can make a difference. 

With two terms under his belt, Cowan takes pride in many achievements for residents of his district. His most recent accomplishment was establishing a community garden in Horizon School Park. “All I wanted was to get a place for a local neighbourhood association to make a vegetable garden in the space. [...] I had to get the school, school board, and the city involved, and a community organization.” It took nearly three years, but Cowan was pleased to have a space “that was used for nothing” transformed into a resource for the community.

He then described how he advocated for a splash pad near the Delmar apartments, located in a low-income area with minimal recreational opportunities for children. Cowan looked at his neighbourhood and noted that “there was an awful lot of development going on in my district.” After doing his own study, he learned that when an area gets developed, 10% of the land value must be set aside for park development. Armed with this knowledge and an estimate of how much money that was, he asked himself, “How much of that is being spent in my district, with my district generating all this money?” Cowan's proposal to have a splash pad installed in Augusta Park had an impact on the administration, and to his delight, everyone agreed.

Cowan has always made himself available to his constituents. During the pandemic, he kept residents up-to-date with a monthly newsletter, the Nouvelles D8 News, making himself accessible even while in lockdown.

With the goal of becoming a leader who will stay on top of things before situations arise, Brent Cowan intends to bring his many years of knowledge, experience, and leadership to the role of mayor while including all Pointe-Claire citizens in the process, creating a partnership where people can reach a reasonable consensus through openness and dialogue.