Sometimes it seems like municipal politics is an older person’s game. Look around at the faces of Guelph City Council, or even Wellington County Council, and you see a lot of wrinkles and a lot of grey hairs. Now, we love our elders, and everyone should be welcome to serve in municipal governance, but as we approach the end of this term of Guelph city council, we will talk to its two youngest members about going where few people their age have gone before.

This is the last of three episodes dedicated to the first-term councillors. A lot can change in a term, and for Councillors Carly Klassen and Ken Yee Chew there have been some pretty big personal changes to match the ones they experienced on the job; Chew became a married man while Klassen became a first-time mom. With so many things that are so important personally, it doesn’t leave much room for the rapidly changing pace of municipal business.

On that account, this last term probably broke speed records. The Ontario government introduced changes to municipal oversite, funding and planning pretty much every six months, and there’s also been the increasing centralization of power. Despite the challenges they’ve encountered, and the changes in their personal lives, Klassen and Chew have both decided to re-up for the next term of council, and with a slate of young people eager to join them, what can Klassen and Chew teach us based on their experiences?

Carly Klassen and Ken Yee Chew join us on this edition of the podcast to talk about the things they wish they knew before they ran for office, the learning curve (especially with all the changes mandated by the provincial government), and the ways their personal lives have changed in the last four years. They will also discuss how they’ve balanced their commitments, what it means to be representative of young people on council, and the challenges in chasing their own agendas.

So let’s talk about what the young ones have learned on this week’s Guelph Politicast!

Council business continues, at least until the end of the month, and you can find the agendas on the City of Guelph’s “City Government” page here, and you can see all the ongoing coverage here on Guelph Politico. The last day to file nominations for this fall’s municipal elections is Friday August 21 when the campaign begins in earnest, and Election Day itself is Monday October 26. Learn more about who’s running and important dates here.

The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple, TuneIn and Spotify .

Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.