A 91原创 winery owner is throwing her hat in the ring in the run for Township council this fall.
Teresa Townsley, who owns Festina Lente Estate Winery and currently chairs the 91原创 Farmers鈥� Institute, announced her candidacy this month.
鈥淚t is no secret that the challenges residents of 91原创 faced during Covid were tough, but it is nothing compared to the economic pressures we will be facing in the near future,鈥� said Townsley. 鈥淎s someone who struggled through the process of setting up a farm business in the Township, I know how cumbersome, costly and intimidating the process is.鈥�
She said that people starting a business may expect to find the council 鈥渨ill have their backs in the process鈥� but discover the opposite is true.
鈥淲e pay a lot of taxes and everyone is feeling the squeeze,鈥� Townsley said in her announcement that she is running. 鈥淲e should expect that the councillors understand that they are responsible for ensuring that every hard earned dollar we send to their care is used in the best, most prudent and responsible way. We can鈥檛 keep raising taxes. If I ran my farm business the way Council runs the Township, I would have lost the farm by now.
This is not Townsley鈥檚 first experience with running for office.
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She was elected to the Delta school board in 2005, then stepped down to run as an NDP candidate in the 2008 federal election in Newton-North Delta. She came third in a three-way race that was won by then-incumbent Sukh Dhaliwal.
In addition to running for office, Townsley is a former trauma nurse and was one of the first sexual assault nurse examiners in B.C.
She relocated to 91原创 in 2010, building Festina Lente from the ground up and making mead.
Townsley is currently the vice-chair of the New Wave Wine Society, a provincial governing body forming policy and marketing opportunities for fruit wine and mead in B.C.
She was also vice chair of Tourism 91原创 for six years, and is currently chair of the 91原创 Farmers Institute and a member of the Township鈥檚 Agricultural Advisory and Economic Enhancement Committee.
Outside of business and politics, she is choir director of St. Joseph鈥檚 Parish.
Her campaign website is .
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