Abbotsford (Supplied Release) – Patricia Ross is formally announcing her candidacy for Abbotsford City Council in the upcoming election. As the longest serving City Councillor in Abbotsford, Patricia will be focusing on sustainability.
Municipal Elections are October 17.
From Patricia: “Caring for the environment, being climate resilient, while ensuring a strong economy and creating a home community that all feel welcome, respected and cared for has always been the way I approach decision making – and always will be. Environment, economy and social issues are not, in fact, in conflict. We cannot be a strong community without attention to all three.”
Patricia Ross has 32 years of leadership experience as a councillor with the City of Abbotsford and is Chair of the Fraser Valley Regional District.
This past term, Patricia has served as President of Lower Mainland Local Government Association and board member at Union of BC Municipalities. This has provided her with a good knowledge base of issues as well as excellent relationships with municipal, provincial and federal representatives. It has always been important to her to advocate to higher levels of government for our needs locally as well as a strong province and country.
Patricia’s time serving as chair of the Abbotsford Agricultural Advisory committee has instilled in her a desire to advocate for agriculture and raise awareness of the food security crisis.
Patricia is a Fellow of Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD) International, a research and training institute committed to fostering leadership in sustainability worldwide. She graduated from the program in 1998 and has gone on to help train subsequent students and speak at forums locally and internationally regarding sustainability, including being a regular guest lecturer at UFV. It is this LEAD training that provides her with the knowledge to use forward thinking with balanced decision making skills considering the economic, social and environmental impacts.
Prior to being elected to council, Patricia ran her own successful business providing recycling collection services to businesses and multi-family complexes. For 12 years, she was chair of GroYourBiz Fraser Valley, a mentoring and advisory board for women in business. She is also a published author and has worked on several historical books about Abbotsford. Most recently, she is a guest essayist for the book “Lead With Civility; A Handbook for Uncivil Times” written by Diane Kalen-Sukra and is an ambassador for the the Lead With Civility movement.
Patricia has been given many awards for her community work, including several from the Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce, the Paul Harris award from Abbotsford Rotary club, Soroptimist club, Youth Commission, Queens Jubilee Award and named Abbotsford’s Woman of the Year in 2009 from the Business and Professional Women’s club. She has regularly been voted Abbotsford’s favourite politician since 2018.
