Born on Crete, the largest and most populous island in Greece, Michael Petrakis moved to Canada when he was eight years old.
Since that time, he’s split his life between his home country and Canada.
“I lived (in Lethbridge) until I finished high school, then I moved back to Greece where I lived and worked in tourism and hospitality for a large part of my working life,” said Petrakis.
Several years ago he returned to Lethbridge and, in 2021, decided to run for city council.
With no ward system, Lethbridge voters can select up to eight councillors when they vote, leading to the number of votes cast surpassing the amount of eligible voters in the city.
Petrakis only amassed 406 votes out of over 164,000 cast — last among the city council candidates.
That said, defeat was only a speedbump for Petrakis, who is now running to lead Lethbridge from the mayor’s office.
“In the years leading up to today, I began to realize that a large per cent of the way my mind was working was preparing me for running as a public representative.”
Democracy is said to have been born in Greece and Petrakis has channeled that with his campaigning, by presenting plans to increase community engagement.
“The people have the solutions. If I talk to them… there are more solutions than we know what to do with. The biggest issue is that there’s been a breakdown of communication.”
To fix this, he says more public representation is needed. He also supports implementing the aforementioned ward system.
“If we installed a ward system that the people actually requested and voted for just a few years ago, that would do a tremendous amount of good for our community.”
On the 2021 municipal ballot in Lethbridge, there were two referendum questions.
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The first was, “Do you support using a ward system to elect City Councillors (other than the Mayor) starting with the 2025 municipal election?”
Over 58 per cent of the vote said yes.
Since it was not implemented, Petrakis says it adds to a disenfranchised feeling among voters.
“Every day that they don’t get a call back, that their voices are falling on deaf ears, a detraction starts to happen.”
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Another plan of his to fix this is to create more municipal representation by electing more officials.
“You get the best bang for your buck by doubling, if not tripling, public representation,” said Petrakis.
More paid employees costs more money, but Petrakis promises his major tax reforms would solve that too.
“What I would like to present is perhaps the most revolutionary tax reform in Lethbridge, Canadian and world history — a seven per cent fair, flat tax across the board.”
He claims that would bring big savings to families, while causing businesses to pay the remaining chunk.
“Every family household pays half the amount of tax — property tax, fees, etc. and corporations pay the same, fair tax of seven per cent.”
According to Petrakis, every household in Lethbridge would collectively save $70 million per year, while the city budget would increase by $160 million per year.
“That’s what you can essentially expect and that’s what the math equates to — every family can see a reduction of taxes by half.”
When asked if more tax on businesses would drive them away, Petrakis said any business that leaves shouldn’t have been in Lethbridge anyway.
“Let me use an analogy. If you want to know who your true friends are, share good news about your life. If they can celebrate it, then they’re probably good friends. The same thing with corporations — by presenting an irrefutably fair tax model, corporations that don’t agree with fairness are obviously partnerships that don’t benefit us in the greatest way.”
While Petrakis says he fully supports democracy and the will of the people, there was a second referendum question on the 2021 Lethbridge ballot that he doesn’t plan to directly support.
The question was, “Do you agree that city council should approve plans to construct a 3rd bridge prior to 2030 as a municipal capital project priority?”
The response was a 50.33 per cent vote yes.
Petrakis says he, however, does not support the construction of another bridge because the money could be better spent elsewhere.
“It would take seven years for it to be built and it would cost us $250-$300 million, is what the estimates are — $230 million, by the way, we could set up state-of-the-art integrated healing to resolve the addiction crisis.”
However, he promises he would support bridge construction if more residents wanted it. As it is, the 50.33 per cent yes vote was just eight votes more than those who said no.
“My entire campaign has been essentially an investigation in the electoral process. In my investigation, what I’ve discovered – because I’ve spent thousands of hours just kind of staring at that bridge, especially during these huge traffic jams that have been happening recently.
“I don’t have a problem at all with a third bridge. If the people want a third bridge, that’s what the data says is in our best interest, then so be it.”
For Petrakis, that’s the name of the game — public decisions. He says voting is what matters, above all.
“The most important thing people can do is, not just vote, but also inspire people around you to vote.”
Election day is Oct. 20.
Global News is featuring all four mayoral candidates before election day on Oct. 20.
To see more on candidate Blaine Hyggen, visit this post.
To see more on candidate Ryan Mennie, visit this post.
To see more on candidate, Quentin Carlson, visit this post.
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