Castlegar: a great place for work and play

After a lifetime spent enjoying the Castlegar area, Mayor Lawrence Chernoff is glad to help the city grow while it remains a great place to live.

What do you love about your Castlegar, B.C., lifestyle?

I think my biggest part is interacting with the people who live here and being able to make a positive difference. That’s a huge thing for me.

Where did you go for post-secondary ed and/or who was a mentor for your career path?

My biggest thing was that I did paramedic training with the Justice Institute and that was my previous job to having this one. I guess my mentor, in the political world, would be my brother.

Where is your hometown?

I was born in Penticton and I’ve been raised in the Kootenays since I was about four or five years old. My hometown would be Robson, just across the river. In my days playing hockey I used to walk from Robson to the Pioneer Arena (in Castlegar).

What was your first job and how old were you when you started working?

I first started to work at a dry cleaners in Castlegar. My best recollection would be that I was probably about 15 years old when I first started. That would’ve been doing the cleanup in the back and doing a little bit of maintenance work and then I went on to delivering the dry cleaning.

What kind of challenge brings out the best in you?

I guess it’s being told that something can’t be done. If somebody tells me that it’s not feasible I can kind of dig in and say, "Yes, actually, I really think this can be done because the benefit is for the community.”

If your city were a person, what would you say is its dominant personality characteristic? 

I guess it would just be down-to-earth, if that’s a characteristic. (Being here) makes you feel at home—it doesn’t matter where you go or what you do.

Before you became mayor, where might we have found you on a Saturday night?

When I was growing up—as a kid and even today—it was watching Hockey Night in Canada. I can tell you, my favourite thing about that when I was a small kid, even until I moved away, was having borscht and hotdogs. That was with my brothers and my dad. Those are great memories.

And now, where might you be on a Saturday night?

Well, if I’m not busy with all the city business that I do it would probably be watching Hockey Night in Canada, Saturday nights (laughs).

As mayor, what would you like your legacy to be in your city?

I really never put myself in this job to create a legacy. It’s really about Castlegar becoming the best place to live, work and play. I know that’s said over and over again, but I think it’s really what I’m most proud of. Building facilities in the community and becoming a business-friendly community, I think that’s really what I’m striving to do and I hope that once I leave the position that will be in place.