Kevin Purton

Photo: 

Kevin Purton.jpg

Candidate Highlights: 

• Honesty
• Integrity
• Community Commitment
• Think Globally, Act Locally

Kevin Purton has been employed for almost twenty years as an electrician/millwright in a manufacturing facility in Langley, B.C. As a result he has developed a high level of skill in risk assessment, assessing and analyzing problems in a hectic workplace and providing timely solutions frequently based on consensus decision making. These are skills which can be applied in the political realm.

Kevin was born in London, England and moved to Alberta as a young child with his family. During that time he was introduced to farm life through frequent visits to his uncles’ large northern Alberta farm. It was there he initially gained a deep, life long appreciation and commitment to the natural world. That appreciation was reinforced with unsupervised daytime explorations, alone or with friends to wetlands and river valleys in various Edmonton locations. At that time children could roam without fear for their safety.

Numerous family excursions to lakes, the Rocky Mountains and other wilderness areas through the changing seasons brought an even greater appreciation for the wonders of the world.

Another family move brought Kevin to Burnaby as a young teenager in Canada’s centennial year. He finished his public schooling in Burnaby with an emphasis on sciences and at the same time began his working career with a job in the retail food industry.

Five years later, realizing the grocery business was not his long term employment interest, he began a six year stint in the logging industry. Kevin worked in a number of spectacular locations in the province including: the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii), Knight Inlet, Zeballos and on the west coast of Vancouver Island in Kyuquot Sound at Chamiss Bay.

The offer of an electrical apprenticeship was enough to entice Kevin into the residential and commercial construction industry in the Vancouver region. He worked as an apprentice and journeyman electrician for eight years and during the last two years of that time acquired a fourth class steam ticket. That opened the door to other employment opportunities.

After working in the construction industry for eight years Kevin began a career in industrial maintenance. During his time in the industry he has acquired his journeyman millwright certification.

Kevin has been married to Norma for almost twenty five years and has a daughter attending Simon Fraser University. They moved from Burnaby to Surrey in 1993.

When he isn’t at his place of employment Kevin keeps busy working with numerous interests which include, among other things, advocating for nature in the city, gardening, and maintaining his home. He is an avid follower of news, politics, and environmental issues, both locally and globally, and as a result has worked to progressively reduce his ecological footprint. Kevin also tries to live a healthy lifestyle by going to the gym regularly, eating good quality food and cycling. Last year he rode 4000 km, eighty percent of which was commuting to work and back.