Upper Valley Aviation (UVA) founder Ken Smith has officially entered the contest for a position on council in Chilliwack’s October civic election. UVA is a long-time tenant at Chilliwack airport (YCW), located 80 kms east of Vancouver in B.C.’s Fraser Valley. The airport has been in the news in recent years as the scene of difficulties between tenants and the private management company, Magnum Management, who holds the head lease. The then owners of the Chilliwack Airport Coffee Shop, originators of the iconic ‘I Fly For Pie’ logo due to their wildly popular fruit pies, reopened in nearby Langley airport (YLY) after being unable to come to terms with Magnum. That alienated much of the local and regional GA community.

After recently announcing his candidature, Smith says he’s always been “a passionate person with strong opinions.” Quoted in local media, Smith goes on to say that he’s concerned about Public Private Partnerships (PPP) that have been a “detriment of the city.” He goes on to say that Chilliwack’s municipal leadership has become “stagnant and resistant to change.”

A Chilliwack native and pilot, Smith founded his company in 1982, specializing in parts sales, aircraft sales, salvage and storage. The early 1990s saw his company expand into aircraft maintenance and painting service and, in 2002, avionics, interior and structural services were added.