{"id":470,"date":"2015-08-07T14:57:55","date_gmt":"2015-08-07T18:57:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/?p=470"},"modified":"2015-08-07T14:57:55","modified_gmt":"2015-08-07T18:57:55","slug":"mayor-austin-hunt-still-going-strong-after-six-decades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/?p=470","title":{"rendered":"Mayor Austin Hunt: Still going strong after six decades"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Mayor<\/a>
Austin Hunt, the mayor of Billings, Ontario, is the longest serving politician in Canada. Photo courtesy of Tom Sasvari\/The Manitoulin West Recorder.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Graeme McNaughton<\/strong>\/Active Senior’s Digest<\/p>\n

When the mayor of Billings, Ont. made the call to run for re-election last fall, it was hardly out of the ordinary \u2013 it was something he had done plenty of times before.<\/p>\n

In fact, Austin Hunt \u2013 known by the locals as Mayor Aus \u2013 has been in the political game for decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver half of my time was just as a local councillor. My position is the longest municipally-elected politician in, well I guess the country, I don\u2019t know,\u201d Hunt told Active Senior\u2019s Digest by phone from Manitoulin Island. \u201cAt least that\u2019s what the people who keep giving me awards tell me. I haven\u2019t been tracing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hunt was first elected in 1953, but his start in politics came earlier than that when he was fresh out of high school.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was actually involved with (Lester B.) Pearson, our prime minister. This was his riding. He came to stay in a small hotel\u2026during his campaign,\u201d he says. \u201cHe met me \u2013 I just finished high school \u2013 and he asked me to drive him around. We became friends and had me do various jobs for him, winding up as his campaign manager for the riding.\u201d<\/p>\n

After this first brush with poltics, Hunt made the choice to run for local council, although he didn\u2019t get his foot in the door on the first try.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had run before and wasn\u2019t successful, but I ran again in 1953 and was successful and I (have been) on council consistently until now, except for one year because we used to do one-year terms,\u201d he says, adding \u201cit\u2019s only fair\u201d that he deserved a year off in the last 62 years.<\/p>\n

In more than six decades, Hunt says that politics has simply become a way of life for him, although it helps living in a small community.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s become a part of my life. It\u2019s a small community, so it isn\u2019t a full-time job but it takes up a lot of your time. Especially if you\u2019re the mayor or reeve, then you become the complaint department. It\u2019s a 24-hour service,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Hunt says he had originally planned to get out of politics 15 to 20 years ago, but he lost his wife. Now, politics, along with his other endeavours, keeps him busy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a small business too, and my son works (with me) at that. Incidentally, I was also the postmaster for a number of years and that kept me busy. My son was lucky enough to get the postmaster job too and he runs it in the same little retail store (the family owns).\u201d<\/p>\n

The changing, or non-changing times<\/strong><\/p>\n

While politics \u2013 and a way of life in general \u2013 may have changed in more than 60 years as a politician, Hunt says that that isn\u2019t exactly the case for Billings and the rest of Manitoulin Island.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in a rural area, of course. We\u2019re in a tourist area too, so as the whole province improves, so do we. But where we are on Manitoulin Island, there hasn\u2019t been a great change,\u201d he says. \u201cI often mention the historical mark of the turn of the century in 1900 \u2013 I wasn\u2019t here \u2013 Manitoulin District was 10,000 people; so was Algoma District and so was Sudbury District.<\/p>\n

Today, Maintoulin is roughly the same with a 10,000 population. Algoma, which has (Sault Ste. Marie) is 130,000 and Sudbury District is 150,000, so we\u2019ve definitely stayed pretty much the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, maybe not everything has stayed the same, Hunt later added \u2013 there is a bit more money around.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the 1950s when I was first a councillor, we were practically working on provincial grants. Now we still need some provincial grants to survive, but not nearly to the same extent. We raise a good deal of our operations (funding) now.\u201d<\/p>\n

After more than six decades in poltics, Hunt says he doesn\u2019t see himself stopping any time soon if only for the sake he has work to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m interested in it. I\u2019m interested in people, and I\u2019m interested in my community. Everyone is, or they wouldn\u2019t stay or get involved,\u201d he says. \u201cThe reason I carry on in this type of work is because there\u2019s always something very important to carry on with. These things, I guess, have kept me going. And people have put up with me for that long.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Graeme McNaughton\/Active Senior’s Digest When the mayor of Billings, Ont. made the call to run for re-election last fall, it was hardly out of […] Read More<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":472,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nMayor Austin Hunt: Still going strong after six decades - Active Senior's Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/?p=470\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mayor Austin Hunt: Still going strong after six decades - Active Senior's Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Graeme McNaughton\/Active Senior’s Digest When the mayor of Billings, Ont. made the call to run for re-election last fall, it was hardly out of […] Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/?p=470\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Active Senior's Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-08-07T18:57:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/feature_austin_hunt_main.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"464\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"active\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/\",\"name\":\"Active Senior's Digest\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/?p=470#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/feature_austin_hunt_main.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/feature_austin_hunt_main.jpg\",\"width\":720,\"height\":464,\"caption\":\"Mayor Austin Hunt\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/?p=470#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/?p=470\",\"name\":\"Mayor Austin Hunt: Still going strong after six decades - Active Senior's Digest\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/?p=470#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-08-07T18:57:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-08-07T18:57:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/#\/schema\/person\/0afb1f9f2b1987c4466bd36c4ecf6e6e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/?p=470#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/?p=470\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/?p=470#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mayor Austin Hunt: Still going strong after six decades\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/#\/schema\/person\/0afb1f9f2b1987c4466bd36c4ecf6e6e\",\"name\":\"active\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6943e03346fb73ef2c47ed71cc41f7a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6943e03346fb73ef2c47ed71cc41f7a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"active\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mayor Austin Hunt: Still going strong after six decades - Active Senior's Digest","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/?p=470","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mayor Austin Hunt: Still going strong after six decades - Active Senior's Digest","og_description":"By Graeme McNaughton\/Active Senior’s Digest When the mayor of Billings, Ont. made the call to run for re-election last fall, it was hardly out of […] Read More","og_url":"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/?p=470","og_site_name":"Active Senior's Digest","article_published_time":"2015-08-07T18:57:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":464,"url":"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/feature_austin_hunt_main.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"active","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/#website","url":"http:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/","name":"Active Senior's Digest","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/?p=470#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-CA","url":"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/feature_austin_hunt_main.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/feature_austin_hunt_main.jpg","width":720,"height":464,"caption":"Mayor Austin Hunt"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/?p=470#webpage","url":"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/?p=470","name":"Mayor Austin Hunt: Still going strong after six decades - Active Senior's Digest","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/?p=470#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2015-08-07T18:57:55+00:00","dateModified":"2015-08-07T18:57:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/#\/schema\/person\/0afb1f9f2b1987c4466bd36c4ecf6e6e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/?p=470#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/?p=470"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/?p=470#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mayor Austin Hunt: Still going strong after six decades"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/#\/schema\/person\/0afb1f9f2b1987c4466bd36c4ecf6e6e","name":"active","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"http:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-CA","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6943e03346fb73ef2c47ed71cc41f7a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6943e03346fb73ef2c47ed71cc41f7a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"active"},"url":"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/?author=1"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/feature_austin_hunt_main.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p78TCb-7A","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=470"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":473,"href":"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470\/revisions\/473"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}