Linden Crain makes history with Amherstburg win

Youngest councillor in Amherstburg Linden Crain has claimed a council seat at just 22 years of age. Travis Fortnum reports.

Linden Crain, 22,  just became the youngest person yet, to win an election in the Town of Amherstburg — and the youngest successful council candidate across Windsor-Essex this election.

With just under 3,800 votes cast for him, Crain also received the most votes of anyone on the ballot in Amherstburg, including for councillor, mayor or deputy.

“It hasn’t kicked in yet,” he told CTV News Tuesday. “I’m still on an adrenaline rush from what happened last night [Monday]. I didn’t expect the results to be good… I didn’t know what to expect.”

Crain, a lifelong Amherstburg resident, said election night and the past five months of campaigning were a whirlwind.

Culminating in one call from his brother, who was acting as a scrutineer for him as votes were tallied inside the Libro Centre.

“He FaceTimed me with the results on the TV and we were kind of watching it live,” Crain said. “It was a little blurry, so you couldn’t really see who was winning, but when it came up and those who won were there, their names were in yellow.

“I saw my name in yellow and I screenshotted it and hung up.”

Crain said that’s when he, his friends, family and campaign volunteers started celebrating.

Reflecting on the past five months of campaigning, Crain said his age certainly came up more than a few times, but he found a way to use it to his advantage.

“I’d hear: are you still living with your parents? Are you old enough to drive? All those things,” he said. “Until I started talking about having a new perspective and a younger voice on council. I just want to get in there and make a difference regardless of what my age was,” said Crain.

He admitted he was worried how his age might impact the campaign at firs and said he chose to wear glasses in his first campaign video in an attempt to appear older and posed with his girlfriend and dog for a photoshoot, like many a middle-aged politician is known to do.

Once he let go of what insecurity he had he found his stride on the campaign trail, but still didn’t expect the level of success he secured.

“I think it just shows you that if you get your name out there and you meet residents and you’re sincere with them, they want to see you in that position,” Crain said.

In all, 16 candidates were vying for one of the five council seats in Amherstburg.

Joining Crain in the council to come are Molly Allaire, Peter Courtney, Donald McArthur and Diane Pouget.

Michael Prue won his bid for mayor and Chris Gibb will be deputy mayor.

Crain said he looks forward to meeting with them and aligning their vision for the town.

He’s already acquired a degree from the University of Windsor in Business Administration and Political Science and is going for his Master of Business Administration — so he said he’s not sure what the future holds beyond his first term.

“At the end of the day, I want to make sure that I leave this position better than I found it,” he concluded.