"Want to try some snake soup, Mr. Mayor?" "No thanks Yan. Just two of your specialty hamburgers and two beers," said the mayor.

Many Trinidadians might be familiar with Yan of the popular television show of some years ago, Wok With Yan. They might not know about the mayor though, yet he is very much Trinidadian - one who has endeared himself in a big way to the townspeople of his adopted land as his encounter with restauranteur Yan shows.

He is Len Traboulay who was recently honoured at a special ceremony to mark his 25 consecutive years in public office in Canada. He is currently serving his sixth three-year term as mayor of Port Coquitlam, Vancouver - the first non-white to hold that office.

It was not an easy climb as his brother Elman, 60, of Marabella, observed. It took two losing tries at public office before Traboulay, who arrived in Canada from Trinidad 44 years ago, finally took a seat with his peers at the council table.

The eldest of the seven children born to the late Norington and Dorothy Traboulay, Len was 19 when he left his home at Circular Road, San Fernando, for Canada. He made his name as a teacher and was an alderman for nine years before being elected mayor - a job he has done so well, that Port Coquitlam is now known as "Traboulay's Town".

As one newspaper editorialized about the retired high school French teacher: "While few people even spend the time to watch local council on TV, Traboulay has spent the prime of his life trying to make Port Coquitlam a better place to live."

Several other Canadian newspapers, such as the Vancouver Sun, have spoken glowingly of his achievements. They have taken note of the fact that Traboulay has presided over a town that has grown from 21,196 in 1973 to 47,700 today and where there were once 5,500 dwellings there are now 17,000. New bridges, community centres, the Terry Fox Library and many new schools and parks have been built while he was councillor and mayor.

Traboulay was elected mayor in November 1981 and since then has remained in that office as the thirteenth mayor of Port Coquitlam.

"Staying in public office has been a challenge," he admitted while speaking at a ceremony last month, honouring his 25 years of public service.

As chairman of the city's council meetings he is renowned for the resonance of his voice cultivated by 33 years in front of a blackboard and his irritation with long drawn out debates.

"There's no point to going back and forth on an issue and droning on because you are going to put people to sleep," said Traboulay, who also chairs the Vancouver regional transit commission, in one newspaper interview.

He attributes much of his success to his wife Joanne, a Canadian, and their two children Trevor and Angela.

"I can't believe I've completed 25 years," says Traboulay. "The juices are still flowing. I still get excited."

So much so that he will be running for another term as mayor next year, says brother Elman who recently spent time with him.

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