All Candidates Forum

[alienguy]

All Candidates Forum
Lake Country
13/10/2011
The Lake Country Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring an All Candidates Forum on Monday, November 7 at 7:00 p.m. at the Creekside Theatre - located in George Elliot Secondary, 10241 Bottom Wood Lake Road

If you have a question you may submit it for consideration:
• in writing at the event before 7:00 p.m.
• by fax to 250-766-0170 before 4:00 p.m. on November 7
• by email to [email protected] before 4:00 p.m. on November 7
• dropped off at the Chamber office - 40-9522 Main St. before 4:00 p.m. on November 7
Questions may be directed to all candidates or to individual candidates.


Does anyone see a problem with this?

The Chamber gets money from the District in business licences fees and money to operate the tourist centre; also they have a member sitting on the economic development committee. Not to mention several marketing and other partnerships with the District.

So now they want you to submit questions so they can pick and choose which questions are asked of which candidate. Assuming they actually pick any questions from the ones that are submitted.

Do you think they will favour the candidates that will assure they continue to get those taxpayer funded items? Considering several candidates have close ties with the Chamber and the economic development committee!

I just find it hard to believe it will be a non-biased forum. Last time they held the candidate forums it was painful to see them sort through the questions and favour one candidate over another.

This is the first time in years we have had an actual full election and I don’t want it to be manipulated by a small special interest group in the community.

I would like to see a free open microphone style format hosted by the people of our community.

The people’s forum! Anyone else interested in pursuing this?

[Rwede]

That's standard fare with political debates. Candidates are giving topics beforehand so they can research issues.

Not saying it's right or wrong, as I too would like to see candidates demonstrate their abilities to think on their feet, but it's not out of the ordinary. The Chamber is, I expect, not much of a fan of city hall, so I wouldn't worry too much about censorship of difficult questions.

[joe smo]

Actually the Chamber receives a rather large sum of money from the District for managing the info centre. To that end, the District is their largest customer. So there certainly could be a perception of bias. However, by the same token, I have found the efforts by the Chamber in the past to be fair with a good cross section of questions.

An open mike also leads to abuse as each candidate would try to have their supporters ask questions which only they would have prepared for, giving an unfair advantage. No system is perfect.

But to all those candidates out there. One of the major problems in the Okanagan as cited by the Central Okanagan Foundations's recent Vital Signs report was the "Gap between the Rich and the Poor".

With recent tax increases and a substantial water tax hike next year, what will candidates do to rein in the upward spiral in taxes and keep Lake Country affordable? Will they support appointment of a municpal auditor to monitor spending? Would they limit growth to what our infrastructure can support?

[Winbuck_Chuck]

Who made it to the forum? I did and found it a bit repetitive! Same questions over and over, same answers from everyone. I did find the few newer candidates to have a fresh outlook on things… It was hard to believe the current staff saying they want change, their actions speak louder than words..

[Oyama]

We attended. I found it very informative. But by the third time of asking the question on their thoughts of culling deer....well we had to walk out. Who in their right mind would admit this? I am for it, but I am not running for a seat.
My feeling is that Baker is done. Maybe that is my hopes!!

[hallgirl]

A lot of promises were made by the candidates at the forum. Unfortunately there wasnt an opportunity for voters to ask how they are planning to pay for them. Road upgrades, sidewalks, water systems and sewer upgrades and extensions don't come cheap.