Basran as mayor?

[Mastercraft69]

I watch politics fairly closely but don't comment too regularly because I don't live on the forums. Id ask one question, has anyone watched any of the council meetings on Castanet and actually seen how engaged Colin is? Seriously, never out of the gate first but does replicate what Zimmermann and Blanliel say. I'm wondering what he has to offer now that those two have disappeared.

[Gill_B]

I just hope Kelowna comes to its senses...

Colin, for lack of a better term, is a fame *bleep*...anyone that has known him for any length of time will concur... He wants to be the mayor for no other reason than to call himself the 'mayor' and to pretend to be someone important for a few years. Sure, he's a relatively nice guy on the surface.....but that's it. He has consistently chosen employment (TV, realtor, politics) in industries where being full of it is valued over actually knowing something - and he doesn't stay in these jobs for long either. He shys away from work and gloms onto people near him who are actually talented (or famous).

Honestly, I'm not a big Sharron Shepherd fan, but there really is no comparison between the two in this election. Colin's bringing nothing to the dance.

[okcitizen]

He does seem to be a "follower" and likes to hang with the "it" crowd of Kelowna, if you can call it that. He just doesn't seem to have the brains, awareness, critical thinking skills and academic and intellectual intelligence needed to be mayor. He seems like a little boy from Kelowna who is still desperately trying to be "cool" and hang with the "cool kids". With his background in media (small town news reporter) and now as a salesman (realtor), if you go to his website and read his stance, it really says very little that is relevant to being a successful and progressive mayor. I am hoping someone will come on here and explain to me why I am wrong about Basran, and why and how he will be an excellent mayor.

For now his focus seems purely on the trendy high-tech industry and drawing in the peeps from the coast and Alberta to move here. I want to know what he is going to do about the overabundance of populace that already live here, the lack of well paying jobs for them and the high price of living.....as well as many other issues that need to be addressed.

[Partmanpartfish]

I'd like to discover how hard working Mr. Basran really is.

Perhaps he could start by telling us how many house(s) he managed to sell during the three years he did nothing of note on council?

[habh]

Several somewhat negative comments about Basran's support of the high tech sector and what it brings to Kelowna.
The worst case scenario is that an existing high tech business moves to Kelowna with all of it's own employees and does not hire any one currently residing in Kelowna.
Lets take a look at that worst case scenario. 10 new employees moving in to town, some with families some without, they buy houses (these are net new people to town who help fuel new construction and all the spin off from that), or they rent (paying an existing land owner's mortgage), 10 new people plus families to purchase and use Kelowna goods and services (anything from a pack of gum to cars), higher school enrollment, more people to add to the societal fabric through sports teams, arts, volunteerism, new neighbours.
I fail to see anything but tremendous upside to new employed people moving to Kelowna with or without families.
Take the same company moving to town with many of it's existing employees and hiring more locally. The companies who lost their employees to the new company, need to backfill those spots, maybe to a new person.

What is wrong with Basran pushing hard to bring new well trained, educated and employed people to Kelowna? Isn't that what any community wants and needs?

Several references are made to Basran being with the it (it or IT, pun intended) crowd. Who do you consider the it crowd and why do you consider them to be the it crowd? That is a projection or judgement on people you may know little about.

[normaM]

I think I'll vote for him.

[Captain Awesome]

Question: do we want another Mayor who is strongly influenced by a narrow section of the community?

Most candidates are strongly influenced by narrow sections of the community.

Question: can we afford another Mayor with no real ideas as to how to build a dynamic community?

Most candidates only give generic ideas on how to build dynamic community and instead rely on slogans (such as "dynamic community")

Question: can we afford to entrust Kelowna's future to an untried person who is offering no real sense of how he will act?

None of the cadidates offer real sense how he/she will act once elected and instead offer just sound bites.

[Partmanpartfish]

What is wrong with Basran pushing hard to bring new well trained, educated and employed people to Kelowna? Isn't that what any community wants and needs?

There isn't a city, town or village in North America that doesn't 'push hard' to attract educated and employed people. What makes you think Mr. Basran, with his wispy resume and total lack of evidence of pushing hard for anything, would be successful?

If Mr. Basran said on his facebook page that he was going to push hard to cure Ebola, would you also buy that, hook, line and sinker.

Fact is, the candidate is an empty suit with strings attached and thus we get the crock of platitudes. Fresh is just another way of saying immature.

[The Green Barbarian]

Fact is, the candidate is an empty suit with strings attached and thus we get the crock of platitudes. Fresh is just another way of saying immature.

I agree - this is exactly what I say to anyone who thinks Justin Trudeau should be our next prime minister. Exactly the same resume, same platitudes, and same immaturity.

[habh]

I agree - this is exactly what I say to anyone who thinks Justin Trudeau should be our next prime minister. Exactly the same resume, same platitudes, and same immaturity.

Not a reasonable comparison in my opinion. Trudeau is Liberal Leader because his surname is not Lunchbucket or Smith or Jones. Trudeau's comments regarding Hamas and ISIS clearly display his immaturity and naivety.

Basran is where he is through hard work, networking and having proven himself thus far. Is a political neophyte in many ways? Yes he his. But maybe a relative neophyte with strong values, in tune with families, in tunes with a variety of businesses, and openness and willingness to learn and create is a better option than same old same old.

[habh]

There isn't a city, town or village in North America that doesn't 'push hard' to attract educated and employed people. What makes you think Mr. Basran, with his wispy resume and total lack of evidence of pushing hard for anything, would be successful?

If Mr. Basran said on his facebook page that he was going to push hard to cure Ebola, would you also buy that, hook, line and sinker.

Fact is, the candidate is an empty suit with strings attached and thus we get the crock of platitudes. Fresh is just another way of saying immature.

Exactly, every town want those people but who does more than just talk about it, wish and day dream?
Maybe Basran has what it takes to make it happen.

You mention the empty suit with strings attached. What politician, especially a strong mayoral candidate, does not have a strong base that includes financial backing and influence. It is reality. A brave politician is one who will vote against that base when need be. If Basran is influenced by business leaders who employ, create, want to thrive, why is that a bad thing? Being influenced does not always have to have a negative connotation. Without these people, any town dies a slow painful death. Think Flint Michigan as being a prime example.

[Partmanpartfish]

Basran is where he is through hard work, networking and having proven himself thus far. Is a political neophyte in many ways?

I'd suggest Basran is where he is through the hard work of special interests like FourChange and that shady ilk.

Basran has been on council for three years now. Do you have any examples of hard work or initiatives he spearheaded to share with us?

[okcitizen]

Several somewhat negative comments about Basran's support of the high tech sector and what it brings to Kelowna.
The worst case scenario is that an existing high tech business moves to Kelowna with all of it's own employees and does not hire any one currently residing in Kelowna.
Lets take a look at that worst case scenario. 10 new employees moving in to town, some with families some without, they buy houses (these are net new people to town who help fuel new construction and all the spin off from that), or they rent (paying an existing land owner's mortgage), 10 new people plus families to purchase and use Kelowna goods and services (anything from a pack of gum to cars), higher school enrollment, more people to add to the societal fabric through sports teams, arts, volunteerism, new neighbours.
I fail to see anything but tremendous upside to new employed people moving to Kelowna with or without families.
Take the same company moving to town with many of it's existing employees and hiring more locally. The companies who lost their employees to the new company, need to backfill those spots, maybe to a new person.

What is wrong with Basran pushing hard to bring new well trained, educated and employed people to Kelowna? Isn't that what any community wants and needs?

Several references are made to Basran being with the it (it or IT, pun intended) crowd. Who do you consider the it crowd and why do you consider them to be the it crowd? That is a projection or judgement on people you may know little about.

I do genuinely appreciate you making the effort to try to convince that Basran is ready to be mayor of Kelowna. I want to be convinced, and so far, have not been.

If you look at Kelowna, there are already a vast number of highly educated, well trained people living in Kelowna, but the jobs are not there to sustain them. It is a known fact that the wages are low in Kelowna and people with the same skills as elsewhere are underpaid. There are also a vast number of people living here who are not as highly trained and educated, and they too, are finding it difficult to make ends meet.

There is nothing wrong with a high tech business coming to town. That happens everywhere. But this seems to be Basran's big "push" with his platform. I want to know what he is doing about creating jobs to sustain the people that already live here. What is he going to do to look after "his own" before supporting other people moving here. Yes, he is in support of a few low income housing buildings going up, but what else is he doing? When the "it" crowd is spoken of in Kelowna, it is the crowd who wants and has created this image for themselves. Ask pretty much anyone in Kelowna of any age range, and they can tell you exactly who we are speaking of. And I think you know too. They are the same crowd of people you see at every downtown after five, every wine fest event, every new restaurant that opens, and every bar in town. Basran has the bar crowd behind him, because he chums with that crowd and also supports music festivals. That is great. I support music festivals as well.

But I want to know about real, concrete, deep, meaningful things such as environmental and social issues. Sure he has volunteered and shown his face at the Gospel Mission since beginning his campaign, and he's gotten in on the development of low income housing in past months. But what is his stance on all of the other issues that have plagued Kelowna the last 5 to 10 years and are increasingly getting worse? The fact that the unemployment rate is high, the cost of housing for the general public is high, the cost of real estate is high, the cost of rent is high. Yet there are few viable jobs to support the high cost of living here. Bringing more highly educated people from other cities into the fabric of a city that is already struggling to support it's own, is not answering my concerns, when there are already a vast amount of highly educated people here.
Selling a few more houses to them is not answering my concerns.

I want to know what he feels about sustaining the Okanagan landscape and environment that is slowly getting demolished with an overabundance of condominiums that are not selling because people cannot afford them. What is he going to do about preserving our waterfront? What about our agricultural industry? I want to know what he is going to do for "everyone", not just a select group. To me, being a mayor, means looking at the bigger picture.

I'm still looking for some enlightenment on all of these issues and how Basran will address this. I am still of the belief that he is not educated and experienced or worldly enough to utilise critical thinking skills to really dig deep and get to the heart of these issues and face them. And face them hard. Not cover them up with fluff about bringing in the high tech industry and building a big new building for them. We saw this happen back in 2001 when there was huge hype about the Rotary Center for the Arts being built and how many jobs it was going to create and how it was going to be a hub for the downtown core. It failed miserably and now they are begging people to rent their spaces and use their facilities. If you do not support your own and the current people that live here, drawing in more people is not the answer in my books.

[normaM]

NOTE
If you hate 4change so
You should not be on this site
as the Owner is part of it
Right, hate it but damn it is free, so we beak
Cheeseandcrackers

[O4chrisake]

Does Mr. Basran still reside in West Kelowna?