Public forum at Lakeside

[3+141592]

I hope that some of you had the chance to attended the forum last night.
If not, it is supposed to be up on YouTube later today, according to James Miller.

It was interesting to learn more about the candidates and entertaining to watch one in particular hmm, squirm.
I'm of course, referring to Sean Upshaw having a little fun with Dan Ashton. Being an "experienced" politician means
that you have a "past" (or as some like to put it, a "track record").

There was a wide range of questions and some of them posed in a very articulate fashion.
Overall, I enjoyed the (new) format of a random name draw + having the chance to pose the question yourself.

[CTF]

I went mostly to learn about the other three candidates.

Got there early and got up front near the Slumps which turned out to be a blessing as some I talked to during the 5 minute break said it was hard to hear further back. Doug Maxwell seems like a sincere guy who doesn't like what he sees in politics and wants to do something about it. I didn't really understand how he described his party's platform at times but overall he was respectful and seems like a decent human being. I feel I have to say that because that Sean Upshaw fellow is one nasty piece of work. I found Mr. Upshaw to be arrogant, dis-respectful and at times downright nasty. I don't care much for negative nasty people so he is not on my list.

I was most looking forward to hearing from Mr.Cannings, unfortunately many of the questions were aimed at trying to embarrass Ashton so I didn't get to hear from Mr.Cannings as much as I would have liked. I did like his opening comments but for someone who is new to politics he was soon talking very much like a politician using buzz words and spending time on the "Liberals did this and that" routine which I found disappointing. I have friends from Naramata who know Mr.Cannings they suggested he was not normally like that and was probably nervous.

The format was sometimes hard to follow and the questions were pre-arranged but people were allowed to ask in person. Most tried to make a statement and only actually asked a question when prompted by the moderator, Mr. Miller from the Penticton Herald. Overall it was at times fairly negative and Mr. Ashton was a punching bag for many in the crowd. I can't say I really learned much but certainly know who I would not vote for. I will say I thought it was disappointing that it was not a more positive forum overall.

[3+141592]

As we all know that this type of event falls in the highly subjective category (myself included), I would
suggest that people that weren't present wait for the video and form their opinion based on what they see.

I would also like to add that questions were left to the discretion of whoever was called to the microphone.
If a question had more or less been previously covered, people were encouraged to use something else.
I happen to know one individual that did just that (and it was tricky, if you hadn't planned a second question).
This being said, it is pretty hard to cover every topic of interest in 90 minutes (when you discount the time
taken for introductions and closing statements). While not perfect, this format was much improved from when
you had to write down your question ahead of time and the moderator would read it up front.

Some topics that were covered (I will likely forget a few...):
-Land transfer tax (a.k.a. luxury tax)
-Hockey dorm saga
-Trust in candidates
-Penticton hospital expansion
-Gas tax vs. public transit
-Prison FOI request (i.e. government transparency)
-GMOs
-Legislature being mostly absent in the Fall
-Poverty and homelessness
-Seniors care standards
-Youth involvement in politics

I didn't have high expectations for this forum but walked away with a couple of things about each
candidate so I was OK with it.

[livewire]

There was mention of it being on youtube, I looked, can't find it....not the smartest tool in the shed (maybe I should be running) anyone have a link?

[3+141592]

Video posting is delayed. The Herald is alluding to "technical difficulties" at the bottom
of this article:
http://www.pentictonherald.ca/front-pag ... idate.html

FWIW, I found the forum's audio-visual to be a bit amateurish. For example, it appears that we
are lacking microphones in the Penticton: four candidates had to share two microphones (again).
Who knows, perhaps someone forgot to press "REC" on the camera?

Edit: Some reader comments posted at the bottom of this initial Herald article on the forum:
http://www.pentictonherald.ca/front-pag ... e-off.html

[3+141592]

Here's the URL to the forum's opening speeches:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPpUxXmnweM

You should be able to see other related video segments on the side bar although
at this point (unless I'm mistaken), the hockey dorm exchange is notably absent.
Hopefully this will be posted soon otherwise, it doesn't reflect well on the company
employed to film the event.

[twobits]

Just what does the hockey dorm have to do with the provincial election anyway. It is nothing but a deflective smear tactic. Have you folks forgotten that the single human being Dan Ashton was only one of seven votes approving the early commencement of contruction on that site....including NDP supporter Litke. Newcomer NDP'er Hopkins also continued to support it as well. Since Wes is working full time on Dick Cannings campiagn, perhaps we can smear Cannings with some hockey dorm dirt too. Or maybe we should get XT to try and get some of Hopkins salary back because he can't possibly be doing his job as a councillor while campaigning for Cannings full time.
That notion is of course pathetic as is trying to drag the hockey dorm into provincial politics

[XT225]

Nice try, twobits to get me to bite on your negative personal comments about me. I wasn't involved in this thread, nor will be. I have my reasons. Sorry, try to suck someone else in please; I have better things to do than to spar with you.

[Thinktank]

If Dan Ashton can't manage things any better than to end up paying
$hundreds of thousands to lawyers for a hockey dorm, how is
he going to manage BC?

[twobits]

Nice try, twobits to get me to bite on your negative personal comments about me. I wasn't involved in this thread, nor will be. I have my reasons. Sorry, try to suck someone else in please; I have better things to do than to spar with you.

Wasn't trying to suck you into anything nor was there any personal negative comment made. Brought you up only because you were a champion of Dan can't campaign and collect a mayors salary. Feeling a little testy because the NDP lead is vanishing quickly?

[3+141592]

"Just what does the hockey dorm have to do with the provincial election anyway."

IMHO, it speaks the credibility of the candidate. We can of course, "agree to
disagree" as we have different perspectives but here's my reasoning:
While six councillors were involved and a fair bit was "in camera", we'll never know
exactly what was said. At the end of the day however, the "captain of the ship" was the
mayor and his mandate is to look out for the Penticton taxpayers. Additionally,
his previous experience as a realtor should have kicked-in and help avoid the (unfortunate)
trap. Land transfers are nothing new here and there are rules to be followed for a reason
(winter approaching or not).

Bottom line is: the legal fees are adding up, he's asking for a promotion and we
might be footing the bill when this saga concludes.

For those wanting to review the original "hockey dorm" thread, here it is:
viewtopic.php?f=24&t=38342

[CTF]

This thread is starting to veer off topic. I will say that in my business we do not begin any work without a signed contract and a deposit from the customer. When we deal with public sector clients (who generally will not provide deposits) we still depend on signed and numbered work orders. Nothing, let me repeat nothing happens without that.

Any business that made the decision to do work on the hockey dorms without a deposit and a signed agreement did so entirely at their own peril. Trying to sue the City from their lack of due diligence is basically sour grapes and hoping because the City has deeper pockets then the bankrupt developer they will get a settlement and at least walk away with something.

At this point none of us know what the outcome will be and those who assume they know the outcome are not being honest with you.

[3+141592]

I'm happy to report that four more video clips of the Forum are available.
They cover the following topics and worth a view, in my opinion:

Property Transfer Tax
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72X2QFLfDho
Hockey Dorm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-Hje9fBQs0
Gas prices
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfU83zNmlm8
Hospital Tower
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS5mezxnEgA

I'm pasting the URLs here because they weren't on
the Herald's site last time I checked.