A look at some of the big election debates happening beyond Hope | | | | Only half of British Columbians live in Metro Vancouver, but for a lot of reasons the coverage of local political issues tends to be dominated by 604 area codes.
So for this edition of the newsletter, we’ll focus entirely on election campaigns happening beyond Aldergrove, with a few dispatches from CBC British Columbia reporters in our non-Vancouver newsrooms. | | | | | 1. Osoyoos | | From CBC Kelowna reporter Brady Strachan
A big city political trend has come to small-town Osoyoos this municipal election and it's making the mayoral and town councillor races ones to watch.
The community of fewer than 5,000 people in the south Okanagan is a summer tourist destination surrounded by vineyards and fruit orchards.
While voters in the larger centres of Vancouver and Victoria are used to seeing like-minded candidates rallying together to form a slate, this is rarely the case in the Interior of B.C.
But in this municipal election, little Osoyoos has one, aptly named Osoyoos First.
Along with the branding comes a well-organized website with individual bios for each of the four candidates on the slate, vision statements and campaign event listings.
“We figured this was probably the best way to approach it. Can we put our thoughts and minds together, work with the same people, come up with the same solutions and lean on everyone?” says Zach Poturica, who is running for a town council seat under the Osoyoos First banner.
Like Poturica, the other members of Osoyoos First are young professionals — all under 45 — and rookie candidates.
And with only incumbent mayor Sue McKortoff and three other candidates for town council as competition, there is certainly an opportunity Osoyoos First could win a majority of the five seats up for grabs.
But there’s another big-city political trend here involving the fledgling party — a sizable election controversy surrounding the candidate seeking to take McKortoff’s job.
Early on in the campaign, it was revealed Osoyoos First’s mayoral candidate Dustin Sikora donated approximately $23,000 to the Freedom Convoy protests earlier this year — making him the fifth largest Canadian donor.
Sikora — who says his core principles are pro business, technology, law enforcement, family values and tradition — has addressed the issue in a prominent place on the Osoyoos First website.
He explained it was pushback against what he felt was government overreach, that he donated “in the early stages of the movement”, and that he is “current on all of my vaccinations and a solid believer of proven sanitary practices.”
Whether Sikora's donation to the convoy movement will sway voters in Osoyoos is not yet known. The matter was not brought up at a recent all-candidates forum by event moderators, other candidates or members of the public.
Instead, the debate was focused on water quality, a lack of affordable housing and attracting health-care professionals to the region — all issues that Osoyoos shares with other Okanagan and Interior-municipalities this election cycle. | | | | | 2. Prince George | | Election season is well underway in the Interior, with the first round of mayoral debates taking place in Prince George this past week.
The focus was on issues familiar to voters around the province: housing affordability, public safety and the toxic drug crisis. In Prince George, six people are campaigning to replace Mayor Lyn Hall who, after two terms, is not running for re-election.
Two-term councillor Terri McConnachie is the candidate with the most experience. Many of her rivals endorsed a “tough love” approach towards living on the streets, while others proposed the construction of rapid emergency housing ahead of winter. | | | | | 3. Kelowna | | In a Kelowna debate, incumbent Colin Basran was challenged on housing affordability, homelessness and a looming transit strike in the city, which is experiencing growing pains as the fastest growing metropolitan area in the country.
"We need to continue to push for beds, units, treatment but also consequences for those who continue to break the law," Basran said.
Basran won easily in his 2018 re-election bid, but this vote is expected to be closer. He is facing 2018 runner Tom Dyas and three other candidates.
The third major city in the interior, Kamloops, is facing similar challenges, and with current mayor Ken Christian not running for election and all five mayor candidates having an established base of support, their election is one of the hardest to assess in the province.
Find all our coverage at cbc.ca/bcvotes. | | | | | 4. School boards | | Outside of Metro Vancouver, political parties are rarely seen — but there’s one party that’s running candidates across the province, for one particular form of local government.
Their name is ParentsVoice B.C., their candidates are only running at the school board level (from Nechako Lakes to Surrey), and their focus is to “take back our schools."
But what does that mean? And how much say do trustees have over the specifics of how schools are run? We tried to delve into both of those questions this week. | | | | | 5. Elsewhere... | | What else is happening in the 250? Lytton’s mayoral election is interesting, but what the mayor does afterwards will be much more important … in Trail, the biggest discussion this week wasn’t the election, but whether to extend the temporary use permit to the town’s only homeless shelter so it can operate for another a year, which council passed…while in Ucluelet, councillors have passed new rules aimed at slowing the proliferation of bed and breakfasts in residential neighbourooods, in an effort to ease the community's housing crunch.
Read more | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was forwarded to you. | | | That's it for this week! In the meantime, check out the latest headlines at cbc.ca/bc and follow our municipal affairs reporter Justin McElroy on Twitter. And if you have any questions you might want answered in a future mailbag, drop Justin a line at metromatters@cbc.ca. | | | |