Image credit: Mel Rothenburger

By Mel Rothenburger

Armchair Mayor

ROTHENBURGER: A low-key start with high hopes of changing the face of local politics

Mar 16, 2024 | 8:09 AM

THERE WERE NO BALLOONS, banners, placards or cheering crowds at Friday’s official announcement of the BC Conservative candidates for the two Kamloops ridings. Just the candidates themselves, a couple of supporters from the party, some reporters and a homeless guy who happened by on his rounds.

Never mind, it was a pleasant morning in a nice setting, the Columbia Street hill lookout providing a backdrop of the North and South Thompson River valleys. The modest size of the gathering wasn’t for any lack of enthusiasm — Dennis Giesbrecht and Ward Stamer were officially confirmed as the candidates in Kamloops Centre and Kamloops-North Thompson, respectively, only the day before.

There was no nomination process; the pair were appointed by the party with leader John Rustad’s blessing. So they had no competitors for the job. No membership sign-up campaigns or “pick me” speeches or nomination meetings with a counting of ballots.

It’s not unusual in the growing roster of 40 or so candidates chosen so far by the BC Conservatives. Which presents a bit of a challenge in building momentum locally, not just for the Conservatives but for BC United as well.

Since BC United will be represented in our two ridings by incumbents Todd Stone and Peter Milobar, there will be no big build-up through the party nomination process for them either. Add to that the likelihood that City councillor Bill Sarai will be unopposed in his bid for the NDP nomination in Kamloops Centre and you’ve got the makings of a ho-hum lead-up to the Oct. 19 election.

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At least, in these early stages. As I said last week, once we get into true silly season, things will heat up quite nicely. But building party memberships, volunteers, donations and excitement depends a lot on nomination races, which will be largely absent.

Neither Giesbrecht nor Stamer, though, is lacking in political experience. An industrial inspector by trade, Giesbrecht has run for City council twice, and ran in the last provincial election for the BC Conservatives in Kamloops-North Thompson.

Stamer, from a prominent logging family, is in his second term as the mayor of Barriere and tried for the Conservative nomination in the last federal election, losing out to Frank Caputo who went on to become the Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo MP.

I served with Ward on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board and can attest to his energetic, often boisterous approach.

Both candidates brushed off the notion that they’ll split the vote by robbing from Milobar and Stone, allowing the NDP a couple of potential wins. After a few remarks and some questions from the media, the newser broke up and the reporters left to file their stories and pictures.

The homeless guy didn’t seem impressed with what he heard on the subject of social disorder, or with politicians in general and what they say should be done about it. “But nobody listens to me,” he told me. “I’m homeless.” Then he went on his way.

Tough crowd.

SPEAKING OF POLITICS… I ran into Frank Caputo later in the day and we chatted for a bit about that visit to the Quebec medium-security prison during which he says he came face-to-face with notorious killer Paul Bernardo. Although prison officials have questioned whether he “interacted” with Bernardo, Caputo says there was no question about who it was. He recognized Bernardo’s face and hair — which remains the same colour as it was years ago — immediately. They didn’t exchange words but by Caputo’s description of the incident it was a chilling experience. And a prison official confirmed to him later it was Bernardo and that they kept a very close eye on him during the chance encounter…. Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson delivered the annual State of the City address to the chamber of commerce Thursday night without the slide show he’d planned. He wanted to back up his speech with photos sent in to him by residents but was belatedly informed that once he accepted possession of the pictures they became corporate property, which kicks in all sorts of regulations about privacy…. Kúkpi7 Rosanne Casimir was supposed to be there for a speech as well but broke her leg playing soccer and gamely Zoomed it in…. If anyone ever doubted it, Dieter Dudy fully intends to run for City council again “if the opportunity presents itself.” He confirmed it in a Facebook post yesterday, though he didn’t say whether he might run for mayor again, or go for one of the eight councillor jobs…. When Ward Stamer made his unsuccessful attempt to snare the federal Conservative nomination a few years ago, one of his more interesting proposals was that the country scrap the five-dollar bill in favour of a five-dollar coin. When I reminded him of that yesterday, he acknowledged it might have been a better idea a few years ago than it is now…. And a piece of trivia for you: Stamer was encouraged to try for the BC Liberal nomination in Kamloops-North Thompson in the 2017 election but decided the time wasn’t right.

Mel Rothenburger is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.