‘Muddier and more difficult to navigate’: Kamloops residents, business community react to snap election

“I think the majority of the rest of B.C. is ready for a change, but that’s just my own personal opinion. I’m sure other people feel differently,” said a third. “As for the election, I don’t love it just for the sense that it costs us a little bit more money”

A number of other people who spoke to CFJC Today but didn’t want to go on camera were surprised – and even disappointed – by the early election call. Others even questioned whether the provincial government has its priorities in order.

“We’ve been now two years without a Red Bridge, and I know this is a provincial duty to get us a Red Bridge, but it’s really inconvenient for a lot of us now having to divert traffic all the way around,” one resident said.

“It’s a pain [and] I haven’t heard much talk about us getting a new bridge and it’s a little bit frustrating.”

Jeremy Heighton, the executive director of the North Shore Business Improvement Association (NSBIA) in Kamloops, said the business community was also taken aback by David Eby’s decision to call an early election, just one week after the Oct. 17 municipal election.

“I don’t understand how the premier could be told by UBCM that we don’t want to conflate these two [elections] together, and yet here we are today,” Heighton said. “It’s concerning because it implies that the provincial government is not listening to the municipal governments in the province of B.C.”

Heighton told CFJC Today that he feels the two elections next month “will set the foundation for the entire community.”

“From a business perspective, certainty at council is a critical first step. Certainty in the province is also a step, but we’ve got to know that we can work with whoever is in council,” he said. “We need to turn up to vote but this now sort of makes that muddier and more difficult to navigate.”

“Our hope is through this process, municipalities will be well established on Oct. 17, but then we can also separate the provincial election candidates from the municipal candidates.”

While the NSBIA won’t endorse candidates or parties, Heighton encouraged Kamloopsians to vote, though he remained fearful that already poor voter turnout, especially at the municipal level, will take another hit because of these competing elections.

“We were hoping – with the number of candidates we’ve got running municipally in Kamloops – for 40 per cent, but now that we’ve got a second election to deal with, we don’t know if we’re going to be able to get that,” Heighton said.

“The three BIAs and the chamber are working very closely to try and ensure we have people who are informed and that they understand their responsibility to get out and vote.”

by Victor Kaisar

‘Muddier and more difficult to navigate’: Kamloops residents, business community react to snap election

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