Ahead of the Oct. 17 municipal election, CFJC Today asked candidates for Kamloops City Council to complete a questionnaire, offering voters the chance to evaluate their candidacies.
QUESTIONNAIRE:
Describe yourself, your professional background, and why you’re running for public office in Kamloops?
Two-term councillor, former journalist, running to continue the work that matters to the city.
What do you think is the biggest issue facing the City of Kamloops and how would you use your elected position to address it?
Hard question to answer. Trump tariffs. Carney recreating the national economy. An unpredictable world. Right now, I think our biggest issue is finding our way through all of this to keep the city growing. That involves acknowledging there is not one big issue. There are several of equal weight. Affordability. What does that mean? Safety and security – it is an ongoing challenge as well. Housing – will we ever have enough for everyone?
Following a term highlighted by infighting and tension at city hall that impacted Kamloops’ public image, how would you ensure civil discourse and good governance would take place between yourself, fellow elected officials and city staff?
The tension was just councillors with the mayor. Councillors worked well together, cared about good governance and made hard decisions necessary to ensure our staff had a safe workplace.
Considering recent years of large municipal tax increases in Kamloops, how would you address the city’s tax rate going forward?
Again, a hard question to answer because you are asking me to predict so many variables. I think the best answer not knowing what the future will bring us to say we need to thoroughly analyze everything, prioritize and maybe make some hard decisions.
As major infrastructure projects are on the horizon in Kamloops, how would you prefer the city go about gaining the electorate’s approval – via referendum or the alternative approval process (AAP)? Why?
AAP has existed for years. We have used it for years. Back with the water treatment plant there was a counter-petition push, but no one claimed it wasn’t democratic. And to be honest, 10 per cent required versus barely 30 per cent vote? The idea the city should have a say but most of the city doesn’t bother.
What are your thoughts on communication between the City of Kamloops and its residents? Are there areas of improvement you’d like to see?
I tried with the town halls but the format wasn’t what I envisioned. I successfully got neighbourhood associations on an engagement group. We have Let’s Talk. We have a newsletter. We all have email and phones. There are plenty of ways to hear from the public. I’m hopeful we can bring back public inquiries at council, but that would require the small but angry group who feel it is their right to attack staff would have to stop.
