Ahead of the Oct. 15 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 occupation and your historical connection to the Kamloops area.
I’m a retired reporter with a 43-year career, including 18 years at Kamloops This Week. We moved here in 1999 and I consider Kamloops my natural hometown. Since moving here, I have volunteered on boards of the district parent advisory committee, Kamloops Therapeutic Riding, Family Tree Family Centre, Inclusion Kamloops Society, People in Motion and Volunteer Kamloops. I was also a member of the committee which worked to create the school of the Arts in SD73 and a member of an SD73 superintendent’s taskforce on how to encourage more males to become teachers at the elementary level. I’ve also been a city councillor since 2018.
What differentiates you from the other candidates?
Obviously experience in the job and understanding the legislation we must follow. For example, a candidate is promising meetings with BC Housing on housing and shelters will no longer be closed. The Community Charter requires they be dealt with confidentially.
What do you think is the best way to resolve disagreements or conflicts with your peers, those in a different department or those in a different jurisdiction?
Listen. Be open to other viewpoints. Research issues you are unfamiliar with. Be respectful. Accept you might be wrong.
What do you think is the biggest issue facing the City of Kamloops and how would use your elected position to address it?
I don’t believe there is just one issue but will define my views by saying safety is the biggest issue. That encompasses so many things: street safety and the social issues that flow from it, housing safety and the lack of affordable housing, health safety and the crisis our health-care workers endure daily, business safety and the need to keep growing a vibrant and successful economic sector and personal safety, which includes inclusivity, acceptance, and a sense of belonging for all.
What to do? Keep advocating to senior government levels, keep pushing for help, keep asking for answers from IHA, keep listening to our people and create a council again that works as a team. Too many councils become divided and waste time focusing on their internal grievances rather than presenting a unified voice.
How do you plan to involve Kamloops residents in your decision-making?
Before COVID-19, I was going to neighbourhood association meetings to listen to the people. I look forward to doing that again.
What does a sustainable future for Kamloops and area look like to you and what does it need from mayor and council?
A sustainable future is one that meets our strategic plan. It includes a vibrant economy. It includes safety and security. It includes affordable housing. It includes an end to opioid overdoses and deaths. It includes hope and prosperity.
How to achieve it? Council needs to work together, to listen to Kamloopsians, to push for what we need and to be able to make tough decisions. Too often our decisions make some people happy and others angry. Council and mayor need to accept you can’t please everyone.
