Approximately 100 Pemberton residents filled the room at the Pemberton & District Community Centre to hear from their local government hopefuls ahead of the upcoming municipal election at an all-candidates meeting on Sept. 26.
All three mayoral candidates—incumbent Mike Richman and challengers Chadi Abouhalka and David MacKenzie—were on hand for the meeting, as well as four of six council candidates: incumbent Ted Craddock, Jennie Helmer, Laura Ramsden, and Katrina Nightingale (who joined via Zoom with a sit-in at the table to speak for her in case of technical difficulties). Council candidates Derek Graves and Eli Zysman were not in attendance.
The forum, hosted by the Pemberton + District Chamber (PDC) and the Pemberton Off Road Cycling Association (PORCA) and moderated by PORCA president Ian Kruger, started with each candidate being given three minutes for opening remarks, followed by questions from Kruger and the audience and then two minutes at the end for closing remarks.
But the first questions of the night were pulled straight from a PDC survey to members, as well as a question directly from Lil'wat Nation Chief Dean Nelson: "What steps have you taken or will you take to work towards reconciliation, and what level of inclusion do you plan to have with the Lil'wat Nation?" (Find a full recording of the event here.)
For most candidates, the opening remarks were a prepared statement used to introduce themselves, outline some areas of concern they want to address should they get the job, and share their reasons for throwing their name in the ring and qualities that make them suitable for the job.
“With all the growth and change that is going on in this community, we’re not going to be able to stop the change that’s happening, but we do have the ability to make decisions about what that change looks like,” said Ramsden, the youngest candidate on the panel.
Others, like mayoral candidate Abouhalka, used the time to get more into specific platform ideas that he wants to implement should he get the job, while the incumbents (Richman and Craddock) used their opportunities to talk about the things they have already accomplished over their years of experience working for the village, and where they hope to take it moving forward.
Despite the different approaches to the opening statements, the main issues raised by nearly all the candidates—as well as the community members in attendance—revolved around similar topics, which included climate change, affordable housing and sustainable growth management.
Throughout the two-hour session, the candidates were asked seven questions covering topics including: what steps they have taken towards reconciliation; specific solutions to combat the affordable housing shortage; how they plan for infrastructure to keep pace with the town’s growth; how they plan to support the growth of arts and culture in the community; the importance of the local trail network and plans to increase funding for it; their plans to combat climate change; how they have prepared for the role; and one question that was more so used as a way to call all the current council members liars than to invoke an actual thoughtful response from any of the candidates.
While it was difficult for candidates to do more than just scratch the surface on these big issues in their one minute of speaking time per question (as Richman noted on multiple occasions), each candidate did their best to show the audience how important they believe each topic is, and the focus they plan to put on each of those issues.
As the session began to wrap up, the closing statements gave the candidates an opportunity to show their passion for the community and once again reiterate what makes them the perfect person to represent the community of Pemberton for the next four years.
“This speed dating [format] is really tough. To talk about reconciliation in one minute, to tell you how we’re going to tackle housing in one minute. We haven’t even talked about transit today. We haven’t talked about recreation today, we haven’t talked about mental health and how we are going to support that kind of work,” said Richman in his closing remarks.
“There are so many ideas that I would like to share with you. There is so much more I would like to hear from all of you and tonight is tight. I would like this to be a springboard [and] I’m hopeful that this is the starting point.”
Advance voting is taking place in Pemberton on Saturday, Oct. 1 from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Pemberton & District Community Centre, and again on Wednesday, Oct. 5 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Election day is Oct. 15.
.png;w=120;h=80;mode=crop)
