My first impressions, following last night’s forum (without listening to the broadcast again on energeticcity.ca), was that some candidates are definitely more memorable than others, and not necessarily in a good way.
Looking back, it seemed that Don Irwin, Bruce Christensen, Josh Wilson and Warren Mears didn’t have a lot to say. Perhaps this is because they are not as outspoken as some of the others? By and large, the incumbent councillors (Larry Evans, Karen Simpson, Lori Ackerman, Dan Davies, Don Irwin, and Bruce Christensen), feel that council has done a good job in the past three years, and they would like to continue working for the community in their current capacities. All agree that services in the City need to be improved, including police, fire department, as well as infrastructure and handicapped accessibility.
Some of the new candidates, were extremely outspoken in their opinions of what they feel the current council has done wrong. The addition of one or two of these voices will certainly shake things up during council meetings, but I wonder if that’s really good. It’s been said, that Don Irwin is the lone voice of dissent in council meetings – not having attended any, I cannot say whether this is true, but certainly at the forum last night, he was quiet and most notably calm in expressing his opinions.
Not so, for Theresa Mucci-Rodgers, who quite clearly, has some issues with the City and present council. Just from listening to the broadcast last night, not going over it again yet today, her main issue is land. And what the City should do with it. And where the City should get it, in order to build the new fire hall. While I agree with some of what she said, namely that we shouldn’t spend $3 million for a chunk of land, the rest of her speeches struck me as nothing more than angry tirades.
Larry Evans, also had a bit to say on the construction of a new fire hall – as he was a fire-fighter in this city for years, and later, fire chief, I tend to put a lot of stock in his opinion on this matter. He says we need a new fire hall. Okay. But where? No one has mentioned the piece of land directly behind the current fire hall, which the city must own. The fire dept stores some of its stuff there, and has practiced putting out vehicle fires there in years past. What is wrong with using this piece of land to build a new fire hall, and possibily incorporating the current fire hall, by upgrading it in the same manner as the (much older) City Hall? Nobody either asked this question, or addressed the possibility. It seems to be a given, that a new, large, piece of virgin land in the City is required. Bollocks.
Larry also seems to be a big proponent of issues important to Seniors. Makes sense to me, we’re all going to be old one day. He wants to turn the old hospital (when the new one is built) into a centre for Seniors, some place where they can see their doctors, get care and take the pressure off the regular hospital. Currently, a number of Seniors spend months in the hospital, waiting for spaces in area Care Homes, after it becomes clear that they can no longer remain in their own homes, for whatever reasons. I think Larry is onto something there.
As far as the rest of the new candidates go, Trevor Bolin has jumped on the “I was born and raised here and I love FSJ” bandwagon, created by Dan Davies and Larry Evans. Certainly, I’m not disputing that fact, but we’re not going to vote for a guy just because he was born here. He seems to be a committed partisan of businesses, big and small, which is understandable, given his day-job as a real estate agent. He didn’t rant and rave, but then again, he didn’t really seem to take a stand on any major issues. Except he was in favour of lower taxes. Everyone, the world over, is in favour of lower taxes. I've never met, or heard of anyone who wants to pay MORE taxes . . . have you?
Connie Wowchuck, from some anonymous town in Saskatchewan – I don’t recall her saying where she was from originally (perhaps the kids were fighting and I missed it?) – didn’t take a stand on any issues at the forum either. My impression was that she talked about what she did in Sask., how hard she worked and how good she was. Who cares? What is it about FSJ that makes her want to run for council, and where does she stand on the issues the voters are concerned about?
Now we come to the mayoral candidates. Which I think I’ll put in a different post, since they had the most questions directed to them.
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