B.C. civic elections: Incumbent mayor in Kamloops facing just one challenger

Ken Christian calls himself a man with experience. William Turnbull says he works hard at communication and compassion.

Civic elections will take place across British Columbia on Saturday, Oct. 20th, with residents voting to who’ll be their local mayor, town or city councillors and school trustees. In Kamloops, just two people are running for mayor: incumbent mayor Christian and challenger Turnbull.

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This week, Global News contacted the two candidates and posed questions to them.

In a phone interview, Christian was asked three questions:

• What is the biggest issue in Kamloops, and how are you going to tackle it?
• Why did you get into politics?
• Why should people vote for you?

Here are Christian’s responses.

• “Kamloops is no different than a lot of other cities in the Okanagan region. We are concerned about controlling taxes and the costs of living. We have an affordable housing and homelessness problem here, but we also have some challenges with downtown revitalization. Our infrastructure is getting quite old, so we really need to get down to the knitting in terms of pavement and water mains and sewer mains and those kinds of civic infrastructure that are important to communities.”
• “I’ve been in politics for the last 25 years. When the former mayor left, there was a year left in that term, and I felt it best for the city to have someone with experience to take that on. In the past year, I’ve come to love this job. I’m passionate about the City of Kamloops and the role of mayor and being involved in the corporation and with council and with the community, it’s just a nice fit.”
• “I’ve served the city of Kamloops in an elected capacity for the past 25 years. I was 18 years on the school board, eight of those as the chairperson. Then I joined Kamloops city council in 2012 and was two terms as a councillor. I’ve served as the mayor since the byelection last year. So I have experience, and I think that’s important, whether you’re looking for a dentist or someone to run a corporation. And this is about running a corporation. It’s about providing leadership to council and being the CEO of the city and doing the work that’s required of a mayor under the community charter. So I think I have the experience to get that job done on behalf of Kamloops residents and I hope they feel the same way.”

Turnbull said no to a phone interview, preferring to communicate via email. He was also asked three questions.

• Why did you seek to become mayor?
• Why should people vote for you?
• What is the biggest, single issue in Kamloops? And how do you propose to solve it?

Below are Turnbull’s responses.

• “I feel the majority of citizens are being left out and left behind with the current mayor, (chief administrative officer) and staff-run city. I want to see a council / public tell the staff what they want and make sure the CAO ensure staff makes it happen.”
• “I offer a clear option to the current mayor. I am concerned with the common issues all Kamloopsians have and finding solutions. I work hard at communication and compassion.”
• “Jobs. Take a closer look at Venture Kamloops. Strengthen our primary traditional industries. Promote / create secondary industry. Take a look at some out-of-the-box industry, ie: perhaps hemp (China and India are world leaders for a reason in this area). Environment isn’t separate from job creation. Either is First Nation consultation. Perhaps Pacific Coastal Airlines could be coaxed back to Kamloops and offer direct flights to where many Kamloopsians work out of town, ie: Fort Mac.”