Castlegar All Candidates Forum Highlights – Castlegar News

Castlegar’s All Candidates Forum was well attended on October 5 with seats full and people standing around the perimeter of the room. Many more watched the event through Castlegar News’ Facebook Live stream.

The forum was organized by the Castlegar and District Chamber of Commerce and moderated by Suzanne Lehbauer.

All of the City of Castlegar candidates – Lawrence Chernoff, Maria McFaddin, Darcy Bell, Brian Bogle, Sandy Bojechko, Shirley Fahlstead, Sue Heaton-Shrerstibitoff, Cherryl McLeod and Florio Vassilakakis – were present as well as the two RDCK Area J candidates – Henny Hanegraaf and Kim Tassone.

The word of the night was “collaboration” with nearly every contestant mentioning the word at some point during the evening.

Candidates received opening and closing statements and the opportunity to respond to questions submitted in writing by the audience.

Time allowed for a dozen questions on the following topics: Community Safety, City Employees, Sahlstrom Entry Decision, Airport Lands, Inclusiveness, Ambulance Service, Land Strategy/Housing Development of Brandson Park, Millennium Ponds, homelessness, housing, yard waste and community grants.

Candidates used their opening and closing statements to tell people why they should choose them as their representatives. Here are some key words from each candidate:

Mayor

Lawrence Chernoff — integrity, leadership, mayoral experience

Maria McFaddin — humility, listening, community collaboration

Advice

Darcy Bell — business administration experience, increased resources, hard work

Brian Bogle — housing first, working with developers, business experience

Sandy Bojechko — union activist, listening to residents, improving accessibility

Shirley Fahlstead — experience in economic development, financial knowledge, results-oriented decisions

Cherryl McLeod – board experience, research decisions, ask tough questions

Sue Heaton-Shrerstibitoff — board experience/achievements, volunteerism, forward-thinking

Florio Vassilakakis – past council achievements, fiscal prudence, city business update

J-zone

Henny Hanegraaf — Union Negotiation/Labour Management Experience, Volunteering, Collaborative Skills

Kim Tassone — outspoken, responsible growth, priority to water supply

The forum video can be viewed via the following two links. We apologize that a technical issue resulted in two clips with Lawrence Chernoff’s opening statement split between the two videos.

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