The election draws near! On or before Oct. 19 (if you take advantage of advance voting, as I often do –– no surprise that election days can be hectic for journalists) we'll be casting our ballots to elect one of four candidates in the Powell River-Sunshine Coast riding.
(Find all the details in our previous story, 2024 provincial election 'who, what, when and where' for the lower Sunshine Coast.)
Next week, the Coast Reporter's print edition will bring you our customary Q&A grid, asking candidates just some of our burning questions. This section is designed be ripped out of the paper so you may bring it with you to the voting booth as it offers brief insight into the candidates.
For the rest of your (and our!) deeper questions, there are several all-candidate meetings lined up.
Topic-specific meetings
- Sunshine Coast's Conservation Association’s environmental meeting is Oct. 6, 3-5 p.m. at Roberts Creek Hall
- Pender Harbour & Area Residents Association's meeting is Oct. 8, 5:30 p.m. at the Pender Harbour Legion
- Halfmoon Bay Community Association's meeting is Oct. 10, 7 p.m. at Coopers Green
I also note that the Sunshine Coast Labour Council had, by all accounts, a well-attended meeting last Tuesday (candidates were asked about affordable housing for workers, fair wages for essential workers, sustainable jobs and the environment as well as supporting unionized public services).
The conservation association also asked candidates a selection of questions, the answers to which are available on its website.
How to attend the Coast Reporter-Chamber of Commerce all-candidate meetings
Coast Reporter and the Sunshine Coast Chamber of Commerce will host two general-topic, live-streamed all-candidate meetings: Oct. 9, 7 p.m. at the Heritage Playhouse and Oct. 11, 7 p.m. at the Sechelt Seniors Activity Centre.
The events are free but note seating is limited in each venue.
Submit your questions for candidates to candidatequestions.ca.
While the livestreams will be posted to Facebook, we will have links, the post-event video and coverage at coasterporter.net.
Find the Gibsons event live stream, Oct. 9, at www.facebook.com/events/1013669353888005/
Find the Sechelt event live stream, Oct. 11, at www.facebook.com/events/1969372700194778/
If you have any questions about this event, please email me at [email protected].
On a different note
On a different election note, we’re hearing from Chris Moore’s campaign team that there’s a perception in the community that he denied us an interview when we interviewed candidates early last month –– this is not the case. As the longest-standing candidate, Moore has been interviewed and profiled several times by Coast Reporter and his team has been receptive to media inquiries. It was circumstance and in the quest of even coverage that we gave space to each party last month, notably, Conservative party leader John Rustad, who did the interview alone, after Moore dropped out due to a scheduling conflict.
Find coverage of all our candidates at coastreporter.net/2024-bc-votes. Happy voting!
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