With a whopping 23 candidates vying for Mayoral and Council seats in Port Alberni, residents have a lot of people to get to know.
If you’re wondering how you’re gonna fit that in to your busy schedule, we’ve got the answers.
Luckily, there are a lot of opportunities to help you learn about the folks you’ll be voting for.
We’ve compiled a list to give you all your options.
All-Candidates Meetings
The Alberni Valley Chamber of Commerce has three round-ups planned for early October. Each night will feature different candidates so they all get a fair chance to speak.
The events will take place at RimRock Casino in the conference rooms from 7–9 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
The first 30 minutes of each night will be a meet-and-greet, where you can simply walk up to candidates and start chatting.
Formal agendas will start at 7:30 p.m. Chamber CEO Bill Collette with introduce each candidate and they’ll be given 5 minutes to speak on themselves, their campaigns, and what they want to bring to Port Alberni.
On Tuesday, October 4th, school trustee candidates and candidates from Areas B (Beaufort), D (Sproat Lake), E (Beaver Creek) and F (Cherry Creek) will speak.
On Wednesday, October 5th, 12 council candidates (in alphabetical order) including Michelle Bisaro, Joshua Dahling, Dustin Dame, Terry Deakin, Jim Del Rio, Seva Dhaliwal, John Douglas, Debbie Haggard, Graham Hughes, Richard Huneault, Wendy Kerr and Sukhdev Krishan will be up to bat.
On Thursday, October 6, the last nine council candidates (Charles Mealey, Sandy McRuer, Todd Patola, Charlene Patterson, Ron Paulson, Peter Rueschmann, Cindy Solda, Dan Washington and Carole-Anne Zanette) will speak. This will be followed by 10 minutes presentations by both Mayoral candidates, incumbent Sharie Minions and newcomer Tom Verbrugge.
There likely won’t be time for any questions, given the number of candidates.
Coffee at Char’s
For a more intimate get-together, where you can meet your candidates with less crowd, you can head to Char’s Landing.
Charlene Patterson, who is running for city council, is hosting a weekly coffee chat with candidates on Mondays from 4–6 p.m. at Char’s Landing, 4815 Argyle Street.
Chat over coffee and get a chance to ask the questions you couldn’t at the all-candidates meetings.
Student Meetings
Trust our kids to be ahead of the game when it comes to politics.
The Social Justice 12 class at Alberni District Secondary School is hosting another all-candidates meet on Tuesday October 4th from 1:50–3 p.m. at the ADSS Theater.
The event is open to the public so anyone can come out listen, and likely ask some questions (if the students don’t ask them first!)
Head to Little Italy
Another chance to pester whoever you want to talk to. Perfect.
Carol-Anne Zanette, another council candidate, will be opening the Italian Hall September 29th for another informal “meet and greet” with all your mayoral and council candidates.
The event will take place from 6–8 p.m. at 4065 Sixth Avenue.
SD70 Trustees in Cherry Creek
This event is specifically to meet the school board trustee candidates for Cherry Creek.
Wednesday, September 28th, 6–8 p.m. at Cherry Creek Community Hall, 3720 Moore Road. You can again “meet and greet” with all the candidates and ask any questions your heart desires so long as you have especially pointy elbows.
On your own time
A number of candidates have made their email and phone number publicly available for you to reach out.
Or you can snoop on their social media.
The municipal election will take place Saturday, October 15th across British Columbia.
We encourage everyone to learn as much as they can about the people they’re voting for.
Good luck, and happy voting!
