Are you sometimes dismayed by the apparent quality (or lack thereof) of the politicians we elect? Here is a chance to do something about it.
Clearwater Times and Clearwater Chamber of Commerce are once again cooperating to put on an all candidates forum locally.
The event will be held Monday, April 11, in the Pit at Clearwater Secondary School, 7 p.m.
All five candidates running in the federal election for the Kamloops-Thompson-Caribou riding are expected to attend: Conservative Cathy McLeod, New Democrat Michael Crawford, Liberal Murray Todd, Green Party’s Donovan Cavers and Christian Heritage Party’s Chris Kempling.
Chamber president Merlin Blackwell will be the moderator.
The general format will follow that used in year’s past - each candidate will have a couple of minutes to introduce him or herself. This will be followed by a question period from the audience (try to keep the questions short - people will be there to hear the candidates, not you). The event will wind up with each candidate having another couple of minutes for concluding remarks.
A meet-and-greet, with a chance to speak with the candidates face-to-face, will follow.
We often hear about how this is the electronic age and how elections are being decided by how candidates present themselves on Twitter and Facebook. This might be true, but we shouldn’t be surprised if the people we elect because of the image they present on the Internet or other electronic media don’t turn out to be quite what we had hoped.
Most of us can quickly size people up in a face-to-face meeting. Sometimes we make mistakes, but the chances of that happening as a result of meeting with a flesh-and-blood human being are much less than if we rely on the information we receive over the media.
The all-candidates’ forum will be a chance to see the candidates as they really are. How much does this candidate know about the issues that are important to the North Thompson Valley? How effective would that candidate be in presenting our concerns in Ottawa? These are the sorts of questions that can only be answered by actually being there to size the candidates up.
Mark the evening of Monday, April 11 on your calendar. See you at the CSS Pit.