With the civic election looming, it was the last big chance Wednesday for the city’s mayoral and council hopefuls to make an impression on voters at the media-sponsored all-candidates forum.

Roughly 500 people jammed TRU’s Grand Hall for a forum that turned out to be a more entertaining affair than previous ones.

Unlike the last two major forums — which focused on the North Shore and business — the issues Wednesday were varied, with candidates facing their questioners in person.

All three mayoral candidates came out swinging from the start.

Peter Milobar once again touted his experience as a councillor for six years and his work as Thompson-Nicola Regional District chairman, and argued the other candidates’ platforms regarding solutions to the affordable-housing crunch will cost landlords in the city $10 million.

Murphy Kennedy kept to his familiar refrain that city hall needs new blood and a new vision, and pledged to focus his attention on the North Shore — something he maintained has been lacking by the current city council.

Brian Alexander took a swipe at past mayors in his opening remarks, while insisting the city can’t afford to spend at its current rate.

He said the city has been purchasing “items suited for a palace” in reference to a recent purchase of a solar-powered trash compactor at the downtown transit exchange.

The mayoral candidates were also asked to respond to a number of topics, one of which included how they would tackle some of the health-care issues in the city.

Milobar said the health-care system is in crisis and stated he would lobby the Interior Health Authority (IHA) for improvements, but added the health authority is, at times, difficult to deal with.

Kennedy said the “silence from city hall was deafening” when he asserted the IHA didn’t want to fund beds for Kiwanis House last year, an organization he was working for at the time.

Councillor candidates discussed issued ranging from homelessness to tax rates.

Joyce Blair wants to make Kamloops safe and secure and is pushing for urban density growth.

Barbara Garrett wants to explore the idea for an inland port in Kamloops, while Wayne Vollrath wants to lower taxes in order to keep Kamloops affordable.

Another hot topic for the evening was the bylaw banning backyard fires.

Merv Hanson chimed in and said the ban was put in place without any consideration for outlying communities.

Nearly all council challengers, when asked for a show of hands, are in favour of revisiting the fire-ban bylaw.

All incumbent councillors stood by the ban.