DIY debate for council candidates
Candidates (from top left): David Chesney,Tom Corless, Roger Emanuels, Bruce Kleeberger, Bill Lawrence, Teresa McFadden, David Mensour and Grant Meyer,
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Updated: August 14, 2009 3:48 PM
Eight hopefuls are vying for the single spare seat on White Rock council – but the public will have limited opportunities to meet candidates or hear their views before the Sept. 12 byelection.
At press time, just one all-candidates meeting was scheduled – for Thursday, Aug. 20, 7 p.m., at White Rock Elks Hall (1469 George St.) – and this only at the instigation of candidate Tom Corless, a past-president of the Elks Club.
Other candidates in the byelection – necessitated by the B.C. Supreme Court overturning the re-election of James Coleridge – include Grant Meyer, Bill Lawrence, Teresa McFadden, Roger Emanuels, David Chesney, David Mensour and Bruce Kleeberger.
White Rock and South Surrey Chamber of Commerce, host of past elections’ all-candidates meetings, won’t be doing it this time.
Executive director Doug Hart said the ability to host a debate was not good from “a timing standpoint or from a budgetary standpoint.”
“There are a number of costs,” he said. “Once you get a hall... there’s the cost of setting up chairs and taking them down, the cost of an audio system and speakers, cleanup and finding an MC.”
Hart said the chamber is trying to organize several functions already, including a meeting on the HST.
“There is a lot of overlap,” he said.
The Harmonized Sales Tax meeting, still being finalized, is for local businesses to discuss the implications.
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