An absent candidate took most of the criticism at an election forum Wednesday in sa国际传媒.聽
BC Conservative hopeful Tara Armstrong was not at the morning debate, which featured only NDP candidate Anna Warwick Sears and Independent candidate Kevin Kraft.聽
Armstrongsa国际传媒 absence was noted repeatedly, with Warwick Sears saying the BC Conservatives have a lot of candidates about whom voters know very little.聽
鈥淲e really need to be able to trust our elected representatives. We need to have people who have a track record, and we need to understand where they鈥檙e coming from,鈥 Warwick Sears said.聽
She praised former BC United MLA Norm Letnick and current Conservative MP Tracy Gray for being engaged with the community, noting both were city councillors.聽
鈥淭rust is essential. What we鈥檙e looking at right now, not to get partisan, but the fact of the matter is the Conservatives only have eight candidates with any experience in the legislature,鈥 Warwick Sears said.聽
鈥淭heir ideas are to come in and start all over again from the ground up, reforming government, and they have a very shallow bench,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 think itsa国际传媒 going to be unpredictable and destabilizing.
鈥淚 believe the NDP is rational, stable, experienced. You may not like all their ideas, their policies, but they are definitely people who you can negotiate with and people that really have the best interests of ordinary people at heart.鈥
鈥淚 just think itsa国际传媒 a risk if we鈥檙e looking at a wholesale change in government at this point,鈥 said Warwick Sears, who has taken a leave from her job as executive director of the Okanagan Basin Water Board to run in the election.聽
鈥淚 have been working for this community for my entire career,鈥 she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 a known quantity and I鈥檝e been very successful.鈥
For his part, Kraft also played up his service to the community. He is the elected representative for the unincorporated areas east of sa国际传媒, Joe Riche and Ellison, on the Central Okanagan Regional District board.聽
鈥淭he role of an MLA is to be relatable, reliable, realistic, and immersed in their communities,鈥 Kraft said. 鈥淵ou have to be deeply rooted in the communities that we鈥檙e charged to serve.鈥
The party system sometimes emphasizes loyalty to ideas rather than service to people, Kraft said, suggesting he would be free to represent voters in a more authentic and ongoing way.聽
鈥淚 have a very good grasp of rural versus municipal issues. I believe in a balance of approaches,鈥 he said. 鈥淢y campaign and intent is really about local representation.鈥
Kraft drew a laugh from the crowd when he described himself as a regular person, 鈥樷渟traight outta Rutland鈥, using a popular phrase that expresses affection for, and pride in the sometimes maligned large sa国际传媒 neighborhood centred around Highway 33.聽
Kraft said he hoped that his campaign and that of other Independents might inspire more young people to take an interest in elections and show up to vote: 鈥淲e鈥檙e getting to a point where a lot of people are not wanting to vote or get involved in the political process. Thatsa国际传媒 wrong.鈥
Kraft described himself as a centre-right candidate. If Independents such as he manage to get a foothold in the legislature, he said, they would be well-placed to hold whichever party forms government to a higher degree of public accountability.聽
In an email to The Daily Courier, Armstrong said she owed it to the people of the sa国际传媒-Lake Country-Coldstream riding to 鈥渟peak with them one-on-one at the doors to hear their concerns. That will be my focus for the remainder of the election campaign, and itsa国际传媒 why I will not be participating in the forum.鈥
The BC Green candidate for the riding, Andrew Rose, was also a no-show at the debate.
