It was a busy night for local candidates as voters turned out for the Community Election Open House in Salmon Arm on Tuesday.
The Salmon Arm Chamber of Commerce hosted the Oct. 6 event at the SASCU Recreation Centre, giving residents an opportunity to speak directly with candidates ahead of the municipal election.
Voters were already waiting in the lobby before the event began at 5:30 p.m. Once the doors opened, attendees moved between candidates’ booths to ask questions and discuss local issues.
Christine Jontz-Barbour, executive director of the Salmon Arm Chamber of Commerce, said the organization wanted to give residents an opportunity to have more direct conversations with candidates.
“With the number of candidates that are on the ballot, there was just not enough time to facility constructive debate … and we are just eager to try something new.”
Incumbent Mayor Alan Harrison and mayoral challenger Daniel Bardy both set up booths and spoke with voters.
Bardy said he was not a fan of the open-house format because attendees could naturally gravitate toward candidates they already knew.
“I don’t like this format because we don’t have the space to publicly speak ourselves and sell ourselves, our idea, our platform,” he said.
Bardy said many people also asked him what it meant to run as an independent. An independent candidate is not affiliated with a political party.
“I encourage people to not and vote for the independent mind,” he said. “I follow needs of people in the community, not any foreign agenda or provincial guidance on anything like that.”
Harrison said he was open to the new format and felt it was working well for those who attended.
“Some people come up with questions about the water treatment plant and how we can fund that and about recreation facilities … some people just come up and ‘you’re doing a good job,'” he said.
Salmon Arm voters have two advance voting opportunities. The first is Wednesday, Oct. 7, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the 5 Avenue Seniors Activity Centre. The second is Tuesday, Oct. 13, at the same time and location.
General voting day is Saturday, Oct. 17, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the 5 Avenue Seniors Activity Centre, Little Mountain Field House and North Canoe Elementary School.
