In the photo: Vision Kamloops members running for a seat on city council are, from left: Brad Harrison, Dieter Dudy, Daphane Nelson and Jenny Green. Andrea Klassen photo/KTW
They call themselves Vision Kamloops, but it’s not yet clear what issues have led five candidates for Kamloops city council to form an alliance as the 2014 municipal campaign gets underway.
Candidates Jenny Green, Daphne Nelson, Dieter Dudy, Brad Harrison and Denis Walsh told media at a press event on Tuesday, Oct. 14, they agreed on the weekend to work together during the campaign, but are still working out details of a shared platform.
“When you have a number of candidates out there that have filed, they’re running for council, and we find afterwards we have a fit with each other and want to get together. You still have to take the time to build your platform properly,” said Dudy.
KAMLOOPS VOTERS SOCIETY TO SCALE BACK EFFORTS
With much of its executive now seeking seats on city council, the Kamloops Voters Society (KVS) is scaling back its efforts to get voters to the polls on Nov. 15. Brad Harrison, who stepped down as president of the society after filing his nomination papers for city council on Friday, Oct. 10, said Thompson Rivers University political-science instructor Derek Cook will step in as head of the organization. Four members of KVS — Harrison, Denis Walsh, Daphne Nelson and Dieter Dudy — are seeking council seats as part of the Vision Kamloops group. “Probably, given we’ve lost a lot of horsepower, we’ll have to curtail our activities,” Harrison said. An online survey seeking voter input on significant issues is proceeding and the group still plans to help out at candidate mixers it is hosting in conjunction with other groups. But, Harrison is uncertain what the society will look like after voting day. “We’ll have to see at the end,” he said. “How many people get elected determines where the KVS goes from here.” Though he acknowledged the public may see the society as a supporter of Vision Kamloops, Harrison said the group remains non-partisan, noting KVS members running for city council have stepped away from their roles with society.“But, in all fairness to the community and in all fairness to you, the media, we wanted to let you know that we did exist.”
Dudy, a Westsyde farmer, said Vision Kamloops intends to focus on the long-term future of the city.
“I think, over the last number of years, we’ve concentrated on short-term thinking,” he said. “We need to get beyond that. That’s what our vision is.”
While members of the group declined to explain what issues brought them together, all five candidates said they oppose the proposed Ajax copper and gold mine.
Four of the candidates are also Kamloops Voters Society members.
Green, a community-health facilitator for the Interior Health Authority and the only non-KVS member, said she met her fellow Vision Kamloops running mates through her interest in food security and advocacy.
“We all show up at the same events,” she said.
Nelson, an administrator with a downtown law firm, believes the alliance will help voters when they cast ballots on Nov. 15.
“Sometimes it’s a bit more difficult to navigate through all the candidates and we’ve all come together with a common interest,” she said.
Two names on the slate will likely be most familiar to voters.
Walsh, owner of MovieMart, served as a city councillor from 2008 to 2011, while Dudy mounted a late challenge for mayor in the 2011 election that nearly unseated incumbent Peter Milobar.
Harrison is the former president of the Kamloops Voters Society and teaches in the tourism program at Thompson Rivers University.
The group intends to release a full platform on Thursday, Oct. 16.
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