The Surrey Community Leaders group, in conjunction with the West Panorama Ratepayers Association, hosted an all-candidates meeting on Thursday night in the Panorama Ridge area. The group sent a questionnaire to all candidates to complete prior to the session. The key issues were identified by Community Leaders representing 16 neighbourhood associations, 8 environmental groups as well as other civil organizations and educational institutions.
The event was well-attended with over 100 residents attending, 7 mayoral candidates and 25 council candidates.
Each candidate was given just over a minute to introduce themselves and the facilitators then gave them each a moment to answer one of the questions on the survey. As facilitator Bob Campbell noted, the candidates remained civilized and cordial. There was no opportunity for an open question session during the formal Q&A, as the sheer number of people involved would send the event well over the allotted two hour mark. Following the formal questioning period, the candidates were able to mix and engage with the residents to
Event organizers Grant Rice, Tammy Ritchie and facilitator Bob Campbell
answer any questions.
The facilitators were also keen to remind attendees that while there are a number of “slates” presented – you do not have to vote for a full slate. There are 8 councillor positions and one mayoral position – but residents don’t have to vote for candidates from the same slate, nor do they need to vote for candidates in all 8 positions.
Organizing events like this is challenging. “We had a good turnout, about 2/3 of the candidates showed up so that’s good,” said community advocate Grant Rice, one of the organizers of the event. “These formats are really difficult, we have so many candidates involved it’s really hard to give them a fair shake in getting their name and their word out.”
Residents in attendance said that while they were pleased to have the opportunity to meet and converse with the candidates, many hadn’t heard anything new at this session “I think my mind was pretty much made up, and this is just confirming,” said one resident. “Unfortunately, there were quite a few people missing tonight, so I feel like those voices I didn’t get to hear, so I feel like that would have helped me a little bit more.” The resident was referring to incumbent councillors, many of whom were attending the Police Officer of the Year Event that conflicted with this meeting. Although current councillor Tom Gill was in attendance and participated in the mayoral Q&A, no other Surrey First candidate attended the session.
Grant Rice has said the group will release a summary of the meeting and the candidates’ submitted answers as soon as they can.