Elev8 Prince George shifts strategy, unveils list of six incumbents it opposes

Luke said the reaction led him to rethink the organization’s approach.

“The whole idea of how it started was to get people to vote,” Luke told reporters following the event.

“That was it, get more people out to vote. All the people that we talked to, had coffee with, we had sort of a consensus of what the public was thinking of who they wanted. Because of all the backlash that we took, I didn’t want to put any shade on any of the candidates at all. So they do their campaigns with their own thing, and I don’t want any of our stuff to affect them.”

Instead of naming eight preferred candidates, Luke unveiled a list of six current elected officials he said the organization does not want to see returned to council chambers. The list includes mayoral candidates and incumbent councillors Kyle Sampson and Garth Frizzell, along with incumbent councillors Cori Ramsay, Ron Polillo, Tim Bennett and Susan Scott.

“We decided we’re allowed to, as a third party, let people know who we like and who we don’t want to see in council and now that’ll be our focus is to let people know,” Luke said.

Throughout his presentation, Luke criticized several decisions made during the current council term, including votes against distributing remaining council contingency funds to seniors’ centres and against restoring public notices in local newspapers. He also took aim at council’s decision earlier this year to revisit the issue of council remuneration following the election.

Luke argued that councillors who supported postponing the discussion could ultimately benefit from a future pay increase if re-elected. Speaking afterward, he said those votes, combined with broader concerns about transparency and council dynamics, informed the organization’s decision to target the six incumbents.

“Well, it was just a couple of those ways they voted about the seniors and the transparency about moving the pay raise down the road to the next council, but yet they’re all running,” Luke said.

“It seems like in city hall, there’s a lot of six-to-three votes. That’s why a lot of things don’t happen. We find it’s because you don’t have that commonality. You don’t have people working together. It’s almost like there are two groups in there, and you need to be able to work together in local government.”

Luke maintained that Elev8’s primary objective remains increasing public engagement and voter participation ahead of election day. Luke said the positions promoted by Elev8 were developed through conversations with residents over the past two years. When asked who else was involved in compiling the list of candidates, he declined to identify any members of the organization beyond himself.

“Just the general public,” he said.

“I myself started the whole thing, but there’s really probably 50 to 100 people that attend regular meetings and that’s where all that information came from. Everyone had input of ‘what do you think?'”

Luke said those discussions took place in a variety of informal settings, including coffee shops, businesses and around kitchen tables across the city. He also defended Elev8 against criticism it received after first announcing its plans to endorse candidates.

“What we did is we did exactly the same thing that anyone who was running for council did,” Luke said.

“We feel that there are people that don’t want us to succeed and get the vote out and make sure we have a more robust, different kind of a council.”

Several speakers addressed attendees before Luke revealed the anti-endorsement list.

Among them was former Prince George mayor Colin Kinsley, who served from 1996 to 2008. Kinsley criticized what he described as inefficient budgeting practices at city hall and challenged current leaders to be more innovative when managing taxpayer dollars.

“Where’s the creative thinking? Where’s the innovation?” Kinsley told the audience.

“Let’s be innovative, let’s be creative, and let’s think about the taxpayers first for a change.”

Kinsley also emphasized that he was not attempting to direct residents toward specific candidates.

“I’m not trying to influence anybody on individual votes,” he said. “The candidates can do that over the next five weeks, but I want those that go to our city hall to give back to the citizens, not the bureaucrats.”

Also speaking at the event were Shirley Morin, general manager of Spruce Capital Seniors Recreation Centre, who discussed seniors’ services and funding concerns, and Bruce Kidd of the Kidd Group, who spoke about challenges facing the local development and construction industry. Several School District 57 trustee candidates were also invited to address the crowd.

Despite changing strategies, Luke said Elev8 Prince George will continue fundraising throughout the election campaign. He said donations will be used to advertise information about city council voting records and municipal spending decisions.

“We are accepting donations and we have an auditor that’s working with us,” Luke said.

“Any donations we get will be put into advertising or promoting how different councillors were voting and where all your taxpayer money is going.”

Luke closed the evening by encouraging residents to conduct their own research, engage with local issues and vote in what he considers to be a critical municipal election.

Prince George residents head to the polls on Oct. 17.

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Email: Adam.Berls@pattisonmedia.com

by Adam Berls

Elev8 Prince George shifts strategy, unveils list of six incumbents it opposes

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