By Cailin Cousins / Got News Network

Voters get plenty of face time with candidates at open house

Oct 9, 2018 | 4:46 PM

WILLIAMS LAKE – On Thursday evening, community members who attended the All Candidate Meet and Greet in the Gibraltar Room had plenty of face-to-face time to ask election candidates questions.  All candidates but Council hopeful Craig Smith were present.

New this year, the Williams Lake and District Chamber of Commerce collectively decided to change their approach to the traditional all candidates forum, based on how it had been done in Kamloops during the last provincial election.  “Rather than an all-candidates forum with questions and answers, this allowed people to come and speak directly to the candidates about issues that they might have,” advises Williams Lake Chamber Director Dave Walgren.  “It went really well.”  In the past, the Chamber of Commerce, Council of Canadians, and even the Seniors Village hosted debate-based platforms were very well attended.

As part of their new format this election, the Chamber also conducted video interviews with each one of the candidates, and have posted the videos on their YouTube channel.   A Chamber representative advised the videos helped him make the most-informed voting decision, perhaps a different decision than he would otherwise have made, specifically due to the way certain questions were answered.   Anyone can watch the candidate videos on YouTube.   In the six days, these video interviews have been available for viewing, they’ve been watched an average of 120 times each.  Many of the candidates are making good use of social media platforms, as well. 

Everything Cariboo/Cariboo News and Events prepared a list of unique questions and chose one question randomly per candidate we were able to speak with. You can view their answers below: 

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The 2018 City of Williams Lake Local Government Election will be held on Saturday, October 20, 2018, at the Marie Sharpe Elementary School Gymnasium, located at 260 Cameron Street, Williams Lake.  For more local election information, including advanced voting opportunities, you can visit the City of Williams Lake’s own website.