We are extremely proud of the 100 or so area residents who showed up for Monday night’s federal all-candidates forum in the Valley Room.
According to the candidates, the turnout here was equal to the numbers in the larger urban centres and greater than those in the rural areas.
We also appreciate the efforts of the South Cariboo Chamber of Commerce making the forum happen.
We were a little disappointed at the make up of the crowd though, particularly the lack of representatives from those in the 20- to 40-years bracket.
Unfortunately, this generation is generally missing in action when it comes to community involvement whether it’s elections, volunteering or just generally getting involved.
Hopefully, the next generation will take up the slack.
Meanwhile, we also appreciate the fact all five candidates showed up for the forum, including Green Party candidate Donovan Cavers who falls into the aforementioned missing generation.
The candidates were cordial, well spoken and handled the questions with a certain expertise.
We were given the opportunity to see them in action and see if they made eye contact and what their body language was like when they were pressed for answers or attacked on party policies.
It was also interesting to see what issues they avoided at all costs, and one can only wonder what the show would have been like during old-fashioned political debates of years gone-by rather than the somewhat moderate version we experienced Monday night.
However, it was good that we had a great turnout and all the candidates made the effort to represent themselves and their parties to the best of their abilities.
This is a very important federal election and we believe it will likely set the blueprint for the future of our country for years to come.
We urge folks who haven’t yet voted for the candidate or party of their choice to go to the polls May 2 and mark their ballots.
