Incumbent Sechelt Mayor John Henderson and candidate Bruce Milne went toe-to-toe for a time during the last mayoral all-candidates’ meetings held in Sechelt, but Christine Younghusband managed to stay out of the fray as things heated up.
At both the all-candidates’ meeting at Chatelech Secondary School on Nov. 6 and the mayors’ luncheon at the Sechelt Golf and Country Club on Nov. 7, Henderson went after Milne for his choice of advertising during the campaign.
“There’s been wild allegations in Mr. Milne’s advertisements. There’s been wild allegations and empty rhetoric from other so-called third-party advertisers, who only in the last week or so have declared that they in fact are supporting Mr. Milne,” Henderson said. “The disrespect to staff that has been conveyed in the comments that have been made about in-camera meetings and about all sorts of other alleged improprieties is disgraceful and rejected.”
Milne responded by encouraging the public to look into the allegations printed.
“I can tell you that every single statement in every single advertisement that our campaign’s put out is backed up with facts and stories and anecdotes of real people who have come to talk to us about a level playing field, who have come to talk to us about intimidation and fear, who have come to talk to us about the lack of trust in this government,” Milne said. “There is not a single statement that is rhetorical and not supported. It is absolutely backed up.”
Except for a couple of other tussles over staff turnover and transparency at the District, the two candidates answered questions without conflict at both meetings and Younghusband was never drawn into the war of words.
Questions at the two meetings about things such as how candidates could involve the community more in policy making, what the three most important issues facing the District are and what candidates felt their biggest challenge would be if elected showed the varying styles and approaches of the mayoralty hopefuls.
When asked how candidates could better involve the public in District decisions and make government more transparent, Younghusband said trust and respect were key.
“When you have trust and respect, you can have those rich and honest dialogues with each other, and you can have your opinion so that you can take the time to have those shared understandings,” she said. “To have a shared understanding doesn’t necessarily mean you agree, but you can understand why, say for example, the District of Sechelt is moving in a certain direction,” adding that going at a pace the community is comfortable with is also important.
Milne said voters needed to elect a council that was open and responsive.
“The most important thing you can do for an open and transparent government is to elect people who by nature are open and responsive to the world around them,” Milne said, adding trust is also key.
Henderson said his council has been open and transparent.
“One of the problems is we haven’t made decisions that have necessarily been popular with a segment of the community and when that happens, in my experience, it’s often ‘oh you haven’t been transparent enough’ and I reject that,” Henderson said.
When asked what were the three most important issues facing the District in the coming term, Younghusband was quick to list the airport, maintenance of the treatment plant and Sechelt Innovations Ltd.
“I wonder about the viability of the airport and I think that’s a problem for our public,” Younghusband said.
She also pointed to Sechelt Innovations Ltd. as being a good idea, but said how it was developed created “bad feelings” in the community.
“And because of those bad feelings you can’t get to the heart of things because you don’t have the trust and respect amongst each other to move forward,” she said.
Milne pointed to economic development, the high turnover of staff at the District of Sechelt and budget transparency as his three most important issues.
“We’re told continually that the books are in very good shape, but people just don’t know,” Milne said.
Henderson listed just one priority, creating more jobs in Sechelt.
“That is at the cornerstone of everything we’re talking about,” Henderson said.
Finally, when asked what their biggest challenge would be if elected, Younghusband, Milne and Henderson all listed rebuilding trust to some degree.
“People have bad feelings out there. People are angry. People are mistrustful. People are uncertain and even if the processes were followed and even if things were on the up and up, whatever that means to you, some people are just still not sure,” Younghusband said.
Milne said trust was a major issue and noted, “It will be a challenge for the council to come together and to actually rebuild the trust that was lost over the last three years.”
Although not as quick to list trust as an issue, Henderson did say, “We have work to do on trust,” before adding, “The great number of people in this community trust our council and they certainly trust our staff.”
