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Thursday, November 6, 2014
The Agassiz Y Harrison Lest we forget Remembrance Day November 11
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HARRISON Q&A
Council candidates discuss tourism and logging
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Mayoral candidate Ken Schwaerzle speaks during an all candidates meeting for District of Kent council hopefuls on Tuesday night. The event was hosted by the Harrison Agassiz JESSICA PETERS / OBSERVER Chamber of Commerce, prior to election day on Nov. 15.
Council hopefuls show discontentment
COMEDY NIGHTS
Jessica Peters
AGASSIZ OBSERVER
Jimmy’s hosts standup night this weekend
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INSIDE opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 mailbag . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 community . . . . . . . . 14 classiÄeds . . . . . . . . . 16 entertainment. . . . . . . 19
Tuesday night's all candidates meeting in the District of Kent gave voters a glimpse into a negative undercurrent that has been building up in the community. Despite a three-year term in which many large projects have been successfully completed, several of the council hopefuls criticized the work of current council and staff, taking shots at the new Community Cultural and Recreation Centre, business friendliness, DCC costs, and the recent decision to spend some extra revenue on a mobile stage. The meeting was hosted by the Harrison-Agassiz Chamber of Commerce, in the Agricultural Hall. About 150 people turned out to listen in, and the discussions started out with introductions of the eight council and two mayoral candidates.
Then, the Chamber stated that agriculture has been a dominant part of the economy historically, and asked the candidates how they would take specific steps to support local businesses, stimulate business growth and diversify the business economy. Council candidate Ken Vanderhoek had the chance to speak first, and said that council "puts almost no effort into promoting us." Duane Post, running for reelection as councillor, noted that perhaps council could start a business improvement grant to help improve businesses downtown. Darcy Striker, also running for re-election as councillor, said there are a number of things council has been working on, and will continue to look at to stimulate the economy, including improving the parking situation downtown. But Striker also underlined the need
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for a bigger grocery store, "whether SuperValu expands or someone else comes here." He also urged other businesses to get involved with the Chamber. "They're an important tool and we need to use them," he said. All incumbents noted that the development cost charges are too high and are currently under review. Mayor John Van Laerhoven noted that the current DCC structure was built in 2004, long before current council's term. In her closing comments, Pranger noted that it was time to "learn from past mistakes." But to the question posed by Chamber, Pranger said "we need to sit down with the business community to find out what they need." Lorne Fisher pointed out that council can't actually give money to businesses, but that it can find ways
to make starting a business easier. He noted that they gave agriculture a boost when they supported the Agassiz Farm Fresh market for its first three years of operation. Newcomer Jack Van Dongen said it's "long overdue that the District become business friendly," and said if elected he'd look into ways to be more fiscally responsible. Susan Spaeti, running for council for the first time, spoke about creating partnerships between businesses, and creating interactive maps that could help potential business owners locate the best place to set up shop. Council candidate John Wouda did not attend the meeting, but answered the Chamber question via email, to be read by the moderator. Wouda said "as soon as someone walks in the District door they should Continued on 2
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