Wednesday, October 28, 2015 The Valley Echo
invermerevalleyecho.com A3
LOCAL NEWS
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
New limits on municipal election spending will have little local effect Steve Hubrecht steve@invermerevalleyecho.com The provincial government has brought forward legislation that would, if passed, curb spending during municipal elections, with the limits decided by each municipality’s population. The new move will likely mean little here in the valley come the next municipal election in 2018, since every candidate in the 2014 local election spent far less than what the limits would be. For municipalities with fewer than 10,000 people — which would include Invermere, Radium Hot Springs, and Canal Flats, as well as Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK) Areas F and G — the limits would be $10,000 per mayor candidate and $5,000 for candidates seeking any other elected office. Looking at Elections B.C. data, the money spent on campaigning by local candidates last fall was uniformly well below that threshold. In Invermere, mayor Gerry Taft faced no opposing candidates, was acclaimed, and consequently filed election expenditures of nothing. There were five Invermere councillor candidates fighting for four spots. With all five of them actively campaigning, the council candidates had greater expenses than Taft, although not by huge amounts. Indeed, the combined total of all five councillor candidates’ total expenditures
was less than the limit proposed for a single councillor candidate under the pending legislation. Councillor Justin Atterbury spent a total of $144; councillor Greg Anderson spent $1,000; councillor Paul Denchuk spent $1,030; councillor Al Miller spent $493; and unsuccessful council candidate Kayja Becker spent $250. In Radium Hot Springs, the mayor and all four councillors got in through acclamation, and correspondingly none had any expenses. Such was also the case for RDEK Area G director Gerry Wilkie. RDEK Area F, however, did have a race, with director Wendy Booth having the highest expenditures of any Upper Columbia Valley candidates in the municipal elections at $3,820 and her unsuccessful challenger Andrea Dunlop having expenditures of $948. The combined total made Area F the most expensive locale in the valley in which to run. Canal Flats was the only incorporated municipality in the valley to have races for both mayor and councillor positions. In the mayoral race, mayor Ute Juras spent $1,120, while unsuccessful mayor candidate Dean Midyette had expenditures of $355. The Canal Flats councillor race had five candidates competing for four spots, but most opted not to print any signs or make other promotional materials, and consequently the only one of them to have any expenditures was councillor Paul Marcil. Marcil had a least one brochure printed and filed total election expenditures of $309.
Canal Flats man dies in crash on Highway 93/95 Breanne Massey breanne@invermerevalleyecho.com Local RCMP have confirmed the 79-year-old Canal Flats man who recently perished in a collision involving a 41-year-old Abbotsford man hauling lumber was Fritz Kobza. The crash, between the victim’s 2008 GMC Sierra and a 2014 Volvo commercial vehicle, happened around 4:45 p.m. on Wednesday, October 21st after the Canal Flats driver, who was heading south, entered the northbound lane near Canal Flats and collided with the semi on Highway 93/95.
The Columbia Valley RCMP joined firefighters and the BC Ambulance Service to attend to the accident. The Canal Flats driver passed away while being moved to the East Kootenay Regional Hospital in Cranbrook as a result of his injuries related to the accident. The Abbotsford driver was treated from minor injuries at the East Kootenay Regional Hospital in Cranbrook after the accident. The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the Columbia Valley RCMP with help from an RCMP traffic analyst from Cranbrook and the B.C. Coroner’s Office, but Mounties are urging drivers to take safety precautions of the roads.
for the Windermere Valley Youth Centre Society To conduct the business ending June 30th, 2015, appointment of auditor, bylaw review for membership and nominations and elections for the board of directors. The full agenda can be obtained at: summit.centre@ gmail.com or 250-342-3033. Following the meeting come and meet Jaye Milley, our board member and a member of Canada’s Paralympic Cycling Team competing in the London Olympics as he speaks to overcoming obstacles. November 9th, 2015. Upstairs in the Community Centre at the Summit Youth Centre, 7 p.m. Refreshments provided.
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