PG Votes: Issue 3

PG VOTES PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2026

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ISSUE 3 OCTOBER 2026

A SPECIAL LOOK AT THE CANDIDATES AHEAD OF THE OCT. 17 MUNICIPAL ELECTION • MAYOR • COUNCIL • SCHOOL BOARD

YOUR

VOTE COUNTS

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2026

City Council Choose Up to 8 BENNETT, Tim BORTOLON, Shawn FRASER, Nicole

PG VOTES 2026

VOTER ELIGIBILITY You are eligible to vote if: You live in Prince George OR You own property in Prince George.

JANJUA, Jesi

Mayor - Choose 1

KLASSEN, Trudy

CARANTO, Ernesto

KRAUSE, Tucker

CARRIER, Marc

LAARZ, Trenten

DANCHUK, Randy

PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

School District Trustee Choose Up to 5 ANTRIM, Cory BRENNAN, Craig DILLMAN, Laurie HERMANSON, Samantha HOLLAND, Sarah LOW, David MCCRORY, Shar MCLEAN, Erica

MCLAREN, Dan

FRIZZELL, Garth MCNAB, Barb

OKECHUKWU, Anthony

MURPHY, Keenan MITCHELL, Lisa

PARMAR, Rajendar

OLSON, Zachariah

PEARS, Dan

SAMPSON, Kyle

POLILLO, Ron

STEWART, Roy

RADLOFF, Bob

YU, Simon

RAMSAY, Cori SKAKUN, Brian STEIDLE, James WAYNE, Bruce ZUKOWSKI, John

YOUR

VOTE COUNTS

PATTERSON, Sara PEACOCK, Monica SABO, Don SKAKUN, Jake As Prince George’s newspaper of record, we have reached out to each candidate running for mayor, councillor and school trustee. Their interviews, our election coverage and the videos from each of all our candidate forums can be found online in our PG VOTES section. Scan the QR code to jump into it now.

OPINION PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2026

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Why the next council should triage public safety

KENNEDY GORDON Citizen Managing Editor If we want a safer, more secure city, we have to pay for it. But that doesn’t mean we have to keep delivering those services exactly the way we do today. Tax hikes are being driven by the growing cost of frontline public safety — police, fire, and bylaw enforcement. The numbers tell the story. Police expenditures rose from roughly $26.1 million in 2018 to more than $40.9 million by 2023, an increase of 56.9 per cent. The fire protection budget climbed from $17.1 million to over $23.5 million in the same period, an increase of 38.1 per cent. In council’s last two terms — just eight years — protective services expenses rose $21.3 million dollars per year. That’s almost half of what the Civic Facilities Master Plan recommends reinvesting yearly in our buildings, facilities and venues. These are essential services. They’re also among the most expensive services a municipality provides. So, if the next council really wants to limit tax increases, the first step would be to stop adding police, firefighters and bylaw officers. Yet, if you review the answers from our mayoral questionnaire, seven candidates want to increase the number of firefighters. Four of them want to increase the number of bylaw officers or RCMP and two more think we should increase both of them. For city council candidates, 11 of 18 want to increase the number of firefighters, seven want to increase

RCMP members and nine want to hire more bylaw officers. The cost per RCMP member keeps going up due to collective agreements, which are negotiated by the federal government and for which municipalities bear the financial brunt. For firefighters, their collective agreement is set by a historical provincial pattern of wage parity and binding arbitration – all outside of city council’s control. If the driving question of this election is lower taxes, adding more bodies is not the answer. This is partly because, as council has heard over the last year, the RCMP simply cannot hire for all the positions it is contracted for. Incumbents may have voted to fund more positions over the last term, but this means little if they can’t be hired. If candidates want better results without increasing spending, they can’t just tell first responders to do more with less. Instead, mayor and council must ask a harder question: Are we delivering these services in the smartest and most affordable way? That question matters because the situation has changed for first responders. Police are dealing with repeat offenders, street disorder and increasingly complex calls. Firefighters are increasingly responding to non-structure fires as they support paramedics. Bylaw officers are increasingly dealing with issues tied to homelessness, public disorder and downtown safety. Some candidates proposed options during The Citizen’s all-candidates

forums. One said we should look to RCMP Auxiliaries, something our officer-incharge has already bluntly told council would be a waste of resources. Another said we should move to a municipal policing model. If you want to see how that goes, look at the chaos and cost of Surrey’s move away from the RCMP. Someone else proposed hiring a batch of community safety officers above bylaw officers and below police. A fourth candidate suggested the city pursue private prosecutions of cases the Crown won’t touch. At the same time, the city has absorbed costs associated with open drug use, including the NDP government’s misguided decriminalization pilot before it was rescinded. It’s also spent years dealing with the legal and operational fallout from homelessness, including the prolonged response to the Moccasin Flats encampment. Between 2020 and 2024, social, housing and addiction-related issues cost the city more than $19 million, including nearly $2.2 million for targeted policing initiatives focused on repeat offenders, almost $2.4 million for the downtown safety unit, about $2 million for the Car 60 mental-health response team and more than $1.6 million for encampment management and downtown cleanups. The real challenge is figuring out how we ensure public safety without just adding more people, more vehicles and more expenses every year. That could mean looking at how calls are triaged and which service responds to them. It could mean better

co-ordination between police, fire, mental health and social services. It could mean rethinking the role of bylaw officers and making sure they’re being used for the work they’re best equipped to handle, rather than relying on police or firefighters for problems that don’t require their specialities. It could also mean looking at whether some services can be shared, reorganized or delivered differently. This won’t be easy. Every change to service delivery raises legitimate questions. Some ideas will work, other won’t. No responsible council should make changes simply to make a budget look better. But neither should we assume that the only way to meet growing demand is to keep expanding the same systems. So, when a candidate promises to freeze or cut your property taxes, ask a simple question: What are you going to do differently? Not just, “What are you going to cut?” but what are you going to change? Will you change how calls are dispatched? Will you change which service responds? Will you invest more in prevention? Will you use technology differently? Will you reorganize municipal enforcement? Will you work more closely with provincial health and social-service agencies? Will you consider shared services or other partnerships? If our newly-elected officials want to keep property taxes down, they’re going to have to rethink how the city delivers protective services. That’s a harder promise to make than a tax freeze. But it’s also the conversation Prince George needs.

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2026

PG VOTES 2026 - MAYORAL QUESTIONS

PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

Welcome to the third edition of PG Votes In this section, you’ll see candidates for mayor, council and school board answer a series of yes/no questions regarding issues affecting the government they’re running for. We chose this approach because with the rising prominence of

artificial intelligence, we didn’t want participate in our questionnaire or You’ll see answers first from to risk having candidates submit did not respond by our deadline. mayoral candidates, then from city written answers that they either However, we have included council candidates and finally from didn’t believe in or didn’t write summaries from our three allschool board candidates. Some of the responses are edited or themselves. candidates forums where we had ipsum dolorparticipation sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.condensed Cras sit amet nunc eu augue for clarity. If you notice that aLorem candidate from everyone on auctor placerat eu eu neque. Nunc tincidunt vestibulum ultrices. Curabitur pretium is not included in this section, it the ballot, except one mayoral bibendum odio, ac pulvinar arcu convallis non. Donec et efficitur nunc, vitae elementum means that they either declined to candidate.

Ernesto Caranto Councillor

Randy Danchuk Councillor

OW THEY VOTED AUGUST 16, 2025 MAYORAL CANDIDATES ASSED

Yu

Tim Bennett

Marc Carrier Councillor

purus.

Garth Frizzell Trudy Klassen

Garth Frizzell Councillor

Zachariah Olson Councillor

Kyle Sampson Councillor

Roy Stewart Councillor

Ron Polillo

Cori Ramsay

Kyle Sampson

Susan Scott

Do you think the number of bylaw officers in our community should: INCREASE Randy Danchuk

MAINTAIN Marc Carrier

Garth Frizzell

Kyle Sampson

Zachariah Olson

Simon Yu

Roy Stewart

DECREASE

Do you think the number of firefighters in our community should: Ernesto Caranto Marc Carrier

Randy Danchuk Garth Frizzell

Zachariah Olson Kyle Sampson

Simon Yu

Brian Skakun

Do you support hiring enough bylaw officers for an additional shift?

YES

Randy Danchuk Garth Frizzell

Kyle Sampson Roy Stewart

NO

Ernesto Caranto Marc Carrier

Zachariah Olson Simon Yu

INCREASE

Marc Carrier

Randy Danchuk

Garth Frizzell

Roy Stewart

Simon Yu

Zachariah Olson

MAINTAIN Kyle Sampson

DECREASE

MAINTAIN

Ernesto Caranto

Roy Stewart

DECREASE None

Should Prince George firefighters respond to medical calls?

YES

Randy Danchuk Garth Frizzell

Simon Mayor Yu Councillor Simon Yu

Do you think the number of RCMP members in our community should:

Ernesto Caranto

INCREASE

HOW T PASSE

Zachariah Olson Kyle Sampson

NO

Ernesto Caranto Marc Carrier

Roy Stewart Simon Yu

Do you support the city using taxpayer money for the expansion of the downtown security camera pilot project?

YES

Ernesto Caranto Marc Carrier Randy Danchuk Garth Frizzell

Kyle Sampson Roy Stewart Simon Yu

NO

Zachariah Olson

Coun Tim B

PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

Mayoral All-Candidates Forum Eight of nine candidates running to be the City of Prince George’s next mayor assembled at the Prince George Playhouse on Thursday, Sept. 24 for an all-candidates forum hosted by The Question: Public safety remains a concern across the city. What single item do you believe could make the most impact for our community in your term as mayor? Simon Yu said 37 per cent of the city’s operating budget going towards public safety isn’t sustainable and the RCMP can’t hire enough officers to fulfill its contract. He said the community needs a better way to triage the situation, but pointed out a decrease in the city’s crime severity index rating and the closure of two encampments over his term. Roy Stewart said the city has to start enforcing its Safe Streets Bylaw to dissuade things like people walking around with stolen supermarket carts and open drug use. He said services for people experiencing homelessness Question: The Civic Facilities Master Plan has been released and recommends average annual capital investment of $45 million per year for the next 20 years. Current reinvestment through the tax levy is only $7.1 million per year. How would you begin to address the shortfall? Garth Frizzell said tackling this shortfall is critical and that the infrastructure isn’t just aboveground facilities, but below-ground elements like sewers and pipes. He said that the spending suggested by the report isn’t feasible, but council can look at what can be delayed, what can be repaced and create a roadmap on how to proceed. Zachariah Olson said the city simply doesn’t have the funds to proceed with the work referenced in the master plan.

PG VOTES 2026 - MAYORAL FORUM

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2026

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Prince George Citizen. Candidates had 120 seconds to introduce themselves to the capacity crowd and were then asked 13 questions by Citizen owner/publisher Cameron Stolz. Each candidate getting 90 seconds to respond to each question.

Before the questions were asked, the candidate and audience were told that it is expected that all candidates are going to lobby the provincial and federal governments and as such that answer would not be accepted. Video of this forum is posted online at

pgcitizen.ca for public viewing. This publication contains some excerpts and summaries of candidates’ responses on a few key issues. Answers are placed in the order in which candidates responded to them.

need to be moved out of the downtown commercial district and into supportive housing. Also, the city needs to clean the streets every day.

towards a municipal policing model. He also cast doubt on more security cameras helping the situation.

of non-profits.

Kyle Sampson said that under his leadership, council would create clear, decisive standards for what is and isn’t acceptable and hold people accountable when those standards aren’t being met. Standards, he said, need to be the same on the streets as they are in housing developments and more people need help getting the care they need. Zachariah Olson said local RCMP officers are understaffed and overstretched, which contributes to officers not wanting to come to Prince George or asking to be transferred away. This, he said, is one of the reasons that the city needs to move He said major issues like public safety need to be addressed before facilities get renovated or maintained, because the city can’t afford to fix up something that gets vandalized after work has been done to it. Kyle Sampson said the figure in the report seemed daunting at first, but it provides the city with a chance to think creatively. As an example, he said report recommends the expansion of Fire Hall #1, but the city could instead build a Fire Hall #5 and build a training centre to bring in revenue. The city needs to generate ideas and get public input. Roy Stewart asked how the $45 million per year figure was reached and said it’s not unusual for estimates to be wrong. He said it needs to be reassessed from the ground up and

Garth Frizzell spoke of his experience on an RCMP ride-along, seeing an officer go from dealing with assisting someone after experiencing domestic violence to responding to a report of gunshots. He said these issues aren’t black and white and the city needs to work with nonprofits to address underlying issues like it did when tackling homelessness. Randy Danchuk said more community support is needed, not RCMP officers. He asked why people contributing to the problem would leave the downtown core when services are there. He also said that public safety issues extend past downtown and auxiliary officers could be beneficial as well as a service co-ordinating the work prioritize what capital projects should go forward in difficult economic times and potential drops in city revenue. Simon Yu said there are shocking expenses suggested by the report, especially for newer facilities like the RCMP detachment and Fire Hall #1. He said sometimes the process through which facilities were built got things wrong, like not accounting for Prince George being a winter city. He said there are problems when projects don’t have enough oversight. Ernesto Caranto said he’s in favour of renovations to civic facilities, but some of the suggestions need to be reassessed because $45 million a year is a lot of money. He said city projects need to be put out for auction so that cheaper bids are received.

Marc Carrier said the city needs to tackle underlying mental health issues, saying it’s currently too difficult to get people committed to care. He said laws need to be changed to make that easier, saying he had difficulty getting his own son treatment. He said policies also make it difficult for police officers to arrest people using substances like fentanyl. Ernesto Caranto said doctors, nurses and other health-care professionals need to be deployed to the downtown core to deal with drug use problems. He also said that a community policing model should be reinstituted, a secure ward needs to be built at UHNBC and that these issues are too difficult for families to tackle on their own.

Marc Carrier said the spending recommended by the report is hard for taxpayers to swallow. He said too often, the public is kept in the dark about capital projects, which frequently go overbudget. He said the city should put more items related to borrowing to referendums as the public is smart enough to be given a say in the process. Randy Danchuk said he didn’t want to pre-spend his kids’ and grandkids’ taxes on the amounts suggested by the report. He said Prince George needs to re-evaluate how it spends its money and that the work suggested by the master plan needs to be put to a referendum given the scale and timeframe involved.

Keenan Murphy Mayoral Candidate Did not respond to questionnaire and did not attend the forum

OW THEY VOTED ASSED

r Yu

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Ernesto

Caranto Councillor Tim Bennett

Marc

Randy

Carrier Danchuk Councillor Councillor Garth Frizzell Trudy Klassen

Garth

Frizzell Councillor Ron Polillo

Do you support developing additional off leash dog parks?

YESKyle Sampson

Ernesto Caranto Randy Danchuk Garth Frizzell Zachariah Olson

Roy Stewart Simon Yu

NO

Marc Carrier

Ernesto Caranto Marc Carrier Randy Danchuk Garth Frizzell

Kyle Sampson Roy Stewart Simon Yu

NO

Zachariah Olson

Marc Carrier

NO

Ernesto Caranto Randy Danchuk Garth Frizzell Zachariah Olson

Kyle Sampson Roy Stewart Simon Yu

Do you support the city providing and maintaining public washrooms in the downtown core?

YESKyle Sampson Ernesto Caranto Marc Carrier Garth Frizzell Zachariah Olson

Roy Stewart Simon Yu

NO

Randy Danchuk

Roy

Stewart Councillor Susan Scott

Simon Mayor

Yu Councillor Simon Yu Brian Skakun

Do you support the Civic Core Plan which includes the replacement of the Kopar Memorial Arena and the construction of a new convention/ performing arts centre?

Ernesto Caranto Garth Frizzell Kyle Sampson

Roy Stewart Simon Yu

NO

Marc Carrier Randy Danchuk

Zachariah Olson

Do you support a standardized housing design policy for Prince George?

YES

Garth Frizzell Zachariah Olson Kyle Sampson

Should the city stop clearing driveways during snow removal to reduce spending?

YES

Kyle

Sampson Councillor Kyle Sampson

YES

Do you support a bylaw requiring downtown businesses to maintain building conditions (ex. replace broken windows, remove graffiti, etc.)?

YES

Zachariah

Olson Councillor Cori Ramsay

Simon Yu

NO

Ernesto Caranto Marc Carrier

Randy Danchuk Roy Stewart

Do you support establishing electoral wards for the next municipal election?

YES

Ernesto Caranto Kyle Sampson

NO

Marc Carrier Randy Danchuk Garth Frizzell

Zachariah Olson Roy Stewart Simon Yu

Is a resource benefit agreement between the city and the province a priority for you?

YES

Ernesto Caranto Marc Carrier Garth Frizzell Zachariah Olson

Kyle Sampson Roy Stewart Simon Yu

NO

Randy Danchuk

Coun Tim B

PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

Question: Livability inside of Prince George is of great concern. What is your vision for this term regarding parks, trails, bike lanes and dog parks? Randy Danchuk said he moved to Prince George partly because of the access it provides residents to parks, rivers, trails and more. He said the public needs more input into how they’re managed. He added that parks need to be made more fire-safe and trash removed from them. He added that he thinks the city needs more bike trails. Garth Frizzell said the city is seeing a changing demographic that is more frequently using micromobility devices like electric scooters, bikes and more. He said the city needs a more cohesive framework of rules for how to handle these devices rather than the current Question: Over $80 billion worth of major capital projects have been announced in Northern BC. What should the city be doing to attract light and heavy industry to our community? Zachariah Olson said that about a decade ago, the city had people who would go out and attract these businesses and show them how they fit in here but we don’t anymore. The city, he said, has lots of free space to accommodate industry and needs to show the world that it’s both the gateway and the capital of the north. Kyle Sampson said that not all of that investment is possible and a lot of it is still exploratory, but at lest 50 per cent of that total is from real, legitimate businesses. He said Prince George needs to demonstrate the confidence

PG VOTES 2026 - MAYORAL FORUM patchwork. He also advocated for more dog parks and more spread out parks in general. Zachariah Olson said he didn’t think there’s a lack of community involvement in parks, the problem is that the city won’t listen to the people who want to help with them and is hostile towards advocates. If the city wants to improve these items, he said it needs to do a better job of working hand-in-hand with residents. Kyle Sampson said city parks staff care deeply about the community and the resources to give it what it wants. He said the city needs to invest more in these items by reducing spending on items that are the responsibilities of higher levels of government. The current active living plan, he said, was developed with public input and staff’s that investors are looking for and touted his Fast Track PG proposal to bring a concierge service to city permitting. Roy Stewart said the city can’t wait for opportunity to knock and needs to actively seek it out by promoting its advantages like being at the crossroads of major highways and rail lines, having manufacturing and warehousing capacity and an educated workforce. He said the city needs a presence at companies’ boardrooms and at governments’ cabinet tables. Simon Yu said that Prince George’s mayor must be able to articulate a vision for interested businesses and that local industry needs access to value-added manufacturing. He said the mayor needs good connections, deep understanding of how local businesses

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2026

expert advice. Roy Stewart said parks and trails should be spending priorities, though the city still needs to balance the books. This, he said is something that everybody should support. He added that there should be room for community or neighbourhood initiatives to care for, clean up and maintain parks, trails and more. Simon Yu said Prince George is fortunate to probably have more parks and trails per capita than anywhere else in North America. However, he said they need to be made safe and local schools need education programs before the use of things like e-scooters are expanded. He said some parks should be returned to nature and more dog parks built.

are structures and knowledge of global currency exchange rates. Ernesto Caranto said he would support Prince George’s development as an inland port and that he would like to see the city host some kind of major exposition in 2028 or 2029. He also said he’d like to see more greenhouses. Marc Carrier said with two rail lines, an airport with runways that can accommodate larger planes and proximity to an underutilized port in Prince Rupert, Prince George is ready for a change in local industry and to be a logistics hub. However, he said permitting needs to be streamlined and the city and its assets need to be better promoted.

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Ernesto Caranto said it’s a problem that when residents visit some parks, like on Connaught Hill, the washrooms are closed. He said they should be open when parks are open and kept clean. He said toilets should be placed at more parks and that streets should be kept more clean to help people who use mobility scooters. Mark Carrier said he loves local parks and it’s where he sees people being happy. There are too many rules preventing people from letting them help, cleaning brush and making it safe for animals, he said. Also, he said residents should be allowed to help maintain them for the sake of seniors and children and water should be provided for dogs at more parks.

Randy Danchuk said the city needs to be better promoted and for it to make it easier to develop in. Also, he said the city needs to partner with other northern communities like Quesnel, McBride, Vanderhoof and more to attract the kind of investment they’re looking for. He said too-long permitting times have created a poor image for local business. Garth Frizzell referenced the recent announcement that construction company Dancor is building a FedEx hub as well as an industrial condominium on Boundary Road. While Northwood Pulp Mill is closing, he said Canfor assured council that Intercontinental will remain open. The construction of the new tower at UHNBC, he said, will create many jobs.

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Ernesto Caranto Councillor

Tim Bennett

Marc Carrier Councillor

Randy Danchuk Councillor

Garth Frizzell Trudy Klassen

Garth Frizzell Councillor

Zachariah Olson Councillor

Kyle Sampson Councillor

Roy Stewart Councillor

Ron Polillo

Cori Ramsay

Kyle Sampson

Susan Scott

Do you support the city purchasing land for strategic development purposes?

YES

Ernesto Caranto Garth Frizzell Zachariah Olson

Kyle Sampson Simon Yu

NO

Marc Carrier Randy Danchuk

Roy Stewart

Do you support the development of data centres in Prince George and/or the surrounding area?

YES

Randy Danchuk Garth Frizzell

Roy Stewart

YOUR

NO

Ernesto Caranto Marc Carrier Zachariah Olson

VOTE COUNTS

Kyle Sampson Simon Yu

Simon Mayor Yu Councillor Simon Yu

Brian Skakun

Do you support the sale of civic facilities to reduce operating and maintenance costs?

YES

Randy Danchuk Zachariah Olson

Kyle Sampson Simon Yu

NO

Ernesto Caranto Marc Carrier

Garth Frizzell Roy Stewart

Do you support the establishment of a special committee to review the procurement process for city capital projects?

YES

Ernesto Caranto Marc Carrier Randy Danchuk

Kyle Sampson Roy Stewart Simon Yu

NO

Garth Frizzell

Zachariah Olson

AWARD WINNING LOCAL COVERAGE

To view more coverage of the municipal election and videos of the three forums, scan to see more coverage.

Cou Tim B

OW THEY VOTED ASSED

r Yu

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Ernesto

Marc

Randy

Garth

Caranto Carrier Danchuk Frizzell Councillor Councillor Councillor Councillor Question: DecisionGarth paralysis. We’ve Trudy for pause and consideration Tim Bennett Frizzell Klassen Ron before Polillo seen this last term that when staff bring reports to council, more reports are being requested. As the leader of our community and your council, what is your plan to speed up council’s decision-making process?

making bold decisions. The city, he said, can’t set lofty goals that are unachievable and council needs to make clear, directional goals in its strategic plan for the term.

Zachariah Olson said that one of the problems plaguing Prince George has been the city and council’s desire to triple-check everything. He said the time for caution has passed and now the city needs to take steps or it will be left behind. However, he added that the city also needs fallback plans in place in case problems arise.

Roy Stewart said he didn’t think the premise of the question was necessarily correct and that when dealing with complex situations, it needs all available supporting information to make the right decision. He said the new council should be given information sessions so that the groundwork is laid for not getting bogged down during the next term.

Kyle Sampson said he believed that decision making is one of his strengths. However, he said during his time on council, he’s learned that there’s time

Simon Yu disagreed, saying he felt the question’s premise was correct. He said when administration has a report requested of it, it has to make an

Question: At last night’s council meeting, the Civic Core Plan was presented and then deferred to the next council. As a newly-election mayor, which of the four options do you support (or not) and why?

is built where the Four Seasons Memorial Pool used to be.

Here’s a summary of the four options presented to council on Wednesday, Sept. 23: Option A: A new 2,000-seat hockey arena to replace Kopar Memorial Arena located where the Four Seasons Memorial Pool used to be and a new arts district where Kopar arena currently is. Option B: The same as Option A, but with the locations reversed. Option C: Kopar Memorial Arena is replaced with a 4,500-seat arena and a new arts and mixed-use district

Option D: The same as Option C, but a 6,000-seat arena is built. Marc Carrier said he supports a replacement for Kopar Memorial Arena, but that the city needs to consider how forestry job losses and facility closures will affect the tax base. He said he guaranteed that another mill would close on top of Northwood Pulp Mill. Randy Danchuk said he agreed that the city needs a new sports centre, but the city needs to diversify away from its reliance on the forestry industry and related sectors. The problem in building new facilities, he said, is raising the money for them.

Zachariah

Kyle

Olson Sampson Councillor Councillor assumption of whether to provide an Cori Ramsay Kyle Sampson answer in the interest of residents or something that council wants to hear. Council, he said, needs to consider who a decision is being made for.

Ernesto Caranto said council needs to call emergency meetings, if necessary to speed up decisions after receiving reports and work together so the city can prosper. Marc Carrier said the city is spending too much time requesting reports, which is part of the reason why he believes businesspeople have lost faith. He complained that the city makes developers get an engineer to provide a report on designing accessible washrooms when they should just be told to follow federal requirements and the building code. Garth Frizzell said he supported Option A, as it gives continued ice access for the Prince George Spruce Kings, skating clubs and other groups as the new arena is built. He said he would like to add Coun. Cori Ramsay’s proposed additions from the council meeting. Zachariah Olson said that he didn’t think the city and its residents could afford any of the options suggested for the Civic Core Plan. He said the city is putting the cart before the horse and needs to prioritize the local economy over a new arena. Kyle Sampson said the city can address multiple priorities at the same time and he was disappointed the decision was deferred. He said the city needs to listen to user groups’ needs and he supports

Roy

Simon Mayor

Stewart Yu Councillor Councillor Simon Yu Randy Danchuk he spent most Susan Scott said Brian Skakun

of his life dealing with incident and accident reports and he knows that to get the right report, you need to ask the right questions. He said the city needs a mayor and councillors that actually make decisions rather than constantly ordering more reports. Garth Frizzell said the U.S. wanted to get away from decision paralysis, hiring Elon Musk to cut things, which led to people getting hurt and resources getting squandered. He said the mayor needs to be in constant communication with councillors and as Intergovernmental Affairs chair, he reached out to members after the provincial election was called.

Option A, though he’d like another option getting costed out too. Roy Stewart said he also supported Option A from among those presented, but he has reservations about whether the city can afford it. After the election, he said the city needs to work that aspect out, especially with the impending closure of Northwood Pulp Mill. Simon Yu said he didn’t support Option A as it wouldn’t allow for the adjacent Conference and Civic Centre to be expanded. He said his campaign team is working on an updated version of a proposal he made in December 2024 to share with the public. Ernesto Caranto said that the city needs to pick a beautiful option for the Civic Core Plan.

Coun Tim B

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r Yu

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HOW T PASSE

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras sit amet nunc eu augue auctor placerat eu eu neque. Nunc tincidunt vestibulum ultrices. Curabitur pretium bibendum odio, ac pulvinar arcu convallis non. Donec et efficitur nunc, vitae elementum AUGUST 16, 2025 purus. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2026 PG VOTES 2026 - MAYORAL FORUM PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

Ernesto Caranto Councillor

Tim Bennett

Marc Carrier Councillor

Randy Danchuk Councillor

Garth Frizzell Trudy Klassen

Question: For the first time during this term, we’ve seen a committee of council leading advocacy with senior levels of government. As the next mayor, do you plan to continue to allow councillors to do the advocacy or do you have a different plan? Ernesto Caranto said most of council will be new, so it would be better for everyone to talk to each other, communicate and put a plan together.

Garth Frizzell Councillor

Zachariah Olson Councillor

Kyle Sampson Councillor

Roy Stewart Councillor

Ron Polillo

Cori Ramsay

Kyle Sampson

Susan Scott

the approach to advocacy to make it more transparent and make sure the public knows exactly what’s happening. Randy Danchuk said the approach has to change because the mayor is elected to lead the city, though councillors still need to be able to provide input.

on council, he said. Zachariah Olson said while it’s the mayor’s job to be a the city’s leader, it’s good to have councillors take initiative and the mayor can’t have an ego about it. Kyle Sampson said he would take a hybrid approach with the mayor as the city’s chief spokesperson assisted by a team with their own strengths and knowledge bases.

Marc Carrier said he would change

Garth Frizzell said the city can’t pretend that one person can solve all the problems of the day alone. It needs to be a full-court press from everyone

Question: In this term, what issue did council fail to properly address and how will you, as mayor, lead a course correction?

said those provisions could be stronger. He also said the city needs more housing incentives and to apply for more grants.

Randy Danchuk said council didn’t properly address issues facing the downtown, but he’s not sure that just spending more money on the problem is the solution. He said the city needs more community involvement, policing, bylaws and accessibility.

Zachariah Olson said that council has allowed parts of the city like the Hart and College Heights to feel underrepresented. Council, he said, needs to hear the concerns of those residents and exhibit a greater spirit of co-operation and transparency.

Roy Stewart said that exploding buildings, arson and crime in the downtown core weren’t properly addressed and have started spilling into other neighbourhoods. He said the city should have declared a state of emergency as a signal to higher levels of government.

Garth Frizzell said the city could have done better reworking its Official Community Plan. While the new OCP promotes more infill development, he

Kyle Sampson said he agreed with Zachariah about some parts of the city feeling underrepresented and not listened to, especially the Hart. He said

Simon Yu said that communication requires trust and council has failed miserably to recognize the needs of certain groups like seniors. He

council needs to provide residents with more chances to directly express their concerns and communicate with them.

Simon Mayor Yu Councillor Simon Yu

Brian Skakun

Roy Stewart said he agreed with running a hybrid approach as while the mayor speaks on behalf the city as team captain, they do so based on the consensus of council. Simon Yu said he appreciated the Intergovernmental Affairs committee’s work during his term, but it should be the mayor’s job to engage higher levels of government on some files.

criticized those councillors who shut down his attempt to distribute council contingency funds to seniors’ centres late last year. Ernesto Caranto said that too often, mayor and council disagree with each other and need to be on the same page to pass motions promoting city growth. Marc Carrier said he’s tired of the city blaming things on overestimated population growth that never came to pass. He added that several parts of the city like Blackburn, College Heights and the Hart are too often ignored in favour of the downtown core.

Coun Tim B

PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

City Council All-Candidates Forum A near-capacity crowd turned out to the Prince George Playhouse on Tuesday, Sept. 22 to hear from all 18 Question: The Civic Facilities Master Plan has been released and recommends average annual capital investment of $45 million per year for the next 20 years. Current reinvestment through the tax levy is only $7.1 million. How would you begin to address the shortfall? Many candidates used their time to speak about the Civic Core Plan rather than the civic facilities master plan, which is a proposed redevelopment of part of the downtown core that could include a replacement for Kopar Memorial Arena, a new performing arts centre and more. It should be noted that the day after the forum, the current council voted to postpone further decisions on the Civic Core Plan until its Monday, November 30 meeting — after the Saturday, Oct. 17 election. John Zukowski said council too often defers to administration’s judgement on big spending items and needs to say no. He added that the city can’t afford to keep borrowing money and figure out whether the spending is really needed. Bruce Wayne said the Civic Core Plan is being pushed through now but it doesn’t need to happen. He said the city needs to bring people downtown with already-existing infrastructure and to choose options that will lower, not raise taxes. James Steidle referenced a Colliers Canada report on the next evening’s council agenda about the Civic Core Plan and advocated for the preservation rather than replacement of Kopar Memorial Arena. He added that the city is spending too much money on some items, using the replacement of light fixtures in council chambers at city hall as an example. Brian Skakun said he’s not in favour of a new performing arts centre or arena replacement, citing the impending tax

PG VOTES 2026 - COUNCIL FORUM

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2026

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candidates vying to be on city council in this fall’s local election. Candidates had 90 seconds to introduce themselves and were then asked nine questions by Citizen owner/

publisher Cameron Stolz, each getting 90 seconds to respond to each question. This publication contains some excerpts and summaries of candidates’ responses on a few key issues. Videos

from each of our three local election forums are available at www.pgcitizen.ca Some of the responses are edited or condensed for clarity.

hit of the Northwood Pulp Mill closure as one reason. He said arts groups in the city were planning on packing the audience at the next evening’s council meeting to try to force council to go through with the Civic Core Plan.

and advocated for the preservation, rather than replacement of existing infrastructure. He also said that the downtown core needs to be made safe and mental health crises need to be tackled, or the neighbourhood’s fortunes won’t improve.

council meeting to have staff include information about priorities in the city’s capital budgets going forward. She also said she didn’t think the city had been properly following its sustainable finance policy.

The audience was indeed full the next night, with most people in the gallery leaving after the motion to postpone consideration was passed. Cori Ramsay said she’s been pushing for the city to increase its General Infrastructure Reinvestment Fund over the last term. She added that the city needs to take a closer look at its asset management report cards and see what needs to be prioritized. Also, she said the city needs to recruit more industry and that borrowing through low rates offered by the Municipal Finance Authority is a viable option. Bob Radloff said as an engineer, he didn’t accept the numbers provided in the master plan and would ask for a second opinion. He added that some things would have to be revisited, also citing the impending pulp mill closure. The recently approved $16 million in borrowing for work at the CN Centre, he said, was ridiculous. Ron Polillo said it wasn’t the time to make a significant decision on the Civic Core Plan and that it should be put to residents in a referendum sometime next year. However, he also advocated for investing in the downtown core and attracting private investment. Dan Pears said large spending decisions should be put to a plebiscite, but that deferring maintenance just leads to bigger problems down the road. The next council, he said, should be laserfocused on priorities and bring in fresh ideas on subjects like these. Rajendar Parmar said the figure cited in the master plan needs to be revised

Shawn Bortolon Council Candidate Declined to respond to questionnaire

Tim Bennett noted the significant gap between current spending and the spending suggested in the master plan. He said council needs to look at how facilities are being used, consider liquidating or consolidating underused facilities and use proceeds to reinvest in remaining civic facilities. Shawn Bortolon said such a significant capital plan shouldn’t happen without significant community consultation. While the city needs to invest in facilities and heritage items, she said it also needs to balance that with financial accountability. She said she would say no to spending currently but come back later to make a more informed decision. Nicole Fraser said the city needs to look at how the consulting firm working on the Civic Core Plan decided on the four options presented to council. She also said that the city should look to the private sector as well as other alternative funding options, though she clarified that she wasn’t advocating for the privatization of civic facilities. Jesi Janjua said the city needs to think closely about what its needs are compared to wants. He said it’s the worst time to proceed with the Civic Core Plan given what he sees as a difficult situation with city taxes and debt. Civic facilities, he said need to be self-sufficient and the city needs to work with private and First Nations partners to fund new ones. Trudy Klassen said council can’t make tough decisions without having the right information at hand. She said she was going to introduce a motion at the next

YOUR

VOTE COUNTS

Tucker Krause said the city should protect existing services and infrastructure and be wary of new ones. He said he’s against the use of the Alternative Approval Process and that the city needs to protect the lease-in, lease-out legacy fund. He said Prince George should focus on infill development, which will help reduce the need to create new infrastructure. Trenten Laarz said the city needs to redevelop the downtown core, it isn’t the right time. Not enough consultation has been done, he said, with taxpayers. He said more consultation needs to happen with Indigenous communities. Replacing Kopar Memorial Arena is irresponsible and the city should wait until it has more accurate numbers, he said. Dan McLaren said that $45 million a year over 20 years is close to a billion dollars and unlike higher levels of government, local government can only raise taxes, which have already hammered locals hard enough. He added that the city needs to separate wants from needs and to hold off on spending until more accurate numbers are received. Anthony Okechukwu said that city funds should be managed like how a family manages its funds and not because it just wants to spend. The city, he said, shouldn’t pursue the purchase of properties or capital projects without doing proper consultation or a proper performance analysis. He added that he believed the city hasn’t done enough to inform the public about how taxpayer money is being spent and that too many projects go overbudget.

Anthony Okechukwu Council Candidate Did not respond to questionnaire

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2026

PG VOTES 2026 - COUNCIL QUESTIONS

PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

Tim Bennett

Nicole Fraser

Jesi Janjua

Trudy Klassen

Tucker Krause

Trenten Laarz

Dan McLaren

Rajendar Parmar

Dan Pears

Ron Polillo

Bob Radloff

Cori Ramsay

Brian Skakun

James Steidle

Bruce Wayne

John Zukowski

Do you support the city providing and maintaining public washrooms in the downtown core? Tim Bennett Nicole Fraser Trudy Klassen Tucker Krause Trenten Laarz

YES

Rajendar Parmar Dan Pears Bob Radloff Cori Ramsay Brian Skakun

NO

Jesi Janjua Dan McLaren Ron Polillo

James Steidle Bruce Wayne John Zukowski

Should Prince George fire rescue workers respond to medical calls?

YES

Tim Bennett Jesi Janjua Tucker Krause Trenten Laarz Dan McLaren Dan Pears

Ron Polillo Bob Radloff Cori Ramsay Brian Skakun John Zukowski

NO

Nicole Fraser Trudy Klassen Rajendar Parmar

James Steidle Bruce Wayne

INCREASE Tucker Krause Dan McLaren

Ron Polillo Bob Radloff

Cori Ramsay Brian Skakun

Dan Pears James Steidle

Bruce Wayne

John Zukowski

Trenten Laarz

Rajendar Parmar

MAINTAIN Nicole Fraser Trudy Klassen

DECREASE

Cori Ramsay

INCREASE Tucker Krause Trenten Laarz

MAINTAIN

Nicole Fraser Cori Ramsay

Rajendar Parmar Dan Pears

Bob Radloff

Brian Skakun

Trudy Klassen Ron Polillo

Jesi Janjua Dan McLaren

Bruce Wayne John Zukowski

DECREASE Tim Bennett

Do you think the number of firefighters in our community should: INCREASE Tim Bennett Jesi Janjua Tucker Krause

MAINTAIN

Do you think the number of bylaw officers in our community should: Tim Bennett Jesi Janjua

Do you think the number of RCMP members in our community should:

John Zukowski Trudy Klassen

Trenten Laarz Rajendar Parmar

Dan Pears Ron Polillo Bob Radloff

Cori Ramsay Brian Skakun

Dan McLaren Bruce Wayne

James Steidle

Nicole Fraser

DECREASE None

Do you support hiring enough bylaw officers for an additional shift?

YES

Tim Bennett Jesi Janjua Tucker Krause Dan McLaren Ron Polillo

Bob Radloff Cori Ramsay Brian Skakun Bruce Wayne

NO Dan Pears

Nicole Fraser Trudy Klassen Trenten Laarz Rajendar Parmar

James Steidle John Zukowski

PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

Question: Public safety remains a concern across the city. Other than advocating or lobbying, what single change do you believe you can make that would make the biggest impact for our community? Rajendar Parmar said that downtown safety cannot be separated from mental health, homelessness and addiction issues. The city needs compassion for people who need help while protecting everybody else. Dan Pears said that he’s familiar with downtown safety after working for 30 years as a firefighter. While lobbying is one part of the problem, he said that improving lighting, visibility, hazard removals and cleanliness are items that the city can do a lot better on. Ron Polillo pointed out that council helped fund Downtown Prince George’s security camera pilot projects and said more funding should be provided. He said the city is also looking at overnight bylaw patrols and that Prince George needs some kind of daytime shelter for people experiencing homelessness. Bob Radloff said the city needs to enforce its Safe Streets Bylaw 24-7, that it should follow Seattle’s BLOCK project model and that it should stop warehousing people affected by mental health and addictions-affected individuals in the downtown core. Cori Ramsay said the single-greatest thing the city could do is to get an RCMP Auxiliary program started as the cost for police officers is high and many peer municipalities have successfully implemented them. Also, she said there should be a grant stream to promote downtown events between 6 p.m. and 6

PG VOTES 2026 - COUNCIL FORUM a.m. to get more eyes on the city’s core. Brian Skakun said the city needs to re-examine its relationship with the RCMP because while Prince George pays $40 million a year on policing costs, it does not have the right to provide input or direction to the Mounties. He added that the number of police officers on some shifts have been dangerously low. James Steidle said Prince George shouldn’t become a police state where surveillance cameras are everywhere. Instead, he said, the city needs to better address societal and economy issues as well as keep residents busy. To that end, he said the city should create an Indigenous arts and culture centre in the vacant former Northern Hardware building. Bruce Wayne said that while lowbarrier housing has been built, a lot of people don’t want to go to those facilities because they don’t feel safe there. Part of this, he said, is because drug use is allowed there. He said the city needs to better address the root of a lot of these problems, which is drug use. John Zukowski said the city doesn’t have enough police officers and the perofficer cost is expensive. What Prince George needs, he said, is a community safety officer program that can handle more mundane, street-level issues can be handled rather than sworn officers. These officers, he said, could be directed by the city unlike the Mounties. Anthony Okechukwu said Prince George needs to bring back the community policing model it used to have to support the RCMP. He added

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2026

that the role of bylaw officers after 5 p.m. needs to be examined, perhaps staggering shifts to extend coverage. He said the city shouldn’t be afraid to adopt solutions that have worked in other municipalities. Dan McLaren said the city was sucker-punched by the province declaring a public health emergency regarding opioid use and then not doing enough to tackle the problem. He advocated for the city pursuing private prosecutions for cases that the Crown won’t touch and to adopt the Alberta model for addiction treatment. Trenten Laarz said he sees people struggling every day during his work at the hospital. Through that work, he said he’s seen some local non-profits create community outreach positions that help connect people with the resources and non-profits that can benefit them. Expanding those positions rather than bylaw officers would be the way to go, he said. Tucker Krause said council needs to not get in the way of the involuntary treatment centre that the province is building at the former Gunn Road youth detention centre. He said he would promote the building of a downtown Portland Loo, increase downtown density and bring back downtown revitalization tax exemptions to benefit the core. Trudy Klassen touted her work on the Standing Committee on Public Safety and its work to get the security camera pilot project started. However, she also said she doesn’t want to live in a surveillance police state. She said she would continue to push for the

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city to create a navigation centre to connect people with social services and non-profits. Jesi Janjua said crime is spreading out from the downtown core and the contract to hire the RCMP for policing is expensive. By comparison, he said, bylaw officers are more cost-effective. He said he has faith in the new involuntary care centre being built, but the city needs a plan to make sure it’s properly utilized. Nicole Fraser said there are many different types of safety. She said the city needs to create a better system of co-ordination for people and organizations in the downtown core because while a lot of money is being invested by non-profits, they’re working in silos. She also said there needs to be more education, encouragement and enforcement. Shawn Bortolon said she has been both a downtown business owner and someone who works with community services. More than one solution is needed, she said and the city needs to take a leadership role in connecting services together. She also advocated for the return of community policing programs. Tim Bennett said that a couple of Januaries ago, there was a day where a lot of events were happening at the same time. He said he was told by police that during that time, there was a decrease in downtown incidents. The city, he said, needs to activate downtown spaces and bring more people there, especially on evenings and weekends.

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2026

PG VOTES 2026 - COUNCIL QUESTIONS

PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

Tim Bennett

Nicole Fraser

Jesi Janjua

Trudy Klassen

Tucker Krause

Trenten Laarz

Dan McLaren

Rajendar Parmar

Dan Pears

Ron Polillo

Bob Radloff

Cori Ramsay

Brian Skakun

James Steidle

Bruce Wayne

John Zukowski

Do you support the current Council Code of Conduct?

YES

Tim Bennett Trenten Laarz Rajendar Parmar Dan Pears

Ron Polillo Cori Ramsay

NO Nicole Fraser Bob Radloff Jesi Janjua Trudy Klassen Tucker Krause Dan McLaren

Brian Skakun James Steidle Bruce Wayne John Zukowski

Do you support a 0% tax increase?

YES

Nicole Fraser Trudy Klassen Trenten Laarz Dan McLaren

Brian Skakun Bruce Wayne John Zukowski

NO Ron Polillo

Tim Bennett Jesi Janjua Tucker Krause Rajendar Parmar Dan Pears

Bob Radloff Cori Ramsay James Steidle

Do you support the city incurring the costs of a referendum every time it borrows money?

YES

Nicole Fraser Tucker Krause

James Steidle

Tim Bennett Jesi Janjua Trudy Klassen Trenten Laarz Dan McLaren Rajendar Parmar Dan Pears

NO Ron Polillo

Bob Radloff Cori Ramsay Brian Skakun Bruce Wayne John Zukowski

Do you support establishing electoral wards for the next municipal election?

YESRajendar Parmar Jesi Janjua NO Ron Polillo

Tim Bennett Nicole Fraser

James Steidle

Bob Radloff Cori Ramsay Brian Skakun Bruce Wayne John Zukowski

Trudy Klassen Tucker Krause Trenten Laarz Dan McLaren Dan Pears

Do you support the sale of civic facilities to reduce operating and maintenance costs?

YES Ron Polillo

Tim Bennett Jesi Janjua Trudy Klassen Trenten Laarz Rajendar Parmar

Cori Ramsay John Zukowski

Nicole Fraser Tucker Krause Dan McLaren Dan Pears

NO Bob Radloff

Brian Skakun James Steidle Bruce Wayne

Do you support the use of the Alternative Approval Process?

YES

Tim Bennett Dan McLaren Rajendar Parmar

Ron Polillo Cori Ramsay

NO

Nicole Fraser Jesi Janjua Trudy Klassen Tucker Krause Trenten Laarz Dan Pears

Bob Radloff Brian Skakun James Steidle Bruce Wayne John Zukowski

PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

Question: Unlike the rest of BC, Prince George’s unemployment rate continues to decline. What can mayor and council do to attract new residents to our community? John Zukowski said that if the city lowers the property tax rates, more people will move to the city. That will, in turn, raise the total number of taxpayers. Bruce Wayne said that if the city improves livability by lowering the crime rate and open drug use, more people will move here. He said Prince George Tourism needs to help draw in new people and the city needs to keep post-secondary students after graduate. James Steidle said Prince George needs to hammer home the importance of its arts scene. The city’s theatres, artists, music scene and more, he said, make it a fun, vibrant place to live. The city also needs to highlight local food and promote local food production. Brian Skakun said the key to attracting new residents is to have a

PG VOTES 2026 - COUNCIL FORUM council that works together. He added that UNBC, CNC and the local IndoCanadian community have done a lot of work to attract skilled workers and the city needs to cater to their spouses as well. Cori Ramsay said that the city is hearing that new doctors and teachers, for example, find it difficult to integrate into the community. She said the city should connect these professionals with non-profits and usergroups and promote more festivals. Bob Radloff said the city needs to improve public safety, promote development and maintain affordability. He said his business is able to attract workers because of affordability. While houses are comparatively cheap, he said taxes are high. Ron Polillo said affordability is one of Prince George’s greatest advantages, and it needs to market that to young families and professionals. He said everyone in the community needs to be an ambassador for it and to highlight local sports facilities, parks and other

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2026

highlights. Rajendar Parmar said he thought Skakun had summed it up nicely, but wanted to add that he thought the city needs to have better categorization for its planning department to spur the development of new houses. Tim Bennett said a lot of people move away from Prince George because of difficulties accessing child care or housing and a lack of nightlife and amenities. The city, he said, needs to better meet residents’ needs and residents need to be ambassadors for the city. Shawn Bortolon said the city needs more affordable housing, industry, sustainable jobs and apprenticeships. She said that cuts at post-secondary institutions have reduced their draw. She said her family originally moved to town to work at a mill. Nicole Fraser said the city needs to ask why residents choose to live here. For her, she said it’s access to amenities like the Hart Ski Hill and Otway trail

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system and the arts scene. She said the city needs to co-ordinate and celebrate what it has with community organizations. Jesi Janjua said that while we know Prince George is beautiful, it has some visuals that turn visitors off. Many visitors are alarmed due to the state of the downtown core. He said the city’s centre needs to be elsewhere and make permitting for development easier. Trudy Klassen said the city can attract professionals by offering them larger lots to live on, which the city has access to. She said having good local schools will help and encouraged those in the audience to vote for trustee candidates who will make that a reality. Tucker Krause said his platform pillars cover this topic: increase the density in downtown, clean up the downtown core, don’t write any blank cheques and spend responsibly. He said the city needs to make sure it has room to grow.

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2026

PG VOTES 2026 - COUNCIL QUESTIONS

PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

Tim Bennett

Nicole Fraser

Jesi Janjua

Trudy Klassen

Tucker Krause

Trenten Laarz

Dan McLaren

Rajendar Parmar

Dan Pears

Ron Polillo

Bob Radloff

Cori Ramsay

Brian Skakun

James Steidle

Bruce Wayne

John Zukowski

Do you support developing additional off leash dog parks? Tim Bennett Nicole Fraser Jesi Janjua Trudy Klassen Trenten Laarz

YES

Dan McLaren Dan Pears Ron Polillo Bob Radloff Cori Ramsay

Brian Skakun James Steidle Bruce Wayne John Zukowski

NO

Tucker Krause Rajendar Parmar

Do you support a bylaw requiring downtown businesses to maintain building conditions (ex. replace broken windows, remove graffiti, etc.)? Tim Bennett Nicole Fraser Trudy Klassen Tucker Krause Dan McLaren

YES Rajendar

Parmar Dan Pears Ron Polillo Bob Radloff

Cori Ramsay Brian Skakun James Steidle Bruce Wayne

NO

Jesi Janjua Trenten Laarz John Zukowski

Do you support the Civic Core Plan which includes the replacement of the Kopar Memorial Arena and the construction of a new convention/performing arts centre?

YES

Tim Bennett Ron Polillo Cori Ramsay

NO Dan Pears Nicole Fraser

Jesi Janjua Trudy Klassen Tucker Krause Trenten Laarz Dan McLaren Rajendar Parmar

Bob Radloff Brian Skakun James Steidle Bruce Wayne John Zukowski

Do you support the city purchasing land for strategic development purposes?

YES

Tim Bennett Nicole Fraser Jesi Janjua Trudy Klassen Tucker Krause Dan McLaren Rajendar Parmar

Ron Polillo Bob Radloff Cori Ramsay Brian Skakun James Steidle Bruce Wayne John Zukowski

NO

Trenten Laarz Dan Pears

Do you support the city using taxpayer money for the expansion of the downtown security camera pilot project?

YES

Tim Bennett Jesi Janjua Dan McLaren Rajendar Parmar Dan Pears

Ron Polillo Bob Radloff Cori Ramsay Brian Skakun John Zukowski

NO

Nicole Fraser Trudy Klassen Tucker Krause

Trenten Laarz James Steidle Bruce Wayne

Is a resource benefit agreement between the city and the province a priority for you?

YESRon Polillo

Tim Bennett Nicole Fraser Jesi Janjua Trudy Klassen Tucker Krause Trenten Laarz Rajendar Parmar Dan Pears

Bob Radloff Cori Ramsay Brian Skakun James Steidle Bruce Wayne John Zukowski

NO

Dan McLaren

PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

Question: Livability inside of Prince George is of great concern. What is your vision for this term regarding trails, bike lanes and dog parks? Rajendar Parmar said under current economic circumstances, the city needs to maintain its existing number of parks and wouldn’t seek to build more bike lanes until the situation improves. Dan Pears said he believed in maintaining the status quo for parks and recreation facilities and the city can’t afford an expansion at this time. He said good, free open spaces are a great way of keeping a community together. Ron Polillo touted improvements to Rainbow Park that he pushed for in the city’s 2026 budget that include full washrooms rather than outhouses. He said the number of parks is one of Prince George’s strengths and the city should pursue further strategic investments. Bob Radloff said that when he worked for the city, there were a lot of parks with decaying playgrounds and a dedicated fund was created to pay for improvements. He said that has led to safer playgrounds and the city should do something similar for bike lanes. Cori Ramsay said she agreed with Radloff and her vision is to see

PG VOTES 2026 - COUNCIL FORUM improvements to the Hart Connector Trail finally funded in the next term in collaboration with the province. She said the city’s active transportation system needs more co-ordination with the transit system. Brian Skakun said dog parks are something Tourism Prince George has gotten requests for from visitors and that he sees out-of-province license plates at existing ones. He said he didn’t think the city’s consultation was done well for the recent College Heights dog park. James Steidle said he didn’t think improvements to parks need to come at the cost of tax dollars. He highlighted his role with Ginter’s Green Forever to get road dedications taken out of the meadow and said the Cranbrook Hill escarpment will be a burden if developed. Bruce Wayne said a lot of playgrounds in the bowl were dismantled in 2017 and need to be replaced. He added that a lot of trails in and around the Fraser and Nechako rivers are falling apart and a better process needs to be implemented to maintain them. John Zukowski said that while parks, recreational space and bike lanes are needed, he believes that the city needs to freeze taxes and council needs to

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2026

maintain the status quo while a deep dive on the budget is carried out. Roads need to be fixed first, he said. Anthony Okechukwu said that while every resident wants to enjoy these things, he’s concerned about the cost of maintenance. He said council needs to identify if they’re needed, whether they should be in the strategic plan and what should be budgeted for. Dan McLaren took aim at the $700,000 price tag for the Rainbow Park bathrooms, asking whether residents can’t just deal with an outhouse sometimes. He said he envisions a private paddlewheeler restaurant parked at the two rivers’ confluence. Trenten Laarz said he would support the building of more bike lanes and the completion of unfinished trails. At least once a month, a cyclist comes into the emergency room because they were struck by a vehicle on a road without bike lanes, he said. Tucker Krause said that small capital projects for greenspaces funded by the lease-in, lease-out fund would be the perfect use for it. He added that bike lanes and sidewalks should be treated as basic infrastructure as e-bikes and e-scooters get more popular. Trudy Klassen said the city has beautiful trails and parks, but taxes are

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a big part of a city’s livability and the annual maintenance budget and cost overruns on projects like the George Street Parkade. Jesi Janjua says he loves dog parks and thinks the city needs more of them, but they’re not cheap to install. He wondered if savings could be found by installing contained, dog-friendly areas inside of existing parks and saving money by getting donations from industry. Nicole Fraser said that these elements are key reasons why people want to live in Prince George. She said environmental and financial stewardship aren’t mutually exclusive and the city should look to enter the Northwest Benefits Alliance to help pay for them. Shawn Bortolon said the city shouldn’t spend more on these items but hold the status quo and seek to better promote what it already has. That, she said, should include work to make existing parks and infrastructure more accessible to everyone. Tim Bennett said he’s visited most of the city’s parks with his kids and while he thinks there are some fantastic destinations, there are some areas and neighbourhoods where residents don’t have as much access. Neighbourhoods need to be more livable, he said.

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2026

PG VOTES 2026 - COUNCIL QUESTIONS

PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

Tim Bennett

Nicole Fraser

Jesi Janjua

Trudy Klassen

Tucker Krause

Trenten Laarz

Dan McLaren

Rajendar Parmar

Dan Pears

Ron Polillo

Bob Radloff

Cori Ramsay

Brian Skakun

James Steidle

Bruce Wayne

John Zukowski

Do you support reducing municipal fees and charges that contribute to the cost of new housing developments?

YES

Trudy Klassen Tucker Krause Trenten Laarz Dan McLaren Rajendar Parmar

Ron Polillo Bob Radloff John Zukowski

Tim Bennett Nicole Fraser Jesi Janjua Dan Pears

NO

Cori Ramsay Brian Skakun James Steidle Bruce Wayne

Do you support a standardized housing design policy for Prince George?

YES

Tim Bennett Jesi Janjua Trudy Klassen Tucker Krause Trenten Laarz Dan McLaren

Dan Pears Ron Polillo Bob Radloff Cori Ramsay Bruce Wayne

NO

Nicole Fraser Rajendar Parmar Brian Skakun James Steidle John Zukowski

Should the city stop clearing driveways during snow removal to reduce spending?

YES -

NODan Pears

Tim Bennett Nicole Fraser Jesi Janjua Trudy Klassen Tucker Krause Trenten Laarz Dan McLaren Rajendar Parmar

Ron Polillo Bob Radloff Cori Ramsay Brian Skakun James Steidle Bruce Wayne John Zukowski

Do you support the development of data centres in Prince George and/or the surrounding area?

YES

Trudy Klassen Tucker Krause Rajendar Parmar

Ron Polillo Bob Radloff John Zukowski

Tim Bennett Nicole Fraser Jesi Janjua Trenten Laarz Dan McLaren Dan Pears

NO

Cori Ramsay Brian Skakun James Steidle Bruce Wayne

PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

Question: What should the city do to attract light and heavy industry? Anthony Okechukwu said the city needs to make it as simple as possible for businesses by removing roadblocks and paperwork as well as creating incentives for companies to invest locally. With that, other things will fall in line. Dan McLaren said Prince George needs to move from an economic development strategy where it sends pamphlets out to making sales calls, promoting the city’s education workforce, available land and willingness to do business. Trenten Laarz said the city needs to make it easier to do business, including by modifying zoning rules. He positively referenced a recent proposal to develop Prince George’s capacity as an inland port and said the local permitting process should be streamlined. Tucker Krause said Prince George needs to cut red tape and improve its permitting processes to make sure that the backlog that built up in 2025 doesn’t happen again. He also said he’s heard from unions that the city needs to be a more welcoming workplace. Trudy Klassen said it’s not just permitting times that are the problem, but other issues that make it hard to

PG VOTES 2026 - COUNCIL FORUM start a business. She also touted the inland port proposal and said the city needs a public land inventory so businesses know where they can invest. Jesi Janjua said Prince George needs to establish an identity and advertise itself as an inland port. The city, he said, is at a crossroads and should be used for staging major projects, but permitting needs to improve and major projects need space to set up. Nicole Fraser said said a hard look needs to be taken at appurtenancy to make sure businesses contribute to both the city and the region. Also, focus needs to be made on not just working with industry, but also helping small and medium businesses. Shawn Bortolon said that existing businesses need to be consulted with as previously existing policies implemented by the city have been harmful. She said that entrepreneurship should be supported with tax incentives to promote new businesses. Tim Bennett pointed to the recent announcement that Ontario firm Dancor is building a new FedEx facility and industrial condominium and its comments that it felt the city is easy to do business with. He said the city needs to find efficiencies to get things built faster.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2026

Rajendar Parmar said businesses want to come to Prince George because of the city’s access to cheap labour and land. He said the city needs to see how it can lower the price of homes and rent to attract workers and partner with Indigenous communities on projects. Dan Pears said it’s essential for the city to expand its tax base. He proposed a phased-in tax incentive where business get property tax breaks for the first few years after moving to town. He added that the city needs an inventory of available land and power access. Ron Polillo pointed to recent developments along Boundary Road and the city’s access to land, but agreed permitting can be more efficient. He said council needs to openly support city staff and refrain from publicly criticizing them, which hurt morale and recruitment. Bob Radloff said there’s an avalanche of interest in Prince George, but projects move at the speed of business and can’t wait a year for decisions from the city. He said the city needs a bottom-up rather than top-down management style to let staff speed processes up. Cori Ramsay said Downtown Prince George has advocated for the creation of an economic development roundtable, which she thinks is a good idea. She also said a business owner

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told her that the city needs a navigator position to help businesses get through city hall. Brian Skakun said that council needs to be positive with staff but added that the local development community has lost faith with the city. Those changes, he said, need to come from administration. He added the city needs to better promote its industrial land base. James Steidle said he would push for more local ownership, which he said was key to the city’s 1970s boom period before businesses were sold off to interests to huge corporations. This, he said, would stop profits from being removed from the community. Bruce Wayne said investors will go elsewhere if they feel that the city is moving too slowly. He added that the city needs to better promote the local workforce, available infrastructure and access to land, which will lead to a booming economy. John Zukowski said lower property taxes for residential and commercial land would help with population density and economic growth by encouraging people and businesses to move to Prince George. A new council is needed to take this approach, he said.

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2026

Samantha Hermanson

Sarah Holland

David Low

PG VOTES 2026 - SCHOOL TRUSTEE QUESTIONS

Shar McCrory

Barb McNab

Lisa Mitchell

Don Sabo

Sara Patterson

PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

Monica Peacock

Jake Skakun

Do you support School District 57 developing additional daycare programs at schools and other district facilities?

Do you support reinstating speaking time for members of the public and representatives from teachers and support staff unions at school board meetings?

Sarah Holland David Low Shar McCrory Barb McNab Don Sabo

Sarah Holland David Low Shar McCrory Barb McNab Don Sabo

NO

YES

Samantha Hermanson Monica Peacock Jake Skakun Sara Patterson Lisa Mitchell

-

Do you support withdrawing the recent 30 per cent pay increase for trustees set to go into effect in the new term?

YES

Sarah Holland Shar McCrory Barb McNab Don Sabo Samantha Hermanson

Monica Peacock Jake Skakun Sara Patterson Lisa Mitchell

David Low

NO

YES

Shar McCrory Barb McNab Don Sabo Samantha Hermanson

Monica Peacock Jake Skakun Lisa Mitchell

YES

Barb McNab Samantha Hermanson Monica Peacock

In the 2025 long-range facilities plan developed for SD57, it is recommended to close and amalgamate schools throughout the community due to projected declines in enrollment. Do you support the recommendation to close and amalgamate schools? David Low Barb McNab

NO

Sarah Holland David Low

Sara Patterson

Do you support the use of budget surpluses or reserve funds for capital costs such as expanding and improving school facilities? Sarah Holland David Low Shar McCrory

Samantha Hermanson Sara Patterson Monica Peacock Jake Skakun Lisa Mitchell

YES

Do you support the use of budget surpluses or reserve funds for operational costs such as teachers salaries, support staff, etc.?

NO

Don Sabo Jake Skakun

Sara Patterson Lisa Mitchell

NO

YES

Monica Peacock Sarah Holland Sara Patterson Shar McCrory Don Sabo

NO

Samantha Hermanson Jake Skakun Lisa Mitchell

Do you think the school board should sell land adjacent to schools to raise additional funds for the district? Shar McCrory Barb McNab

YES

Don Sabo Samantha Hermanson

NO

Sarah Holland David Low Monica Peacock

Jake Skakun Sara Patterson Lisa Mitchell

PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

School Trustee All-Candidates Forum All 14 candidates running for the five Prince George spots on School District 57’s board of education gathered on Monday, Sept. 21 for an all-candidates

Question: School District 57 has opened daycare spaces on properties it owns. The province has passed legislation making it easier to open daycares inside schools. What importance should SD57 place on developing more daycare facilities and spaces? Also, should the school board consider selling land it owns. What should the proceeds from either of these be used for? On the daycare front, most candidates were open to the idea of the district opening more spaces if there’s a need in the community and as long as it wouldn’t impact the operations of schools. David Low said he wasn’t sure of the background on this issue but would be against the district competing with private daycares.

Question: With individual education plans (IEPs) becoming more common, what specific change would you make to improve the experience of the student who require additional learning, behavioural accessibility or other supports? Shar McCrory said the district needs to advocate for more funding as many students’ needs aren’t currently being met. Also, she said the district needs to make schools a safe space for kids. David Low said it’s disruptive to put students of different abilities together in the same classroom. He said more aides should be hired or a separate school established to accommodate students with lower levels of capability. Sarah Holland said if she had a magic wand, she’d get more funding for assessments and supports. Assessments are key, she said, because they help unlock more provincial funding and help the district understand students’ needs.

PG VOTES 2026 - SCHOOL TRUSTEE FORUM

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2026

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forum at the Prince George Playhouse. Candidates had 90 seconds to introduce themselves and were then asked nine questions by Citizen publisher Cameron Stolz, each getting 90 seconds to respond.

Video of this forum and those held for Prince George city council and mayoral candidates was recorded and will be posted online for public viewing. This publication will contain some excerpts and summaries of candidates’

responses on a few key issues. Keep an eye on pgcitizen.ca for a post containing videos from each of our three local election forums.

Sarah Holland said before and after school care wouldn’t just benefit parents and students but also provide more hours to educational assistants looking for more work.

Erica McLean) said sales should be considered on a case-by-case basis and it would need to be seen whether it would benefit the community.

Barb McNab said the proceeds from land sale should be used to hire teachers.

Lisa Mitchell said she was embarrassed as when the question was first asked, she assumed it was for unwed single mothers attending school and not parents with kids. She said the idea of more daycares was a no-brainer for parents. Don Sabo said daycares in schools might help children transition more easily into kindergarten. The issue of land sales was more mixed. The incumbents (Cory Antrim, Craig Brennan, Holland, Shar McCrory and

Samantha Hermanson said not enough funding is coming from the province and because of that, some students are getting miscategorized to secure additional funding. This lack of funding, she said, is also causing care workers to get burnt out and force other staff to take on some of their workload. Laurie Dillman said the district needs to identify gaps faced by the teams implementing these plans and provide them with more support, whether it’s funding, mentorship or something else. Craig Brennan said money flows to the district based on how students are categorized, but the challenge is finding staff to serve at schools not just in Prince George, but in the Robson Valley and Mackenzie as well. Getting the right number of staff is one of the next board’s greatest challenges. Cory Antrim said that from his past experience as both an educational assistant and teacher, he knows there aren’t enough qualified people to fill positions. This issue isn’t as simple as

They were also careful to say that any proceeds from sales should be used for one-time purchases or expenses and not ongoing ones.

Sara Patterson said they should be put towards renewing D.P. Todd Secondary School and Springwood Elementary but was against selling off land.

Antrim added that proceeds should go to things that tie kids to schools, like sports, while McLean said they could be used for innovative, one-time projects.

Jake Skakun and Sabo said proceeds should be redirected into the classroom, though Skakun wasn’t in favour of sales in general.

Brennan also said that in some cases, depending on how the property came into the district’s possession, proceeds from sales would go back to the provincial government and not the district.

Monica Peacock said proceeds should be used for things that improve student enjoyment.

making policy changes, but the district has a great superintendent who thinks outside the box and can find innovative solutions.

grandparents to volunteer at schools, would help present students with different people and ideas.

Erica McLean said the district has an opportunity to advocate to the Ministry of Child and Family Development. Wait lists for things like autism diagnoses, she said, are long and the less advocacy there is from caregivers and students, the longer the wait list will get. Lisa Mitchell said the district needs to think outside of the box and take an “it takes a village approach” that accommodates the different ways that students learn. Barb McNab said each student has different needs. She said teachers need more support, more money needs to be spent on education and that the district needs to see how it can attract students who were pulled away for homeschooling to return. Sara Patterson wondered if more community involvement, like getting

Low said generally, proceeds from land sales should be reinvested in the educational system.

Monica Peacock said she had recent experience putting two grandchildren through the K-12 system. The district, she said, should do more to reach out to parents and provide them with information so they can do more to help. If it doesn’t, she said parents will pull away. Don Sabo said additional funding needs to be found to support these students. He criticized the raise for trustees approved earlier in the year, saying those funds could have been put towards hiring a couple of educational assistants. Sabo said the board should work with the BC Teachers Federation to advocate on behalf of students. Jake Skakun said he needed to do more research on the subject.

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2026

PG VOTES 2026 - SCHOOL TRUSTEE FORUM

PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

Cory Antim

Craig Brennan

Laurie Dillman

Samantha Hermanson

Sarah Holland

David Low

Shar McCrory

Erica McLean

Barb McNab

Lisa Mitchell

Don Sabo

Sara Patterson

Monica Peacock

Jake Skakun

Question: School District 57 has identified learning — including improving literacy, numeracy and graduation outcomes — as a major priority. If elected, what is one specific change you would advocate for in your first year that you believe will measurably impact and improve student achievement? The five incumbents (Antrim, Brennan, Holland, McLean and McCrory) were generally in agreement that while the board sets policies and finances, it’s staff like educators and administrators that manage how those goals are achieved. Cory Antrim added that by providing stability at the board level, it sets an example for the entire district. He added that the hiring of Supt. Jameel Aziz has also added to the district’s stability. Craig Brennan said the district’s annual budget is one way that the board can support learning initiatives as well as listening to staff presenting at board meetings about what has been successful in the classroom. Laurie Dillman said the district needs to examine students’ physical,

emotional, spiritual and educational health together at the same time and bring it together. Samantha Hermanson said her own children have been frustrated that when doing novel studies in class, the books are being read to them rather than having copies provided to them. She said the district should put more emphasis on reading and added that she felt allowing students to use calculators for math wasn’t setting them up properly for post-secondary studies. Sarah Holland added that their role is to govern, not educate directly. She said the board has been pleased at recent progress on learning outcomes but not satisfied. The board can do is request data on how learning initiatives are working to see if money is being well spent, she said. David Low said that in a perfect world, school boards would have direct authority to change the curriculum. He advocated for the return of cursive writing and simple math. Also, he complained that the provincial government feels like it owns children instead of parents.

Shar McCrory agreed with Holland and said that as an example, the board funding Indigenous graduation coaches have helped lead to an improvement in graduation rates for Indigenous students, though they’re not to an ideal level yet. Erica McLean said that once per school year, the district’s curriculum and innovation department presents at a board meeting and it is a good opportunity to get insight into what learning initiatives are working. Barb McNab said too many teachers and students don’t feel safe in the classroom and that cell phones need to be completely banned from schools. The provincial government directed school districts to implement cell phone bans in 2024. Lisa Mitchell said students need to be informed of potential career outcomes earlier as well as what courses they need to take to access those opportunities. She added that she believed too many College of New Caledonia students are having to take upgrading courses after finishing high school.

Sara Patterson said the district needs to put more emphasis on physical materials like books and less on technology and screens. There should be, she said, more emphasis on reading and handwriting. Monica Peacock said that as a parent, she had to put in a lot of hours to help make sure her kids were getting the right learning outcomes. She added that she felt that not every parent understands their role in learning outcomes and that the district needs to expect more from families. Don Sabo said that Fraser Institute reports show that School District 57 is lagging behind its peers on literacy and numeracy. More funding, he said, is needed for English and math teachers as well as for the district to better use technology to assist teachers in achieving desired outcomes. Jake Skakun advocated for additional dual-credit pathways where students can earn both high school and postsecondary credits at the same time, as well as additional opportunities for them to learn financial management skills.

Laurie Dillman School Trustee Candidate

Cory Antrim School Trustee Candidate

Chris Brennan School Trustee Candidate

Did not respond to questionnaire

Declined to respond to questionnai

Declined to respond to questionnaire

PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

Editorial note: In our all-candidates forum for those running for school board, we tried to ask freeform questions to which there was not necessarily a correct answer. Question: Children are currently subject to advertising messages of all sorts, misinformation and disinformation. As a result, there have been widespread negative impacts on physical and mental health. Would you lobby the province to provide immediate education programming to help students understand the difference between the messaging they are receiving and what’s factual? Shar McCrory said she believes providing kids with that level of knowledge starts at home with guidance from schools on what types of media they should learn from. She said she’s in favour of anything that improves students’ mental health. David Low said he wouldn’t trust the government to provide anything of value when it comes to education on the truth. He said he agreed that parents need to be engaged to teach kids the difference between truths and untruths. Sarah Holland said she would be stunned if something to this effect

PG VOTES 2026 - SCHOOL TRUSTEE FORUM

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2026

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However, there were a couple that, in our view, did. One of them during the forum was what the role trustees had in determining school curriculum. Most candidates did not get this one quite right.

Curriculum is set by the provincial government and not by a school district or its trustees. Most candidates said they had no power. Others said they should lobby for change or push the envelope.

However, a school board can approve electives offered to students in its jurisdiction. At the forum, only Craig Brennan, Sarah Holland and Shar McCrory understood that part of a trustee’s duties.

wasn’t already happening in schools. It’s an issue for both kids and adults, she said. More resources in the public education system on misinformation, she said, wouldn’t be a bad thing.

Cory Antrim said what was really being discussed was teaching critical thinking. He said that when he was a teacher, he would take a news story and show his students how four different outlets covered it differently.

more capable to read and understand what they’re reading rather than focusing on screens, she said.

Samantha Hermanson said she believed it was already being taught to some degree because one of her children is better at spotting that kind of thing than she is. She said she thinks parents are doing an okay job on this front.’ Laurie Dillman said that she works with people five years old to 75 years old and what they have in common is they don’t feel like they bring value to the world. She said students need to be given more opportunities to explore community connections. Craig Brennan said kids get phones when five years old and most teachers have them in their back pockets. He said it’s hard to teach kids whose brains are developed to resist the irresistible and believes something needs to be done at the federal level about tech firms.

Erica McLean said she thought that everyone is constantly processing too much information. As a governor of the local school system, she said she could model how to participate in a healthy democracy and amplify student voices. Barb McNab said critical thinking is important in schools and parents need to call out disinformation when they’re with their kids rather than let the media tell them how to think. Lisa Mitchell said critical thinking has left the buildings and parents need to engage kids because schools aren’t daycare and they have an obligation to be a role model. Sara Patterson said the key is to focus away from media and to direct kids towards physical media like books and places like libraries. Kids need to be

Monica Peacock said parents are the key and schools need to be the facilitator of that key. Schools, she said should be an expression of how to deal with things that kids haven’t been able to manifest yet in their heads. Don Sabo said that relying on parents isn’t necessarily an option because a lot of adults are confused about what is and isn’t real, like believing in conspiracy theories about COVID-19. This type of thing, he said, has popped up on the school board before. Jake Skakun said it’s important to stop the spread of misinformation and he would be in support of courses that worked towards that, though parents need to play a role in this process as well.

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PGVOTES VOTES 2026 PG 2026

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2026

PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

2026 General Local Election Information WHERE TO VOTE ON ELECTION DAY

1. Prince George Conference and Civic Centre

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Open Oct. 7, 8, 14 and 15 for advance voting and open General Voting Day on October 17th.

2. John McInnis Learning Centre Open General Voting Day on Oct. 17 from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

3. DP Todd Secondary School

4

Open General Voting Day on Oct. 17 from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

4. Edgewood Elementary

3

Open General Voting Day on Oct. 17 from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

5. Shas Ti Kelly Road Secondary

1 6

Open General Voting Day on Oct. 17 from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

6. Blackburn Elementary

2

Open General Voting Day on Oct. 17 from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

7. College Heights Secondary 7 8

Open General Voting Day on Oct. 17 from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

8. Vanway Elementary Open General Voting Day on Oct. 17 from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

WHAT TO BRING

WAYS TO VOTE

Voters must show two pieces of acceptable identification at the time of voting. Together, the two pieces must show:

Wednesday, Oct. 7 - 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Advance Voting at the PG Conference & Civic Centre

• Your name; • Your residential address and • Include your signature.

Thursday, Oct. 8 - 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Advance Voting at the PG Conference & Civic Centre

If your ID does not show your address: You may provide two pieces of ID that prove your identity, one of which must include your signature, and then make a solemn declaration of your residential address to the Election Official at the voting place.

Vote early, vote on General Local Election Day, or vote by mail!

Wednesday, Oct. - 14 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Advance Voting at the PG Conference & Civic Centre Thursday, Oct. 15 - 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Advance Voting at the PG Conference & Civic Centre Saturday, Oct. 17 - 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. General Local Election Day. Voting available at eight community locations.

For more information on voting eligibility, curb-side voting and voting assistance visit: getinvolved.princegeorge.ca/election or scan the QR Code