Most of those running for Mayor in Prince George congregated at UNBC this evening (Tuesday) for a Mayoral Candidates Forum.
The forum was put on by the University, as well as the Prince George Chamber of Commerce.
The format was presented as a “ten-minute job interview”, with one minute given for opening and closing statements.
Dean of the Faculty of Economics Ronald Camp served as the moderator for the discussion.
The candidates drew numbers to determine the order in which they spoke, as well as two topics for their ten minute discussions.
Keenan Murphy did not attend.
Zachariah Olson went first. The first question he answered was on public safety, on what his vision of a safe community looks like.
“One thing that I’ve looked as, especially in regards to public safety, has been the fact that our RCMP is heavily understaffed,” he said. “We only have 83 out of 150 of the RCMP that we need for the City, and with this, we need to make sure that our streets are being well kept, and that people feel safe among them.”
Olson added the biggest challenge for this is trying to revitalize the RCMP through civic programs, saying there’s “no promotional ability unless you move outside of Prince George.”
Olson said the Car 60 program would go a long way in making things better.
“I believe that supporting this program and making it the norm will go a long way to seeing a safer Prince George.”
He was then asked what he would do as Mayor to encourage, support and move the RCMP to address the concerns he raised.
“We have to seriously address the idea that we might have to move towards a municipal police model,” Olson said. “If the federal government isn’t going to help us, then we’re going to have to realize that we have to solve this ourself, even if it’s going to be harder on us.”
Olson’s next topic was infrastructure, with the question being “what do you see as the major infrastructure issues facing Prince George?”
Olson said a lot of buildings need to be renovated, with wiring in a lot of them “coming up on a due date of about ten years ago.”
“If these go unaddressed, then we could see different parts of the City go up in flame, and it’s something that needs to be addressed right now,” he said. “If it goes unaddressed, if we do nothing about this, well, I don’t even want to think of the consequences.”
The next question asked of Olson was how he would implement Truth and Reconciliation as Mayor.
Olson said he attended the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation event last week, and spoke about the walk which talked about history. He said a lot of the information “was hard to access for the average person.”
“Trying to get this information so it can be more readily accessed, as well as communication with Lheidli T’enneh will go a long way for reconciliation,” he said. “I believe that if we provide the information, if we show people the history, that it will go a long way for people who have more of a mind for that stuff.”
The final question asked of Olson was more or less or the same amount of the City budget should be devoted to infrastructure.
He said more of the budget should be devoted to renovating infrastructure, particularly with sewage lines around College Heights.
“One of the biggest things I’ve heard from going door to door in College Heights, is that you can now smell the sewage at Malaspina Elementary,” he said. “That’s something that kids should not have to deal with, that the residents of College Heights shouldn’t have to deal with.”
He added before taking on big civic downtown projects, the City should look towards areas like College Heights and the Hart.
The next candidate was Ernesto Caranto, who drew infrastructure as a topic, and spoke at length about public transportation.
“Infrastructure, to me, is a bus terminal, a bus you can rely on, and people move,” he said.
He said he would advocate to other levels of government to put money into public transportation in Prince George.
“Prince George has a lot to offer, so we need a lot of people in Prince George, because we are short of people, especially in the hospital,” he said. “We need those kinds of infrastructure so they can put more people coming here into our city.”
He also spoke on his idea of putting a bullet train between Prince George and Vancouver.
“If you take the bus, it takes you 12 hours,” he said. “But if you have a bullet train, I guarantee you, we’ll be moving faster and our City growing like crazy.”
He was asked what should be done to help grow business in Prince George.
He said he would like to host “Expo 2029” in Prince George.
The third candidate to speak was Marc Carrier, starting with infrastructure.
He started off by saying there’s a major problem with the City’s sewer.
“A lot of people don’t think about that, but it’s one of the biggest issues,” he said.
He also said there’s plenty of problems with roads as well.
“Right now the main problem we have, we don’t have money to fix them,” he said. “The budget is over budget all the time, taxes are high, you say let’s fix this, let’s fix that, but we don’t have the money. We’re going to have to really tighten our belt to fix any building, because we can’t borrow anymore.”
When asked what he thought would be a reasonable budget to borrow funds to move a project forward, he said those projects would have to be put on the shelf for a while.
“The only way we can borrow money more, to fix the infrastructure, is to bring more business here,” he said. “We’re talking commercial, industrial, and we talk small business. We have to bring more tax.”
Carrier’s next topic was public safety, which he talked about civic infrastructure in the Hart.
“Up in the Hart, it’s growing, it’s growing, more and more, and for years, they’ve been asking for more lights, more sidewalks for the kids,” he said. “I saw it because I work up there, it’s very scary because the kids are right there on the side of the road, and there’s a lot of kids up there, and they’ve been asking the City for years, and it’s not happening. As a Mayor, I want safety first for the kids, because I have grandkids, and I had kids, and I don’t want them to get hit by a car.”
Carrier added downtown is a big issue too.
“Some businesses in one part of town pay double for insurance, and they can’t even fix their insurance because of the fires,” he said. “We can’t even control the drugs. I’m all about helping people, but why we don’t go after people that are selling the toxic drugs, they even advertise themselves on their drug which group they are from.”
Carrier said he would push the federal and provincial governments to deal with these issues.
City Councillor Garth Frizzell was the fourth candidate to speak, and drew public safety as a topic as well.
He referenced a number of things done by Council this past term, such as the undercover gang enforcement team, and increasing safety for bylaw officers.
“The third piece that we have to do is make sure that the courts will take people who need to be brought into court, and they will actually press charges, and that’s something else that we did,” he said. “We lobbied government to get more Crown Counsels, and therefore, complete the cycle.”
Frizzell was asked what further improvements could be made, and what he would do as Mayor to work to make those improvement housing. He said working together is key.
“We created the community partners addressing homelessness coalition of all the organizations working together so we weren’t working in siloes,” he said. “This last term, I took on helping us get involved with reducing the human trafficking in Prince George. What was the result, it was in August, creating a coalition build of about 13 different agencies have met.”
Frizzell said public safety can’t be done alone, and people need to be connected.
“The Mayor’s role is to bring those people together, so we can work on these aren’t simple problems, they’re very nuanced, and they need everybody on board,” he said.
Frizzell’s next topic was economic and community development, and was asked what community development means to him.
“Over COVID, the College co-opted me and I was working with a technology accelerator here in Prince George,” he said. “That meant attracting $5 million in investment in jobs and revenue for hundreds of businesses in northern B.C., it’s not about talk, it’s about providing programs on the ground.”
Frizzell was then asked what the Mayor’s role in economic development.
“The Mayor is not just going to beat a drum and say come to Prince George, the Mayor has to be deeply involved, engaged, and aware of the different facets of the economy, the demographics, what the University and the College are going through, the Mayor has to go out, identify opportunities,” he said.
The final question for Frizzell asked him what he thought of the budget for economic development, prompting him to praise the City’s economic development team.
“When we met with the federal government and the provincial government, and they came to Prince George during the Natural Resources Forum, they said north of Kamloops, you are the largest economic development agency,” he said. “Right now, we are going to have to grow that, because of the number of projects that are coming in, whether it’s two new grocery stores, or it’s the FedEx facility that’s 40,000 square feet, or the additional facility that they’re going to build right next to it that’s 60,000 square feet. Those big businesses don’t come to Prince George on a whim, they’ve been planning it for years.”
Fellow City Councillor Kyle Sampson followed Frizzell, with his first topic being community and economic development. He was asked what his vision was for community development.
“Community development is rooted, in my mind, growing the things that make people want to call Prince George home,” he said. “It’s the senior centres that are going to provide recreational opportunities for those folks, it’s the splash park modernization that is going make young families have those opportunities to enjoy the outdoors with their kids. It’s investing in the things that make Prince George a place that is comfortable to live, that has the amenities, and provides those foundational resources that make people consider it home.”
Sampson was then asked what he would prioritize to make the City a more liveable city. He responded by saying it’s not just about prioritizing, but also re-allocate what’s already being done.
“I think it’s a bit of a review on if we are supporting with grants to community organizations that are executing a service, it’s how do we make sure they’re not being duplicated,” he said. “How do we work together so there’s no gap, and find ways that this provider can offer this properly, and that we’re not duplicating that same over there.”
Sampson’s second question asked him how he would implement Truth and Reconciliation in making the City a more liveable city.
He said the foundational point of that would be continuing the relationship that’s been built over the last few decades.
“We are, I would say, lock step in most of what we do, we collaborate regularly,” he said. “Maintaining that level of connection, building that into that trust, so that we continue to work together and identify overlapping priorities that are going to build into our community for the benefit of everybody.”
Sampson was asked what should be done for economic development through the Mayor’s office. He responded by saying a misconception is that the Mayor is supposed to be an expert on every industry interested in Prince George.
“The Mayor is the spokes person for the will of Council, the Mayor is the person who is going to build the support and the vision for where we want to go and the industry we want to attract, and the Mayor is the person who is going to champion that direction in every opportunity that they can,” he said.
Roy Stewart followed Sampson, with his first topic being infrastructure.
Stewart said his research indicated the City has 386 kilometres of asbestos concrete water pipes, something that needs to be dealt with.
“We have to get rid of that, the City knows this, they didn’t take the option of a federal program to accelerate replacement, so that’s a major component of infrastructure that needs to be addressed,” he said. “The systems we have have been in the ground for a long time, and are failing, we have a huge reinvestment that needs to be made, that’s a major concern for the Council and the Mayor.”
When asked about balancing that concern with the need to maintain other existing infrastructure activities, Stewart said one of the things the City should be doing is investing in the replacement, and postponing the expansion of existing infrastructure.
“We have an opportunity here as a new Council and Mayor to reprioritize our spending and the borrowing,” he said. “Right now we spend $13 million a year on interest on the borrowings that have been made for the various things the City has created, swimming pools, infrastructure, etcetera. We have to be very careful with that kind of borrowing, but I think we have to do more to address these emerging issues.”
Stewart echoed that the Mayor’s role in doing this would be. He echoed that the Mayor’s role is as a spokesperson for Council.
“My role would be to address these matters of priority and spending, and to develop a consensus and to implement that consensus, that’s the role of the Mayor in that setting,” he said. “The Mayor is not someone who can just say things and get them done.”
Stewart added he felt Council needs to re-orient the relationship with the administration of the City.
“Right now the bylaws that regulate the relationship with Council with the administration have delegated to the administration virtually all the powers of Council,” he said. “What’s required is oversight, this Council, the Mayor and Council, have a role of oversight over public expenditures and the activities of the City. We need to take that back to the degree that’s necessary.”
Stewart’s next topic was public safety, being asked what his vision was for public safety. He said a safe Prince George is where people can walk among the streets and do what ever they want “without fear of being terrorized by the drug addicts and the individuals who roam the streets in downtown Prince George, and in other areas of the City.”
He said on the federal level, there needs to be a change in bail reform, while the provincial government needs to hire more Crown Counsel. He added he would start with enforcing the Safe Streets Bylaw.
“That deals with people on the street consuming drugs, people on the street sitting on the streets, littering the street with drug paraphernalia, defecating, doing whatever happens on the street with people like that,” he said. “We have to enforce the bylaw and get that stuff off the streets.”
He added the location of some services need to be changed, and move them into supportive housing to get people off the streets.
“Supportive housing in this city, 550 units, is adequate for what we require, I don’t think we need anymore, I think that the homeless people are there because they’ve chosen to be homeless, and I think if these services are moved into supportive housing, they will move into the supportive housing units,” Stewart said.
Randy Danchuk was the penultimate candidate, choosing topics of infrastructure and public safety. He was asked what he believed the major infrastructure issues facing the city are.
He said the big problem is overspending.
“I see all the buses running around town all the time, half the time I see big buses with four or five people in them, I’d much rather see smaller buses and more often showing up on routes,” he said. “Why are we buying new pickups, we’re not buying them, we actually lease them, we don’t own them. Every couple years, why are we investing in equipment every couple years?”
Danhcuk said in his construction background, most companies are not paying for new equipment every couple of years.
“We have to make do with what we have,” he said. “One of my biggest issues is with our infrastructure, with our core, we decide some of the stuff in the future, I’m ok with that, I’m not ok with the special projects and things like that. I’m not ok with, we get chosen to be in office for four years, yet I’m going to decide what we’re going to spend our money on for the next 20 years?”
His next question was what his vision for a safe community in Prince George. Danchuk said a neighbour called their block watch at 2:30 in the morning recently, saying someone was in their yard.
“Myself and two other neighbours were there within like three or four minutes,” he said. “We have to be neighbours helping neighbours.”
He added these issues aren’t just downtown, but across the City.
“When I came here today, they were setting up their little camp next to Pine Centre beside McDonald’s, it’s been there for a long time, they don’t move, they don’t change, they do harass you if you walk by,” he said.
Danchuk said encampments weren’t removed, they were just moved.
“You don’t see Lombardi Trailer Park, you don’t see the bushes behind McDonald’s, you don’t see that, but I see it, and that’s part of my health and safety thing, is I’m very aware, I’m very observant,” he said. “I see it as a whole City thing.”
The final candidate to speak was the incumbent, Mayor Simon Yu, who pulled public safety as his first.
The first question asked of Yu was what his vision for a safe Prince George looks like.
Yu said spending 37 per cent of City expenditures on public safety is not sustainable, but in his meetings with RCMP, he’s heard the downtown situation is getting better.
“We had two encampments, court protected encampments, now we have now,” he said. “To get things better, my approach is always you get to know the bottom of the issue here, we cannot keep going back to the same solution.”
He added neighbourhoods should get organized.
“The system we inherit today fundamentally has some flaws,” he said. “We need to re-engage the community, we need to reconstruct the village together, but foremost importance is we need to learn to listen and to listen with our heart.”
Yu said we need to listen to experts.
“The police model of problem-oriented policing, that model is over, across North America, we need to find a different way,” he said. “We need to use a better design of a City to reduce crime, it cannot work in certain areas, but more important, is everybody needs to educate and believe we can solve this problem together.”
On Truth and Reconciliation, Yu said he needs to continue on with the trust he said he’s built with First Nation partners, citing his time when he first attended school, as well as working with Inuit people in the arctic.
Following the forum, the public was able to have one-on-one time with the candidates if they chose to.
Voters will head to the polls for the Municipal election on October 17th.
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