Kelowna committee will help you evaluate candidates for mayor, council

Municipal elections often have the most candidates and get the least attention, so a committee in Kelowna is trying to help voters do some of the legwork to evaluate candidates.

ForChange Kelowna is a group of eight volunteers including entrepreneurs, former city employees and an arts leader who served as a city councillor. The goal is to interview candidates who want the group’s endorsement, evaluate them based on public criteria and make recommendations for who is qualified for the job of city councillor.

Former Kelowna city manager Ron Mattiussi has decades of experience in public service and he’s one of the ForChange committee members.

He said the goal is to help people parse through all of the candidates and find out more about the ones who aren’t as well known.

“Try to find people that may not be in the media every day, or you may not know them, but are good citizens who can make good councillors. That’s the basic idea,” Mattiussi told iNFOnews.ca.

There have been previous iterations of this same idea in Kelowna before like a group called FourChange. No, that’s not a typo, back in 2011 a group of business leaders under the name FourChange made candidate recommendations then did so again in 2014 under the name ForKelowna.

“The roots are the same, but the title change is purposeful,” Mattiussi said. “The important thing is we have one thing in common, we all love the city. We want it to prosper and we want the best choice for strong candidates.”

He said this group is different, but it’s building on the same principle.

ForChange is going to look at candidates’ experience, leadership track record, community involvement, understanding of municipal government, ability for collaborative decision making and vision for the city’s future.

Then, the committee is going to interview candidates seeking its recommendation on topics such as land use and housing, social and safety issues, sports and wellness, entrepreneurship, policy and advocacy and the processes within city hall.

The plan is to do the interviews over the summer and publish the results closer to the election campaign in the fall.

He said the committee isn’t about party politics, but about getting a good group of people on council who would come together and represent everyone in Kelowna.

“(City council) is a team of rivals in many ways. There are people from various parts of the community representing different constituencies who bring all those ideas to the table and make what’s ultimately a good decision,” Mattiussi said.

It’s a good sign if candidates seem to know what the municipal government actually does, he said, and the ability to work with others is one of the most important qualifications.

“A lot of people run for council and they come with, ‘I’m going to change this, I’m going to change that,’ but they’re just one vote. And really, their ability to do things is their ability to get along and influence others,” he said.

Mattiussi said it’s concerning when candidates talk about things that are outside of the city’s control like health care or criminal law.

“I’ve seen people running talking about, God forbid, we’re going to build canals around the city. I’ve seen some people talk about doing something about wait times at the hospital. Nothing to do with anything,” he said.

Candidates who get involved in politics because of a single issue can end up being effective in the role, but it’s important to weed out candidates who don’t have interest in governing beyond one topic, he said.

“What happens is they get on council, and they’re one trick ponies. Councils deal with a myriad of things. Thousands of decisions are gonna be made over those four years,” Mattiussi said.

Stewart Prest isn’t on the committee. He’s a lecturer with the UBC who teaches B.C. politics. He said it might seem obvious, but voters should look for someone who wants to serve the community rather than spout big ideas about things beyond city hall’s control.

“The first and foremost is a dedication to the community and an earnest desire to want to make things better, to listen to the community and to find ways to reflect that back in government,” he said.

Municipal election day in B.C. is Saturday, Oct. 17.