Business, politics, arts? Kelowna council candidates as defined by their experiences

KELOWNA – Well, we know a fair bit about what they aren’t.

None of the non-incumbent candidates running for municipal election Kelowna have claimed any affiliation with a political party and just one mentions religion.

None are former media nor have any worked in the union movement or as senior administrators for a large company or public institution.

Just one is a working artist and another a working farmer but not one candidate has said they work as a developer.

Candidates for mayor and council generally bring a broad range of experience with them, although not all of them share the same experiences.

In general, voters ask of candidates at least some experience in life that would lend itself to political office.

A career in business or previous experience in government obviously comes to mind but so does time spent volunteering or working with a non-governmental organization.

However no one can discount the intangible experience that can be acquired in the arts and media.

With that in mind, we decided to scrape through the list of Kelowna council candidates looking for what we consider relevant in their backgrounds.

With their built in advantage, incumbents don’t count and bear in mind also this information has been pulled from information made publicly available by the candidate and has not been independently verified.

To no surprise, six candidates have touted their small business and entrepreneurial background as an advantage, including all three mayoral challengers Tom Dyas, Bob Schewe and Bobby Kennedy.

Council wannabes Amarjit Singh Lalli, Jeff Piatelli and Loyal Woodward all show small business backgrounds.

Singh owns and operates a pair of Subway franchises and a small orchard. Piatelli is a self-employed musician and Woodward runs a downtown hair salon.

Just three candidates put forth previous experience holding political office, Dyas as president of the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce, Wayne Carson as past Central Okanagan West director and Lalli as vice-president of B.C. Tree Fruits Cooperative.

If higher education is what you look for in a candidate, council hopeful civil engineer Gord Lovegrove leads the way as an associate professor in sustainable communities at UBC Okanagan.

Craig Hostland is a civil engineer, Lindsay Bell has a degree in sociology and Lalli earned a diploma in business administration.

Kelowna voters go to the polls Oct. 20.

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