UPDATED: Kelowna, West Kelowna politicians are aboard the junket train to Quebec City

KELOWNA – Municipal politicians from across the Thompson-Okanagan have shown a clear difference in attitude when it comes to attending their annual national convention.

Of the 46 mayors and councillors eligible to travel to Quebec City from the region's six largest cites this weekend for the annual Federation of Canadian Municipalities convention, only 14 are going. Twelve are from Kelowna and West Kelowna.

Penticton and Kamloops are sending one representative each, although three councillors are going through different funding agencies. Dieter Dudy and Mike O’Reilly are going as Thompson Nicola Regional District delegates and Arjun Singh as the president of the Union of B.C. Municipalities.

No one from Vernon or Lake Country is going.

The convention runs Thursday through Sunday and is made up mostly of workshops and “study tours” around Quebec City with titles like “Quebec City libraries: Community hubs, models of efficiency” and “Quebec City, where public art is part of everyday life.”

One hour is set aside to debate seven resolutions on topics such as gender-based violence, climate change, and rural economic development.

Two councillors reached out on Facebook for advice for their trip, which is funded by their respective municipalities.

“The content is always first class but it makes picking the workshops to attend almost impossible,” Kelowna Coun. Ryan Donn posted on Facebook, asking for suggestions.

For West Kelowna Coun. Jayson Zilkie, it was a little more personal.

“Anyone been to Quebec City that wants to make a recommendation of a must see or do?” he wrote.

Last year, the convention was in Halifax and in Kelowna, where the conference seems most popular among councillors, six Kelowna elected officials attended while only two went to the Ottawa event in 2017.

WHO IS GOING

KELOWNA
Mayor Colin Basran
Maxine DeHart
Ryan Donn
Gail Given
Brad Sieben
Luke Stack
Loyal Wooldridge

WEST KELOWNA
Rick de Jong
Doug Findlater
Stephen Johnston
Carol Zanon
Jayson Zilkie

KAMLOOPS
Sadie Hunter

Dieter Dudy, Mike O’Reilly and Arjun Singh are going but are not funded by the City of Kamloops

PENTICTON
Julius Bloomfield

VERNON
0

LAKE COUNTRY
0

— This story was updated at 11:35 a.m. Thursday, May 30, 2019 to add information about other delegates from Kamloops.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Rob Munro or call 250-808-0143 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.