WL News - Oct 25th edition

a) Election Announcements or News:

City of WL - Mike Bouchard wants a seat on Council - see here
                     Danica Hughes wants a seat on Council - see here

Editor's Note - Ms. Hughes, on the Rush, suggested that "certain candidates" were running to line their own pockets rather than serving the community interest.  I profoundly regret her making that comment.  Let us all keep the debate to policies or positions that candidates advocate for, and not what a candidate(s) personal motivation is for running.  Interesting that she came right out and endorsed Kerry Cook for Mayor.  I wonder if that will hurt her bid for a Councillor seat or not...

Mayoral Candidate Walt Cobb accuses WL City Hall of "deceit" on the fluoride referendum question - see the video here

Brice O'Neill says "too little, too late" on current WL Council's action with regard to economic development - see here

CRD - Both Stacy Wong (see here) and Bill Carruthers (see here) explain their reasons for running for the Electoral Area 'E' Directorship

School District #27 - Both Jackie Austin & Heather McKenzie explains why they want to become the new Zone 4 Trustee - see here (Austin) and here (McKenzie)

b) Other News...

TNG Tribal Chief Joe Alphonse reports out on their recent trip to Ottawa re: lobbying effort to kill 2nd Prosperity Mine Proposal - see here

Event on using the Internet safely tomorrow evening at the Gibraltar Room - see here
WL and District Chamber of Commerce questioned on why no free forum for WL Mayoral candidates - see here

Local Election News...

In today's Williams Lake Tribune - the final two incumbents on WL Council have announced re-election bids. See stories on Geoff Bourdon's re-election bid here and Sue Zacharias's re-election bid here.  This leaves 6 people running for WL Councillor and 3 for WL Mayor with 5 days to go before the nomination period expires next Friday.  I'm informed as many as 4 more could file for WL Councillor positions.  At this point - I don't have any new names forthcoming for WL Mayor and some report to me their general dissatisfaction with the 3 current candidates for WL Mayor - incumbent Kerry Cook and current challengers Scott Nelson/Walt Cobb

In Quesnel - Sushil Thapar will seek his 4th term on Quesnel Council while Ed Coleman (brother of Energy Minister Rich Coleman) will seek his 1st term on Quesnel Council

Meanwhile - over at School District #27:

There will be a battle in Zones 4 and 5...

In Zone 4 (as I noted yesterday) - it'll be current Trustee Heather McKenzie against 150 Mile resident Jackie Austin (Mrs. Austin will make her bid official next week)

In Zone 5 - it'll be Sheila Boehm vs Oleh Lazarchuk

Finally - in Zone 2, local 108 Mile Ranch resident Tanya Guenther has filed her election papers for the Zone 2 seat on the School District #27 Board

Election Races in both CRD Area 'H' and SD #27 - Zones 4/5

Today, in the 100 Mile Free Press, they report that Area 'H' residents Ron Lister (Deputy Chief of the Forest Grove VFD) and Margo Wagner (Canim Lake resident and retiree for the past seven years, she arrived from England 36 years ago and worked as a nurse in Alberta) will both compete for the Directorship of CRD Area 'H'. See more here

Note - current CRD Area 'H' Director Art Dumaresq is on public record backing the election bid of Ron Lister to become the new CRD Area 'H' Director

Meanwhile - in Williams Lake, the Cariboo Advisor reports that 150 Mile resident Jackie Austin wants to become the new Zone 4 Trustee.  So - it'll be an interesting election battle to watch as Ms. Austin goes up against current Zone 4 Trustee Heather McKenzie and to observe what the election issue(s) that will be raised by both parties will be.

Finally - Sheila Boehm, who has previously announced, has file nomination papers yesterday seeking the Zone 5 Trustee seat (WL Fringe) which is being vacated by outgoing SD #27 Board Chair Wayne Rodier