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View Royal council candidates share their visions at forum

Six candidates vying for open council seat
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(From left) Nathan Daisley, Jodi Zwicker, Damian Kowalewich, Mark Brennan, Adam Flint and Angela Hanes made their pitch to View Royal voters at a public forum on Monday. (Jessica Fedigan/News Gazette staff)

With the Town of View Royal’s byelection looming, the six candidates participated in a forum at Strawberry Vale Community Hall on Monday evening.

Mark Brennan, Nathan Daisley, Adam Flint, Angela Hanes, Damian Kowalewich and Jodi Zwicker are all vying for the open council seat which was vacated by Coun. Heidi Rast in the summer.

A large number of View Royal residents attended the forum where the candidates answered questions and outlined their platforms.

The public asked a wide array of questions including topics such as climate change, rental policies, infrastructure and housing development, traffic, municipal budgets and amalgamation.

“The wants and the fears and the dreams that you all have and express are flabbergasting,” Flint said in his closing statement. “I never expected to get that response from going around and talking to people and I appreciate you all taking the time to do so.”

Kowalewich told voters that using their vote for him would not be wasted. “You do have a difficult task,” he said. “You are picking one candidate here out of six people. It’s not easy. There are a lot of different people up here but you’re not taking a chance on me, I can promise you that. I have professional, educational, volunteer and real life experience. I’ve seen people from all walks of life as a police officer and I see all problems are serious.”

Brennan is retired, which he said would be helpful as he would have more time to focus on items. He also pointed to his past work experience as another key component.

“I do have a great deal of knowledge about how municipalities work,” he said. “Over the next year, we’ve got a municipal budget to pass. If you don’t know municipal budgets, you aren’t going to have much input. I used to put them together.”

As a real estate agent, Zwicker said she would transition the skills and attributes from her current role into being a councillor.

“I am confident I am the right person to represent all of you for town council,” she said. “As a realtor, my clients trust me with what is probably their largest asset. I take that very seriously and work very hard to earn that trust. I will do the same for all of you on town council.”

Hanes said she believes change can be made without stretching limits.

“We have abundance here in a lot of different ways,” she explained. “We have a lovely community. View Royal is so generous and we can do simple things to affect positive change and it doesn’t need to cost a lot of money and it doesn’t need to be difficult.”

Daisley reflected on what the journey and campaign has been for him so far.

“It has been an honour to be nominated by my neighbours to run in this election,” he said. “To be able to come door-to-door and collect the common vision for our town has been a great experience. Being able to come around and discuss politics with so many different people has also just been a great experience and I’ve learned about a lot of areas people would like to see action on from their council.”

The next day of advance voting is Wednesday, Nov. 15 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at View Royal Town Hall (45 View Royal Ave.). General voting day is Saturday, Nov. 18 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at View Royal Elementary School (218 Helmcken Rd.).

Find the candidates’ profiles and more information online at goldstreamgazette.com.


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jessica.fedigan@goldstreamgazette.com