On Wednesday, October 5th, 2022, AWARE and Whistler Community Services Society hosted an election All Candidates Meeting on the topic of “Conservation, Climate and Community Wellbeing”.
At the session Council Candidates responded to questions provided in advance by host organizations and responded to community member questions. Responses from each candidate helped to identify their passions and priorities if they were to be elected, valuable information for voters. Below is the recording of October 5th’s meeting to help you make an informed decision on who you would like to see take us through the next four years.
The election is coming up on October 15th with early voting days also available. Find out full details on voting, as well as candidate bios and nomination papers at whistler.ca
Conservation, Climate and Community Wellbeing – All Candidates Meeting Session Recording
Questions and their timestamps:
Questions from WCSS
- 20:37 – All candidates – What do you think the role of the Municipality is in supporting community members experiencing absolute homelessness or who are at risk of homelessness during adverse weather conditions, including flooding, heat dome, extreme cold and air quality?
- 37:57 – Arthur, Tina, Melinda, Cathy, Dawn, Jeff, Brendan and Curtis – In your opinion, what are the contributing factors to mental health and food insecurity challenges in our community and what role can the municipality councilors play in improving quality of life?
- 46:50 – Gordon, Jen, Jessie, Sarah, Gabriel, Rhonda and Ralph – What role do social enterprises play in our community and what role do you see that municipality council members play in it?
Questions from AWARE
- 56:35 – All candidates – If elected, or re-elected, would you prioritize climate action in municipal budgets and if so, how?
- 1:13:15 – Arthur, Tina, Melinda, Cathy, Dawn, Jeff, Brendan and Curtis – If elected, what specific actions would you take to ensure capacity – staff time in the hall, community bandwidth, funds, etc. that are needed to host the games – does not take away capacity from the acceleration of climate action?
- 1:23:02 – Gordon, Jen, Jessie, Sarah, Gabriel, Rhonda and Ralph – If elected, would you commit to make land use decisions that protect and restore natural areas, ensure habitat connectivity and avoid developmental and infrastructure sprawl?
Questions from Community Members
- 1:32:18 – Jessie and Ralph – What can the municipality do to support the idea of hot lunch programs for all schools in Whistler?
- 1:35:25 – Dawn and Brendan – How do you propose we reduce car traffic by 50% by 2030?
- 1:38:15 – Tina and Rhonda – How do you plan to address Whistler’s lack of healthcare providers and the barriers they face including housing, operational space and associated costs, etc.?
- 1:40:37 – Dawn, how would you represent the positive effects of the programs for youth in the community?
- 1:42:23 – Arthur and Ralph – What would you do to get other economic leaders moving other than tourism for Whistler in the future?
- 1:45:13 – Jen and Cathy – As a young person, many around me are ineligible to vote, how do you plan to serve those around me that cannot vote but are vital to the survival of this town?
- 1:48:23 – Cathy and Jen – Can you speak to any of the policies that you would push forward to ensure the young people in our community are having opportunities to achieve excellent life outcomes?
- 1:51:10 – Arthur and Ralph – How can we justify re-electing a government under whose time and power our carbon footprint has increased and we’re not on track to reach our targets?
- 1:53:40 – Should Whistler declare a climate emergency?
- 1:54:25 – Curtis and Tina – In terms of how Whistler relates to the rest of Canada and the rest of British Columbians, do you think you would be influenced at all by their input?
- 1:56:44 – Gordon, I somewhat agree with you about your frustrations [regarding local government]. In regards to the biggest [international] polluters we can’t touch, how are we going to talk to those people?
- 2:00:05 – Dawn and Sarah – How will you make mental health crisis services more accessible in the community?
- 2:03:05 – Curtis and Sarah – Whistler has a lot of [tax payer assets and municipal assets] and wealth, how would you balance the allocation of programs that focus on mitigation and protection of assets versus programs and actions for climate that actually reduce emissions and contribute to reducing the climate crisis?
- 2:06:40 – Jeff and Rhonda – Are you willing to advocate for or vote for a specific dedicated climate action fund that’s just for climate action projects?
- 2:09:46 – Jen – Who doesn’t understand the empty home tax in Whistler and how would you explain it so that they did?
- 2:11:29 – Jessie – If elected what would you do about the fact that only a small percentage of WHA rental units are available to those that make less than $30 an hour?
- 2:12:46 – Ralph and Curtis – How will you bring more family doctors to Whistler?
- 2:14:55 – Cathy and Arthur – What do you think about the empty homes tax, would it be suitable for Whistler or how would it be modified to suit?
- 2:17:50 – Melinda and Gordon – What would you do to support seniors ageing in place?
- 2:19:47 – Cathy, Arthur, Ralph and Jen – What’s your take on balance between protection and preservation of natural assets and feel versus developer dynamics and needs?
- 2:24:19 – Ralph and Jeff – If we’re not going to have a second home owners tax and we’re not going to have progressive property tax, how are we going to get the money to address these issues that we as a community say are important?
- 2:27:44 – Rhonda and Tina – What are your ideas around reinstating the bus service on Alta Lake Road?
- 2:29:10 – Arthur and Cathy – Is there any hope of restoring a passenger train service to Whistler?
AWARE + WCSS Questions – Mayoral Responses Videos
For Mayoral Candidates hosts switched it up slightly. Mayoral Candidates were given the same pre-posed questions from hosts (3 from AWARE and 3 from WCSS) and had the opportunity to answer all 6 questions in full via video. Watch their responses below.
