Tell us a bit about yourself and why you are running in this election.
I am a 41-year-old father to two lovely young kids, and the lucky husband to an impossibly patient wife, who tolerates my addiction to classic cars and motorcycles with a degree of grace that can only be defined as incredible. I'm also a small business owner, having started my own publishing firm 15 years ago, and created what is now Canada's largest firearms publication; Calibre magazine.
I'm running because I want to help build a city where my kids can grow up safely, and that offers them the opportunities for fulfilling, diverse career prospects and affordable living, so that they don't feel the need to uproot their lives and seek greener pastures elsewhere.
If you feel comfortable sharing, what is your faith background, religious tradition, or philosophical worldview, for example: Christian, Sikh, Muslim, Jewish, secular, or another worldview?
I am a Christian.
How do your personal values shape your leadership, and what are those values?
I value integrity, and curiosity. So in leadership positions, I tend to be curious about issues, trying to view them from perspectives other than my own, and seeking out as much information as possible about any potential decision I need to make - and my integrity demands that the process of reaching an eventual decision is done in a manner I am comfortable standing behind. I have the utmost respect for transparency and procedure. Rules exist for a reason, and should always be abided by, because compromising in those areas causes unethical actions to fester.
How would you balance your personal beliefs with your responsibility to represent all Kelowna residents?
I don't think any individual city councillor is responsible for representing all Kelowna residents. I think they should represent themselves in council matters in a fashion that reflects how they campaigned and the ideas and perspectives they put forth that resonated with the constituency that elected them. In this manner, all councillors represent their various constituencies on council, and by respecting the varied perspectives in council chambers, naturally lead to decisions and conclusions that respect the varied perspectives of all Kelowna residents.
How would you like to see city spending prioritized?
Public safety must absolutely be the top priority. Our crime rate is over 50% higher than the national average, and open drug use is so rampant as to become normalized. This is unacceptable. So rectifying that would be my utmost priority for spending. I would also like to see additional spending done on city infrastructure - we need to reduce traffic congestion, improve lighting along pathways, better incorporate the increasing trend of e-bikes for commuters, and make real progress towards a rapid transit solution from West Kelowna clear through to the airport.
What role, if any, do you think City Council should have in setting standards for materials and programming available to minors in city-funded facilities and public libraries?
Ultimately, city council should be where the buck stops for materials provided in city facilities, be they schools or libraries. And city council should take that responsibility seriously when it comes to the materials made available to minors.
What role do you believe parental consent and notification should play when a minor makes personal disclosures or requests support from a school counsellor, and what exceptions, if any, should apply?
I firmly believe parents should be involved in such matters, and the only exception I believe acceptable in such matters is when the subject being discussed with school authorities or counsellors involves abuse by a child's parent, and a disclosure puts the child at risk of further harm.
What steps would you like to see taken to increase transparency and accountability at City Hall?
The city needs to simplify how it reports what it's doing. Take the budget, for example. It's only available as a 400+ page PDF. There should be a simplified version of it made available for people who don't have the time or inclination to read such a lengthy document, and the full document itself should be available in HTML format so people can search directly for relevant portions.
What public safety issues are you seeing in Kelowna, and how do you believe these issues should be addressed?
As mentioned, our crime rate is absurdly high, especially given we have the largest RCMP detachment in Canada and our policing costs have risen by 81% since 2020. So I would have Kelowna stop outsourcing its policing services, and begin the process of transitioning to a municipal police force, because municipal police forces have better recruitment and retention rates, see less attrition and turnover, and provide better accountability and financial transparency than we currently see through contract policing.
Homelessness is a distinct, but conjoined problem, and the solution is twofold: Kelowna should launch a "journey home" program, and increase the staff in the partnerships office so as to obtain more partnerships with BC Housing to create more supportive and low-income housing. The former is commonplace among cities our size, and connects homeless individuals not from Kelowna to communities where they might have stronger support networks - friends, family, and social services. It sounds harsh, but people legitimately have a better chance of getting back on their feet when they're supported by loved ones, and with the highest ratio of homelessness per capita in BC our social services are overburdened, meaning folks are simply more likely to be able to access social supports elsewhere.
The latter is pretty self-explanatory. Seven staff in City Hall are responsible for all interagency/intergovernmental partnerships, and their annual goal is to secure 2 partnerships to further council priorities. We need more. We have one project ongoing with BC Housing that will create just 40 supportive spaces in 2029. By comparison, Kamloops has six projects ongoing that will create over 600 spaces by 2029 - 200 of which are expected to be available this year. So we need more staff to support an elevated number of partnerships in order to provide what our most at-risk community members need.
What do you think can be done locally to bring down the cost of housing?
By better managing the mix of housing developments and opening up new areas for development, like the area currently being studied for development north of Glenmore.
Large, corporate-owned rentals help reduce the average rent, but have little impact on the costs of purchasing a home. I'd like to see more freehold developments created, and fewer variances granted to rental property developments to ensure they aren't overtly oriented towards short-term rental use through things like reduced parking allotments.
And although urban sprawl isn't ideal, I believe that as Kelowna's population grows, the city must grow as well in literal terms. That's going to mean creating new neighbourhoods, bringing more inventory to the market, and hopefully increasing affordability.
What policies would you support to help stimulate Kelowna’s job market?
First and foremost, Kelowna needs to create its own economic development strategy. Currently, we are reliant on the RDCO's Central Okanagan Economic Development Commission for direction, and while it's probably a worthwhile thing to be a part of, we need a tailor-made strategy whose scope is limited to our city. That will help the city do what it can to stimulate growth where experts see it being possible, and help reduce our insanely high unemployment rate.
What ideas do you have to better balance infrastructure and city growth?
By being more agile and responsive than past councils have been, in order to respond to current needs more rapidly, and prevent falling behind the city's rapid rate of change. The Clement extension, for example, was adopted in 2010, but construction won't begin until 2028. Someone born when city council first accepted a simple road extension will be old enough to vote before shovels get in the ground! We need to start moving a little faster.
