On Wednesday night, the first mayoral debate for the upcoming Civic Election took place at Okanagan College. 

The five candidates answered questions from the college and UBC Okanagan students ranging from affordable housing, homelessness and the looming public transit strike. 

Heading into the night, the race for mayor has widely been assumed to come down to incumbent Colin Basran, who is seeking his third consecutive term as mayor, and Tom Dyas, who came second in the previous election in 2018. 

Also present were candidates Dave Habib, Glendon Smedley and Silverado Socrates. 

The first question posed to the candidates was on the looming public transit strike that is set to commence on Wednesday, Oct. 5. 

Basran answered that he is already written to the Minister of Labour to have him reconsider that decision to not legislate back to work and that he sympathizes with our Amalgamated Transit Union and that First Transit has not treated them in a fair manner. He encourages First Transit to get back to the table and find a fair settlement for the city drivers, who are worth it. 

Dyas’ responded that he wants transit to go into industrial areas and also to UBC Okanagan students, so that traffic can be dealt with. 

Habib said that we cannot afford to go without a bus service and that it is important for the mayor of the city to step forward and get everyone back to the bargaining table into negotiation. 

Next, on the concern of utilizing bus routes better for students and in a greener way, Dyas said that transportation right now is not adequate and it is forcing students to drive. 

Habib stressed the importance of getting a rail transit system from the downtown core into the university. He said that the city is big enough for a rail system to be used. 

Basran mentioned that during his time as mayor, they have created two active transportation corridor accesses to UBC Okanagan, the Rail Trail and John Hindle Drive. He also said that currently, the city is in a research project with the university to utilize the Rail Trail for autonomous vehicles or alternative modes of transportation to connect the recently approved downtown campus and the north campus. 

On affordable living, Habib said that he would ‘go to war’ to convert a lot of vacant farmland into affordable housing, which includes container homes in backyards. 

Basran said that while it is a big concern, it is a national issue and it comes down to what council can actually control. He said the city can control the development approval process and make sure that it is quick and easy to get housing into market. Basran brought up that last year, the city approved 3,175 housing units, and a quarter of them were purpose built rentals through the cities rental incentive program. He mentioned that the program can be expanded to include missing middle housing. 

Dyas said that the city could reduce barriers to start to build back town homes, secondary suites and carriage homes. He said that the responsibility for affordable housing fell to the city and not to other levels of government, which garnered claps from the crowd. 

Habib challenged Dyas’ statement to say that it is a problem in the city with foreigners buying up properties and having them be vacant. He wants a tax of some sort on property bought by foreign investors, similar to what Vancouver has done. 

On how to make sure the city expands responsibly and sustainably, Basran said that his goal as mayor has always been to limit sprawl and he advocates for as much growth as possible to the cities urban centre and the core area neighbourhoods around that. He then jabbed at Dyas by saying that it is not sustainable to have transit running to every corner of the city. He stressed the need to direct the transportation access corridors to the downtown core and the core areas surrounding it. 

Dyas stated the importance of incentivizing missing middle housing, by staying with townhouses, legal suites and carriage houses. He expressed his hesitancy in a lot of the towers being built because a lot of them are not occupied, so the costs have gone up and it is not creating housing for the actual community. 

Habib brought up the issue of the city upping Development Cost Charges (DCC’s) and construction costs.

Basran countered Habib’s claim on DCC costs, saying that they are for infrastructure like water, sewage and road that are required for new developments to take place. The DCC’s are reviewed by independent third parties, so anyone who says that they want to reduce DCC’s means that they are placing that infrastructure that we need and how to pay for it onto other people. He then said it is not possible to escape the costs of infrastructure that is needed to grow. 

Dyas then challenged Basran’s response, saying that the community understands that DCCs are the charges that you pay to the city in order to be in the city and to develop in the city. He said that while everyone is accepting of the DCC’s, the issue arises with the variance. He brought up an example of a developer creating a 12-story building, then expanding it to 25-storeys, but is still paying regular DCC’s and hasn’t contributed anything back to the city in regard to infrastructure, daycares and grocery stores. 

Habib then challenged Dyas and Basran, saying he doesn’t care what the charges are, the money that it has taken is not being built into infrastructure. He then brought up a personal gripe about paying close to $30,000 for expanded parking in his building, but he has not seen the parking space expanded yet. 

On the problems with homelessness and housing, Basran said it is not reasonable to expect that someone who is arrested and put back on the street is going to be magically rehabilitated. He vowed to continue to push for more beds, units, treatments, but also consequences for those who continue to break the law. 

Dyas mentioned the skyrocketing homeless rate in the city, and jabbed at Basran that affordable housing does not deal with homelessness because it is a complex issue. It is up to the city to solve the problem and it will take a strong leader to solve it. 

The next question posed was on the role the city plays on active education of truth and reconciliation and Indigenous hardships.

Basran said that it starts with education of his staff and it flows out from there and we need to look at everything the city does through an Indigenous lens.

Dyas said that he is no expert on truth and reconciliation and that he will continue to rely on the expertise of those people who have those lived experiences. He wants to continue to learn and reach out on what is important to them. 

Habib said the pathway for him is through education and in order for him to understand, it is important to know that it has a different impact on different people. 

Then, on what the city could do to attract more healthcare professionals to Kelowna, Dyas said that physicians are limited to the number of patients that they see in a day, so having the opportunity to double their services, with a physician extender would be of utmost importance with the city.

Habib said it boils down to the issue of healthcare professionals being overworked, and that is in part due to the affordability issues, making it difficult for the city to attract new workers. He hopes to implement a plan that will allow those professionals to live in the city with a happy smile. 

Basran said advocacy is key, and it is important to get more training spaces for health related jobs provided by post-secondary institutions. He also stated that advocating to the federal government is important. While Basran said he is a huge fan of immigration, he mentioned that often times the country lets in people who are highly trained and we don’t recognize their training. Additionally, he pointed out the importance of diversifying the economy to have opportunities for everybody. 

Next, on the problem of food security, Habib said that he is not educated enough to figure it out without having experts around him that could give him the advice needed moving forward.

Basran brought up the cities agricultural plan, which is aimed at increasing agricultural production and food security. He said it is important to protect the cities ALR plan and to bolster tourism programs, like the farm to table program. 

Dyas said the most important part is communication. He brought up the old packing house and said the city didn't lobby enough to keep the packing house industry in the community, so it is important to stand up and communicate accordingly. 

For closing statements, Basran brought up the importance of the students around the city and how Kelowna is a large size where you have all the great amenities of a big city, but we still have that small city feel. He said that he hopes that students recognize that they play an important part in shaping this communities future.

Dyas closed with comments on how Kelowna is no longer a small community. With the growth of the city, he sees cracks. He mentioned Kelowna having the highest crime rate in the country and having the most traffic and homelessness that the city has ever seen. Dyas touched on his decades of experience in business and leadership and stated that he will work with other levels of government to take care of all the problems that the city faces.

Habib also brought up the issues of crime in the city and said that the people in city hall need to do a better job of communicating with the people and getting on the street to get the job done.

For more information on all the candidates, please click here. 

The election is Saturday, Oct. 15.

Click here for the full debate.