The Tribune asked candidates running in the municipal, regional, and School District 27 election a few questions about themselves and their platforms.
We asked the following:
• What position are you running for?
• Why are you running for it?
• What do you see as the top three issues to address in your community?
• How do you propose to tackle them?
Candidates in the area, including those who have been acclaimed, were invited to participate for free
and were given a maximum word limit of 275 words to answer the questions above.
The following are the answers we received from participating candidates:
Bill Carruthers
Question 1: CRD director for Area E.
Question 2: I felt that it was important that someone who was interested and concerned about the area and the Cariboo-Chilcotin as a whole fill the position.
Question 3: Issues:
• In Area E, we are facing the issue of sewer and water for the Dog Creek-Mountview area.
It is common knowledge that the Ministry of Environment is monitoring the quality of drinking water, so this is the major issue that will have to be dealt with.
It will have to be approved by the taxpayers as this will be a cost per home, but it may become unavoidable.
• In the district we are looking at the prospect of replacing the swimming pool.
The pool is more than 30 years old and has had a number of major refits, but it is reaching a situation where it may be un-repairable and should be replaced.
This is a huge financial issue and again will require taxpayers input and require funding support from other levels of government.
• Current Economic situation — we are faced with a soft economy and taxpayers don’t want to see tax increases that exceed the rate of inflation, so this has to be considered when talking about new programs or expenditures.
Question 4: Any director will have to work with the board and with staff.
I don’t believe that any one person can push through major programs without consensus amongst the other directors and support of the staff.