Mayoral hopeful Auli Parviainen came out swinging inside a packed Brennan Park Recreation Centre multi-purpose room during the all-candidates' forum on Monday (Nov. 7).
Parviainen took aim at the way developments are handled at municipal hall after complaints levied by Michael Goodman of the Paradise Trails development on difficulties the group has faced dealing with district officials during the current council term. Parviainen, who worked for five months as a communications consultant for Paradise Trails before declaring her bid to run for mayor, said the development process has taken too long under the current council.
"I think it's offensive not to have some sort of time limit in place," she said, when asked about how long it takes for a development proposal to make it through the approval process. "It's appalling and we need to implement a level of accountability for council. I'm astounded we have to talk about this."
Coun. Rob Kirkham, who is also seeking to serve as mayor, said he didn't think a time limit on development proposals would be useful, saying that it's difficult to have guaranteed time frames for each individual proposal. Kirkham said that the last council accomplished a great deal and that the election is all about leadership.
"I believe I bring leadership skills and have been involved in this community for so many years," he said. "The big key is enhancing community involvement. I plan to reach out to different community groups and organizations and I'm committed to this community."
Parviainen was also critical of the current transit system in Squamish.
"We need to make an investment in transit," she said. "This council has had three years to address these issues and they've done very little."
Candidate Ron Bahm said he's looking to attract the people who don't vote and promised to be an honest and hard-working mayor.
"I ran nine years ago and nothing happened," he said. "Still nothing has changed, Squamish is broken and no one realizes the state we're in. We've heard enough promises, we should be in the promised land by now."
Kirkham said he thinks Squamish is on the right path and pointed to the development of the Oceanfront as an important issue.
"The economy and employment in Squamish has room to improve," he said. "But the Oceanfront plan is a reflection of what you want. It's time for action, it's time to move this plan ahead and get the project moving."
Parviainen disagreed, saying that Squamish is viewed by developers as a difficult place to do business.
"Our reputation is not great," she said. "Investors don't like us and don't want to invest here. We need to think about change and be choreographers of our own dance not following someone else's."
She added that, if elected, she will change Squamish for the better.
"It doesn't matter that I've been here for two years," she said. "I'm very committed to working and uniting us. I'm not sitting here with three years of inactivity. We need to embrace innovative thinking and act on it."
Kirkham concluded by saying he thinks Squamish's future is bright and wants to help guide the town forward.
"We have such a promising future and I want to be working with you," he said. "I'm asking for your vote and I will be fully committed to this community."
The mayoral candidates also joined those running for council seats at a speed-dating-style forum run by the Squamish Off-Road Cycling Association (SORCA) on Wednesday (Nov. 9) at the Sea to Sky Hotel. Instead of sitting in front of a crowd and answering questions, candidates at the SORCA forum were asked to move from table to table exchanging views on the issues with the citizens seated at each table.
General voting day in the municipal/school board election is next Saturday, Nov. 19.
