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Hoping to influence the vote

Mayor and local groups throw weight behind specific candidates
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With the clock ticking down to general election day, the endorsements for particular candidates for Squamish council are coming in fast and furious.

Ougoing Mayor Patricia Heintzman has thrown her name behind Karen Elliott for mayor.

"I believe Karen Elliott should be our next mayor and have no doubt she has the skills and experience to be an excellent mayor, and I urge you to support her," Heintzman said in a Facebook post early Thursday morning.

She went on to say that Elliott will forge strong community, inter-regional, First Nations and provincial relationships and has the experience and knowledge to do the job best.

Earlier in the week, the Political Action Team for the union that represents District of Squamish employees, CUPE 2269, released a list of nine candidates they are recommending their membership support.

President Wendy Shard and Secretary-Treasurer Lilly Peterson, who formed the two-person committee, held one-hour interviews with participating candidates before making their choices.

Shard said the pair are endorsing Jeff Cooke for mayor, and the report says that his “extensive education in businesses and management will make him an ideal mayor for employees at the District of Squamish.”

Shard said the union's committee is also endorsing council candidates Paul Dosanjh, Armand Hurford, Jacquie Menezes, Jenna Stoner, Doug Race and Edward Archibald.

Rajan Hans and Sacha Fabry were listed as “supplementary candidates” also endorsed by the Political Action Team.

“We were pretty confident in our choices,” said Shard.

Candidates who did not respond to interview requests were Kevin Jewell, Stephen Fryer, Ron Bahm and Terrill Patterson. Patterson did not provide an email address to the District.

The election is important for the union, said Shard, because the current collective agreement expires on Dec. 31, 2019 and the union will be bargaining with the newly elected council.

Instead of blatantly recommending candidates, some local groups put out report cards on candidates. My Sea to Sky, which was initially formed to fight Woodfibre LNG, but has now branched out to be a more Sea to Sky Corridor, environmental-advocacy group, labelled Woodfibre LNG a "key issue" in the election and noted who was and was not supportive of the project. The report card also noted candidates' stands on the Cheema lands and Garibaldi at Squamish.

To see their report card go to www.myseatosky.org/squamish_candidates.

The Squamish Alternative Energy Group also has a report card that rates candidates' green energy status based on answers to Green Energy/Technology surveys that were sent to wannabe council members.

Candidates were judged on their green energy and technology lifestyles, knowledge, views, goals and what they would do if elected, according to the group's founder Matt Blackman. Candidates were ranked by their current "lifestyle," their green economy knowledge base and the accuracy of their answers, according to Blackman. Council candidate Chris Pettingill was ranked highest (best) and councillor candidate John French the lowest on the scale. Four candidates did not participate in the ranking.

To see the full list and explanation of go to the Squamish Alternative Energy Group on Facebook.

Voting day is Saturday, Oct. 20. Follow The Chief on election night for all the results and reactions.

 

**Please note, this post has been updated since it was first posted to clarify further that the recommendations came from the committee and not the union itself. It was also modified to say "the" report, rather than "her" report because Shard was not solely responsible for the final document.

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