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Letter: Cancellation of forum exasperates citizen

When the meetings to see and hear the Salmon Arm municipal council candidates were announced, I thought that the chamber of commerce had come up with a great idea to have two separate forums, one for councillors and one for the mayoralty hopefuls.
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When the meetings to see and hear the Salmon Arm municipal council candidates were announced, I thought that the chamber of commerce had come up with a great idea to have two separate forums, one for councillors and one for the mayoralty hopefuls.

This would give the general public a good chance to hear and meet the candidates.

The Salmon Arm Observer of Sept.19 within a front page article indicated two separate forums, one on Oct.1 and one on Oct 2.

The Shuswap Market News of Sept. 28 on pg. B15 in the “Around Town” page declared the two meetings a go for the 1st and 2nd.

On my arrival at the Salmar tonight, I and about 30 others discovered that the meeting was cancelled and that all candidates would be at the Tuesday forum.

There would be no time for questions from the floor, only those by pre e-mailed submissions to the chamber.

Related: Housing, homelessness and highway key concerns at candidates meeting

I don’t become annoyed easily, but this action has made me really upset. How can one make an informed decision for council from hearing a brief one-sixteenth of a given sharing time and that doesn’t include introductory talks or questions?

In my opinion this is not democracy in action, it’s just going through the “motions” to do the right thing.

It’s no wonder there is little interest in municipal affairs or politics. There needs to be a change in the way elected representatives listen and respond to the members of the community.

Bert Revel


@SalmonArm
newsroom@saobserver.net

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