It was a full house at the Humboldt Election Forum put on by the Humboldt and District Chamber of Commerce on Oct. 1 as 11 candidates and 1 mayoral candidate took to the floor to discuss important election time topics.
Candidate Harley Bentley was the only mayoral candidate to attend with fellow candidate, Rob Muench being out of town for the event because of a vacation that was planned seven months ago that he was just returning from.
Muench notified the Chamber well in advance he says and prepared video messages for the forum being able to give opening and closing remarks.
Because of technical difficulties, the sound on the video was not working. Muench remarks can be found on YouTube.
Mayoral candidate Shawn Wempe was also not in attendance.
The night started out with the 11 councillor candidates giving opening comments.
Candidate, Sandor Demeter, was unable to stay past his opening remarks but the other 10 councillors were each given two questions from the audience with two minutes to answer each question.
Questions were collected before the forum began with audience members writing them down and questions being vetted by the Chamber members.
Different questions included infrastructure planning, ensuring economic stability, what to do about noise disturbances, and so much more.
Horizon School Division Director of Education, Kevin Garinger was the moderator for the evening.
What he saw at the forum was people who are passionate about the City of Humboldt, says Garinger.
“Through that passion they have ideas on how they can continue to improve.”
Infrastructure and growth are matters that the new council will have to deal with and Garinger says the public heard a lot about that from the candidates.
The packed house was a good indicator for the level of thought residents are putting into this election, says Garinger.
“It tells you that people care and people want to know what people are going to bring to the mayorship and the council.”
Humboldt and District Chamber of Commerce Executive Director, Crystal Young, thanks the City of Humboldt for coming out in full force, both the candidates and the general public.
“Our candidates were faced with some challenging questions but challenge is a great way to find solutions to everyday problems. That’s what we had here.”
Questions from the floor included ways that Humboldt can improve and Young says candidates did a good job in answering those questions.
The next important day is Oct. 26 with the vote and we have that democratic right to vote, says Garinger. Exercising that right is very important.
Looking at Humboldt and the district, too often less than 50 per cent of the people are the ones making these decisions. Young says the Chamber wanted to advocate and raise awareness about the importance of voting. The forum was a clear demonstration of people taking part in the democratic process. This is something the Chamber wants to continue to advocate for, says Young.
