ROTHENBURGER – Civic veterans, newbies square off in mayoral forum

IF YOU WEREN’T among the 200 or so who watched the YouTube mayoral candidates’ forum last night (Sept. 23, 2026) you missed some good stuff.

Surprisingly, the audience for the would-be mayors was no bigger than for the hours-long daytime faceoffs between groups of candidates for councillor seats. Maybe people were watching the Blue Jays lose not one, but two games of a double-header, officially killing their hopes of getting into the playoffs.

They would have been better off taking a couple of hours to view the Chamber-Castanet mayoral debate. The format worked better than expected, though there were several technical glitches. Candidates were asked a series of canned questions and given a couple of opportunities to challenge the comments of their opponents. Afterward, viewers were allowed a few questions via the Slido chat platform.

There moments of disagreement, some insight and a little entertainment. In general, it was a night for the experienced candidates to demonstrate their knowledge, and for the newbies to struggle through.

The best prepared was former councillor Ray Dhaliwal. That was because he had written answers for all the previously determined questions, though it didn’t necessarily make his answers any more enlightening. Nelly Dever, another former councillor, injected her P3 proposal (more about P3s at another time) often, and incumbent mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson stuck closely to his grievances against councillors, while councillor Mike O’Reilly carefully avoided getting into it with the incumber mayor.

Latecomer candidate Kris Lloyd-Middleton, a social worker, focused on railing against “corporate handouts” and “political theatre” while building designer Ivory Winston, also a first-time candidate, relied heavily on the “I’m not a politician” card.

Lloyd-Middleton was inexplicably stumped when a question came up about the use of the Alternative Approval Process. She seemed to not know what an AAP is, but searched for something to say and landed on the issue of council accountability.

On that same question, O’Reilly used his oft-repeated justification for AAPs by saying many other communities have used it “successfully,” and “I believe it is a valuable tool.”

Dever contended that AAPs have been misused, while Hamer-Jackson’s opinion was “I believe we’re about AAPed out in this city right now.”

Winston, who seemed to want to agree with everyone on most issues, said AAPs have value when they save money on the cost of holding referenda, but opposed their use for some things. Dhaliwal believes they should be used only for core infrastructure.

Street disorder was, inevitably, a major topic. Answers to the question of what they would do about it were often vague. Dever wants to “bring the silos together,” Winston is “not the expert on these social issues” but figures maybe there are better ways to use the resources the city already has.

Dhaliwal wants to look at what’s working but suggested more day spaces would keep street people busy and out of trouble. Lloyd-Middleton concurred that “dignified” day spaces are needed, while O’Reilly wants to establish a “campus of care” at Mission Flats.

Hamer-Jackson pointed out he and former councillor Denis Walsh had advocated for a voluntary recovery centre in Rayleigh, which got no support from council. More recovery focused facilities are needed, he said.

The arts provided a bit of a highlight when Dever said she supported them, including the new performing arts theatre. O’Reilly shot back that she had led a successful effort to defeat the first referendum on it, opposed the purchase of the Kamloops Daily News building for the site, and had “a track record of not supporting the arts with capital investments.”

Dever came back with her public-private partnerships plank and said she had supported the business plan developed for a PAC after the referendum was shot down.

Social media trolling provided some interesting discussion, with a consensus that several local Facebook pages are marked with too much negative commentary. What may have been one of the more quotable comments came from Hamer-Jackson: “We appear to have a city of trolls,” though he admitted he pays little attention to Facebook.

Other questions touched on the doctor shortage, AI data centres, and city council dysfunction.

On the latter, Dhaliwal said “even in Germany they’re talking about us” and “nothing’s working.” O’Reilly noted that most City councillors serve on the TNRD board, which functions without dissension, Winston said leadership comes from the top, Lloyd-Middleton said if council members can’t get along they should be “voted out,” and Dever promised to restore public inquiries at council meetings.

Hamer-Jackson boiled it down to “we need a new council,” with a recap of some of the “embarrassing” sanctions against him.

The day’s forums were taped and are available on YouTube for any baseball fans who missed them live. Another candidates’ forum is set for today (Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026)at the Mount Paul Community Centre on Laburnum Street at 3:30.

Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, writes for the Kamloops Chronicle and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and was a Webster Foundation Commentator of the Year finalist. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor.  He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.