We sat down with the six mayoral candidates running for office to try to get to the bottom of their policies, beliefs and contradictions that may have surfaced during the municipal election campaign.
Watch the full video, or fast forward to the times outlined below to see answers to certain questions posed by reporter Tyler Olsen. You can also find links to interviews with other mayoral candidates below. For our election hub, with links to all our other election-related coverage, click here.
Gerda Peachey, who has previously made a name for herself as a socially conservative activist, doubled down on assertions that retail pot should be prohibited, that Highway 1 should not be widened, and that homosexuality was wrong. She also said that if she was mayor and able to speak to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, she would discuss the PM’s soul, rather than focus on advocating for any one Abbotsford project.
She also didn’t back away from past statements that equated homosexuality with being “sexually immoral.”
The News asked Peachey about her past statements about gay people, and asked how that squared with the vast majority of Canadians have no problem with homosexuality.
Peachey responded by saying the majority of people in Nazi Germany approved of Adolf Hitler, and that being in the majority doesn’t make a person right.
When it was pointed out that equating the support of LGBT people to that of Hitler would offend many, Peachey conceded that “the first person who says Nazi loses the argument.”
After it was suggested such utterance could be viewed as disqualifying, and could bring disrepute on Abbotsford were she to be elected, Peachey said: “I know, but I’m not going to compromise on something so important as the holiness of God.”
She also said the city shouldn’t be encouraging the use of drugs, liquor and tattoos. Asked if she would prefer if liquor was prohibited, she said: “Why encourage anything. Why not encourage people to live the wonderful wholesome lives they’re capable of as human beings?”
Peachey said she isn’t confident that widening Highway 1 “is going to alleviate the problem.” She noted Marshall Road had been widened and is now a “miniature racetrack.”
Gerda Peachey
1:00 : Why shouldn’t retail pot sales be allowed?
2:05 : Would you prefer liquor to be not allowed?
2:20 : But by making it illegal, won’t people go down the road or buy from an illegal dealer?
4:00 : Advocates would say legalizing will remove the cost of prohibitions, are you saying those costs aren’t as high as the costs of any additional marijuana use?
6:30 : Why don’t you think Highway 1 should be widened?
8:30 : If people are coming here because they want to, won’t providing homes for people cause house prices to continue to go up?
13:30 : Should your own rock and gem club really be the top capital spending priority for the city?
15:30 : You’ve said being gay is ‘sexually immoral.’ The vast majority of people say there’s nothing wrong with being gay. Why should any of those people vote for you?
18:20 : I brought up this question, and you brought up an answer that includes Nazi Germany. A lot of people would take a lot of offence to that. When you have a mayor who says something like that, a lot of people would say that disqualifies you from being mayor and that if you were mayor it would bring disrepute to Abbotsford.
19:30 : How exactly would you address problems of addiction as a city politician?
21:45 : Abstinence had been tried for decades upon decade. As a city politician, what do you do?
23:30 : You’ve said you’re mad at the current mayor. Why have you defended him against suggestions made by Moe Gill?
24:20 : We asked each person what they would do if they were in a room with Justin Trudeau for five minutes. You said you would tell him he “harms Canadians when he works to erase God from the public mayor.” If you were mayor, shouldn’t your priority be advocating for Abbotsford residents? Is there something for Abbotsford residents you would advocate for?
OTHER MAYORAL CANDIDATE INTERVIEWS
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