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.
Henry Braun said four years of work on a new Official Community Plan and a dozen additional masterplans created over the last four years won’t have been wasted even if a new slate of city politicians are elected this fall.
The incumbent mayor pointed to the number of people who provided input into the plans, and said outrage would follow any attempt to head in a new direction.
“The level of engagement of our citizens was unprecedented. 10,000 people are going to show up at city hall if somebody wants to turn this plan around,” he said. “Council can turn it around, but it won’t be just a few citizens getting upset.”
When questioned whether people were, in fact, that engaged, Braun said he believed the public was that passionate about the new plans.
Braun also said he has met with members of AbbotsfordFirst outside of council because “we all live in the same community,” but that there have been no formal discussions. He said the slate and the rest of council have worked well together, united behind a shared vision.
Braun also said the new plans haven’t left the city struggling to keep up with more routine work, noting that capital spending has increased.
A new affordable housing strategy, an updated bylaw that would regulate retail marijuana outlets, and a new bylaw to address the city’s shrinking tree canopy have all taken longer than expected.
“What we’ve done over the last four years … consultants that work for us across our country have told us they do not know of another city that have bitten off as much as we have and what we have accomplished over the last four years. It’s not been done.”
Henry Braun
0:15 : Has the city fallen behind while it has been completing all its plans?
1:00 : Could all that work be wasted if voters decide to head in a new direction?
3:30 : Enough councillors elected together would give them a mandate, no?
4:15 : Do you bear some responsibility for Moe Gill’s unhappiness with your style as mayor?
5:45 : Should there be a looser policy about how the public interacts with mayor and council, as Gill suggests?
7:45 : Have you met with members of AbbotsfordFirst outside of council time?
8:00 : What would you say about suggestions that you are informally aligned with members of AbbotsfordFirst?
12:00 : Should any red light cameras also be tasked with catching speeders?
13:15 : As a father, how do you feel about your son’s role with the city becoming a subject of speculation, and how do you feel about the fact that your role in politics has triggered that?
15:45 : What should be in the city’s new affordable housing strategy?
18:00 : In that strategy, should there be rules requiring new developments to include a certain number of specific types of units?
22:00 : Why have the affordable housing strategy, the city’s new pot rules and a new tree bylaw all taken longer than expected?
28:15 : What’s one thing you could have done better over the last four years?
OTHER MAYORAL CANDIDATE INTERVIEWS
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