Three candidates vying for the mayoral chair in Abbotsford met on stage at the Matsqui Centennial Auditorium Wednesday night.
The all-candidates meeting was hosted by the Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce, and focused mostly on business issues. It was the first of several such events planned between now and election day in Abbotsford on Oct. 15.
The event saw candidates Ross Siemens, Troy Gaspar and Manjit Sohi taking on tough questions on topics like crime, affordable housing and natural disaster preparedness. But the majority of questions and answers focused on delays in building approvals at city hall, agricultural and industrial development, and the lack of affordable housing in the city.
As Siemens is currently a sitting Abbotsford councillor, he often was left defending Sohi’s criticism of the current council’s work. Gaspar, meanwhile, was often at a loss for words and passed up several of his chances to answer the questions posed by the panel.
Sohi said the first thing he would do as mayor is streamline the housing approval process.
“It can be done through staff … if council and mayor directs them properly,” he said. “And if we were open to business, Molson would be in Abbotsford.”
He cited anecdotes he’s heard of, such as a daycare that had a 14-month wait to build, and a restaurant that had an 18-month wait. A small subdivision, he said, takes five years to get approved and built, which does nothing to help with the housing stock or soaring real estate and rent costs.
He took several questions as a chance to say he would remove “red tape in the system.”
“I know where that red tape is and I know how to find it and how to fix it,” he said.
Siemens said the city is working hard at instilling a “concierge service,” in which a staff member would be assigned to walk applicants through the steps to make it easier and quicker. There are four streams of that service.
“We are starting to see a change and we have been working on that,” Siemens said. “The challenge is that we have the flood that took a number people out of the process to help with flood recovery. There has been some challenges and we are well aware of it.”
A fourth candidate, Dave Pellikaan, did not participate in the event. In a meeting with organizers, he said, he was asked to follow certain guidelines such as not mentioning specific issues that he is campaigning on. He says he refused to follow those guidelines. He went on stage moments before the start of the event and announced that he would be leaving.
As he left, a security guard followed him out of the building. At the same time, a second man started yelling obscenities at the crowd and accusing Braun, who was in the audience, of acting illegally. He was escorted out.
A full video of the meeting is available on the Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce Facebook page.
Watch for more in-depth coverage of this all-candidates meeting.
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