What should the October election be about?

General voting day is Saturday, October 17. Fernie elects one mayor, six councillors and one School District No. 5 trustee. Nominations opened at 9 am on September 1 and closed at 4 pm on September 11 at City Hall, 501 3rd Avenue.

The mayor’s race is a two-horse affair between two sitting councillors. Council itself is wide open. As of late August only one incumbent had declared for re-election.

Alleine Anselmo declared first. She was a vocal opponent of putting the new fire hall on Servello Field and has since turned to the closed community centre: “I believe we need to fight for it and commit to rebuilding it so future generations can enjoy the same opportunities many of us had growing up.” Joshua Slykhuis wants one thing: “I strongly believe the next four years need to have an almost singular focus on infrastructure.” Scott Tibballs wants to broaden the commercial tax base, and has raised what to do with 902 Second Avenue, the old fire hall property, along with a traffic light at the Stanford Inn. Ted Shoesmith, the incumbent, went the same way as Slykhuis: “I think we need to roll up our sleeves and really focus on a lot of infrastructure.”

Sources: Who is running · Notice of nomination · Your current council