About the Gabriola Fire Protection Improvement District
Trustee candidate John Rankin wrote to tell us that he will be on Ray Kornberger's CHLY Radio show on Wednesday, April 29th, at 7pm, a time slot which the CHLY schedule describes as "A Sense of Justice — Local politics, social issues, music and occasional interviews."
CHLY is at 101.7 FM. Listen on your radio, or use one of the other listening options provided.
At the All Candidates Meeting Diana Moher announced to the audience that she and candidate Erik Johnson would hold a meet-and-greet at the Rollo Centre at 7 pm on Tuesday April 28th.
The All Candidates Meeting was held on Wednesday, April 22nd, at the Agi Hall. Thanks to Gabriola Talks for setting it up and very capably running it.
Seven questions from the audience were pulled from a hat and posed to the candidates. We are reproducing the questions below (some are edited slightly to remove extraneous words). We look forward to seeing the answers in the next issue of the Sounder, and will link to that when we can.
The Board consistently struggles over which issues fall under Governance versus Operations. What specific steps would you take to clarify and unify the Board’s position?
Are you in favour of hiring a third fire chief? And if so, how do you justify hiring more full-time staff, or increasing staff in general, while call volume is decreasing?
My question is about replacement of the fire trucks. Last year I was concerned about how could we replace them and so I looked up for tools and regs about rules and how you qualify for insurance, and the standard is for twenty years. Does anybody know, on the board, what the extension is for ... typically for a rural fire department? Anybody? Raise your hands? Nope? Okay. The extension is, you could go to 30 years given you meet some provisions for maintenance and you can demonstrate that the truck's truly viable. So I'm very concerned that we buy vehicles at 16 years, this year, when we didn't need to. [followed by a request for comment]
Since this is a body that is largely a governance body, one of the concerns I have as a ratepayer and a person who has attended these meetings is that at times I feel that the meetings are not run as well as they could be. And my concern is that I have the impression that a number of times I was disappointed in the quality of the meeting and the way it was run. I don't think that we have to have six hour meetings. I want to ask you each: Do you have a good grounding and an understanding of Robert's Rules of Order and do you feel confident that if you were elected chair that you could run effective meetings?
Matt, this is a question to you, but others can feel free to say something at the end. You seem to have aligned yourself with the D.O.W. candidates from last year's election. During that election they were proponents of lowering the budget, yet once elected they have dramatically increased it by thousands of dollars. And you say that third party expenses and legal experts' expenses are out of control. Where is the discrepancy between what they campaigned for and what they allowed to happen, and what do you propose to do to remedy it?
Recently I attended a seminar presented by Steve Earle about climate change and just how our climate is changing; it's getting hotter and hotter in the summers, less and less water, some people's wells are running dry. I just wanted the candidates' thoughts on maybe looking forward, what are we going to do for water for fighting fires and are there other things that we can do to mitigate fire hazards in the summer time.
My understanding of one of the core responsibilities of governance boards is the supervision and direction of the fire chief. So, I would like to hear from people who are currently on the board as to what processes and protocols are in place to insure that our fire chief gets appropriate supervision? And I would like to hear from people who are applying to be on the board as to what they think that should be, and what they would be talking about if they were in a position of being on the board, to ensure that our fire chief gets the supervision that he's entitled to.
We expect that all candidates' answers will be published in the Gabriola Sounder. We will link to that article when it is available on the Sounder website.
Update, April 24th: We note that candidate Matt Dow has already published the questions asked at the meeting, and the answers he gave to those questions. You can view this content on Matt's website, on the page titled Gabe Community: Questions & Answers.
Trustee candidate John Rankin invites you to his meet and greet event, which will include a brief presentation.
If possible, John would like to have an idea of how many people will attend. (If more than 20 want to come, John will add another session for the following week.) If you plan to attend and are able to let John know you will be coming, he would appreciate that. John's email address is JohnRankinForTrustee@gmail.com.
Tell us about your skills and experience.
I bring a unique skillset with progressive experience in operational and financial oversight. I am a geologist by training and began my career managing mineral exploration programs in Canada’s North. After broadening my experience and obtaining an MBA, I have spent the past decade in senior financial leadership roles, including Vice President Finance, Chief Financial Officer, Director, and Audit Committee Chair for both private and publicly listed companies. I am also a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) in British Columbia. From 2020–2022, I served with the Gabriola Volunteer Fire Department. My professional roles have required strong leadership and collaboration, including managing and working with diverse groups. I am a team player who thrives in complex operational environments and excels at bringing people together, even in challenging or contentious situations.
Why should I vote for you?
While progress has been made in recent years to increase transparency and accountability to Gabriola taxpayers, I believe there is still more work to be done. I will bring strong financial oversight and leadership grounded in sound governance which will support effective operations, streamline board meetings, and ultimately help Gabriolans feel confident that the GFPID is delivering high-quality fire protection services at a reasonable cost. In the current economic climate, it is more important than ever that the GFPID maintains strong financial oversight to ensure that a clear business case supports the use of taxpayer dollars. I also want to acknowledge the dedication of the volunteer firefighters who serve Gabriola. I intend to support them to ensure they have the resources they need to protect our community, as this should always remain central to the Board’s work.
Learn more
Website: lizwallinger.ca
Email: use the contact form on the website
Meet and greets: —
For all candidates, we recommend that those interested in their campaign
Tell us about your skills and experience.
My wife and I have been residents and home owners on Gabriola since 2000.
I have a Bachelor’s of Science degree from the University of Victoria, with a Major in Biology. After university, I worked for Fisheries & Oceans Canada, doing a variety of stock assessment related jobs. After injuring my back, I left DFO, and became a partner in Slow Rise Bakery.
I helped grow and run Slow Rise for 10 years, and decided it was time for a change. I then started working at the Gabriola Branch of Coastal Community Credit Union. I’ve been with Coastal for 10 years, and I recently became Assistant Manager at the Gabriola Branch.
Shortly after my eldest daughter was born in 2003, I joined the Gabriola Volunteer Fire Department. I was a member of the GVFD for 16 years. In that time, I served in a number of roles, including: frontline firefighter, first responder, Lieutenant, Captain of the South Hall, first responder instructor, fire service instructor, Fire Inspector, and FireSmart Community Representative.
My time with the credit union has provided me with experience in HR management, professional development, performance reviews, committees, meetings, and collaboration. I strongly believe that accountability, transparency, integrity, and honesty are traits that the GFPID should strive to model, and I’m willing to put in the work to help do that. The GVFD and it’s members are very important to Gabriola, and they deserve the best support possible.
I’m looking forward to being able to help support the GVFD and Gabriola once again, as a Gabriola Fire Protection Improvement District Trustee.
Why should I vote for you?
If you are looking for leadership that moves beyond the status quo, then cast a vote for me. I will do my best to help the Board implement good governance principles, model them, and improve the culture within the GFPID and the GVFD. The Board should act with integrity and accountability. Gabriolans should be able to trust the decisions of the Board.
The GFPID has slowly started to move towards policies, processes, and procedures that are standard in the modern world of government and governance. I believe that the Board needs Trustees who are willing to go beyond the status quo, create policies that will improve the culture and performance of the GFPID and GVFD, and ensure honest, transparent governance.
I welcome respectful discussion. Please see my website at dimitritz.ca for more information, and to contact me directly.
Thank you for your support.
Learn more
Website: dimitritz.ca
Email: use contact form on website
Meet and greets: —
For all candidates, we recommend that those interested in their campaign
Tell us about your skills and experience.
I, John Rankin, am a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA) with an MBA and extensive senior management experience in the private, public sector and Indigenous governance environments. I have served as Chief Financial Officer, Chief Administrative Officer, and Director of Intergovernmental Affairs, and other roles within First Nation governments, where my duties have included responsibility for financial oversight, governance support, strategic planning and negotiations with Canada, the Province of BC and other First Nations.
Further, I have served on the Board of Director for non-profits, where my Financial, Governance and Human Resource experience have been of benefit.
My background includes leading complex budgets, strengthening financial controls, assessing and developing policies, and supporting boards and leadership teams in making informed decisions. I have also worked closely with governing bodies to improve processes, clarify roles and responsibilities, and ensure decisions are grounded in sound policy and best practices.
I bring a steady, practical approach to governance, with a focus on preparation, due diligence, and respectful collaboration. I am comfortable working through complex or challenging issues and helping groups move toward clear, well-informed decisions that serve the broader community.
Why should I vote for you?
I am committed to bringing stability, clarity, and a strong governance focus to the Board of Trustees.
The Gabriola Fire Protection Improvement District plays a critical role in community safety, and it is important that decisions are made thoughtfully, transparently, and with a clear understanding of both financial and operational impacts. My experience in financial oversight and governance will support informed decision-making based on sound policies and best practices and help ensure resources are managed responsibly with risks managed.
I believe effective governance requires respectful dialogue, community engagement, a willingness to listen, and a focus on the work rather than the personalities involved. I will approach the role with professionalism, accountability, and a commitment to working collaboratively with fellow trustees, management, the community and other stakeholders.
If elected, my goal is to contribute to a well-functioning, focused Board that supports management and staff, the Fire Department overall and serves the best interests of Gabriola residents. Initiatives I currently plan to present as a Trustee, if elected, to the Board for consideration, include:
As with all my past commitments, if elected, I commit to further learning and understanding to fulfill my role responsibly.
I invite feedback and am appreciative of your consideration.
Learn more
Website: www.johnrankinfortrustee.ca
Email: JohnRankinForTrustee@gmail.com
Meet and greets: April 25, 10:30 am – 12:30 pm, Gabriola Library
For all candidates, we recommend that those interested in their campaign
The Improvement District Manual states on page 19:
Persons entitled to vote at an election must meet all of the following requirements:
One vote is also allowed for each board or corporation that owns land within the improvement district. The board or corporation must designate one person to act as an authorized agent to vote on its behalf. This should be done in writing so the returning officer can verify the vote.
If more than one person is registered on title as a landowner, each one can vote as long as they also meet the other qualifications.
However, no person can have two votes unless they meet the qualifications to be an elector and are also an agent authorized to vote on behalf of a board or corporation.
On p21 the Manual adds:
It should be noted that only persons attending the election, and meeting the eligibility requirements, are entitled to vote. Persons not attending the election in person cannot vote by proxy.
The Returning Officer noted (at the general meeting March 4th) that at the last election “quite a few” people assumed that they were eligible to vote but were not, because in order to vote your name must be on legal title. She suggested that people check their BC property assessment forms, which list all persons on title, and that people bring those forms with their ID.
For the first time, advance polling will be offered in the GFPID election, giving voters a choice of two dates on which they can cast their ballots. Polls will be in the Fire Hall Training Room at Fire Hall #1 on Church Street.
Detailed information on the election can be found on the gabriolafire.ca website.
The GFPID is an autonomous local government body responsible for providing fire protection services. As with all democratic government bodies, residents in a community express their opinions by voting for representatives—this is your opportunity to have your say. GFPID Chronicles encourages all Gabriola residents to educate themselves on issues and candidates, and to vote in the election and at the AGM (if allowed by law to do so).
(UPDATED on April 18th.) Here's the information we have on each candidate and how to engage with them. Candidates may choose different ways to communicate within our community, so these points of contact will not necessarily be relevant to all of them. (We have reached out to all candidates, and will post information about each candidate if and when it is provided to us or made public.)
...continue reading "How to find out more about the candidates"
We have received this announcement to share with you:
Gabriola Talks is holding an All Candidates Meeting for the fire board trustees. It will be on Wednesday April 22nd, 2026, at 7 pm at the AGI Hall. All questions will be from the floor, with questioners drawn at random from those indicating they wish to ask a question. Both questions and responses will be time-limited.
Trustee candidate Matt Dow is having a meet and greet event at the Gabriola Library. He asked us to share this with you:
"Hello GFPID Chronicles & Gabriola, I would like to inform everyone that I'm running as a Trustee for the Gabriola Fire Protection Improvement District. On April 16th from 5:00pm to 6:50pm, I will be doing a short presentation on my campaign, looking for public input, and will answer questions."
We recently published two posts meant for 2026 GFPID trustee candidates:
We don't have direct contact information for a number of candidates, but we would like to make all of their information available, and publish their statements, if we can. If you know any of the candidates who are running this year, could you please pass on these invitations to them? We would appreciate that.
As per the announcement in the Sounder News, "Six candidates [are] running for four Trustee positions in 2026 Fire Board election." Three positions are for a 3-year term, one is for a 1-year term.
The named candidates are:
General election day is Wednesday May 6th, 11 am to 7 pm, at the Fire Hall on Church Street. An advance poll will be held at the same location on Saturday May 2nd, from 11 am to 7 pm.
Voter requirements (Letters Patent): "At any general meeting every person shall be qualified to vote who is a Canadian citizen, is eighteen years old or older and is an owner of land in the improvement district." (There are also provisions extending voting rights to agents of land-owning businesses and representatives of incapacitated individuals.)
The annual AGM will be held on May 6th after polls close, starting at 7:30 pm. The AGM is open to the public but only landowners may vote.
More information on voting and the AGM is available at gabriolafire.ca.
The GFPID is an autonomous local government body responsible for providing fire protection services. As with all democratic government bodies, residents in a community express their opinions by voting for representatives—this is your opportunity to have your say. We encourage all Gabriola residents allowed by law to do so to educate themselves on the platforms of candidates and vote in the election, and to attend the AGM and vote.
Chronicles will provide more information on candidates and election related events as it becomes available. We will post links to candidate websites (excluding those on social media sites), information on meet-and-greets or All-Candidates meetings, and invite all candidates to submit a statement answering two basic questions.
Gabriola will soon select four GFPID trustees. (The 2026 election is on Wednesday, May 6th, and there is an advance poll on Saturday, May 2nd.)
Some candidates may offer meet-and-greet events, so that voters can ask questions about their platforms, and get an idea of which candidates they want to support.
If you are running to be a GFPID trustee, we would love to publish the details of any meet-and-greet type events you have. Use our contact form to get in touch.
See also: An invitation to GFPID election candidates.
GFPID Chronicles invites all trustee candidates in the upcoming election to provide us with answers to two questions about their campaigns. Chronicles will publish the answers to these questions after nominations close. The questions are:
If you are a candidate, and wish to submit your answers to these questions, please use the candidate submissions form to get in touch with us.
Chronicles will publish all candidate names, whether statements are provided or not. We will also publish links to any campaign websites, but note that as per our policy, we will not link to social media sites.
Answers submitted by candidates will be accepted for publication until midnight on April 17th, and the material will be published on April 18th. Any statements received after April 17th will NOT be published, because we want candidate statements to stand alone and not be influenced by what others might say.
NOTE: Nominations close on April 9th and we anticipate that the complete list of candidates will be published in the Sounder on April 15th. We will attempt to contact all candidates directly to ask for statements, but we are not a news organization and are unlikely to have contact information for all of them. Can you help? We encourage everyone to let any and all candidates know about this post, and that they can submit their information using our contact form.
We expect the Sounder to have substantial election coverage and ask its own questions; we will link to those articles when possible.
Sounder coverage:
Four of the six GFPID candidates responded to our invitation and submitted responses. Our post How to find out more about the candidates contains links to the candidates' responses.
An AGM and election for the Gabriola Fire Protection Improvement District (GFPID) will be held in May. Detailed information with important dates for candidates and voters can be found on the gabriolafire.ca website. Polls will be in the Fire Hall Training Room.
Trustee terms are three years. This election will fill 4 vacant positions; three are full 3-year terms, one will be a one-year term resulting from the resignation of Trustee Ray Appel. (Sounder News reports that shorter terms are generally assigned to the winning candidate receiving the lowest number of votes.) Should there be only four candidates, they will be acclaimed at the AGM and there will be no election.
PLEASE NOTE that only landholders may vote in GFPID elections—your name must be on title, and on the voting roll. The Returning Officer noted at the March 4th general meeting that “at the last election ‘quite a few’ people assumed that they were eligible but were not, because in order to vote your name must be on legal title. She suggested that people check their BC property assessment forms, which list all persons on title, and suggest bringing those forms with their ID.”
The AGM will be held at 7:30 pm on May 6th after polls close. As per the information on gabriolafire.ca,
“Any member of the public may attend the AGM, but only landowners may vote. At Registration/Check in for attendees, the Board designate and a volunteer will check that landowners (via the roll book) have the right to vote. Each attendee will receive a neon coloured piece of paper, to be held up for voting on motions arising at the AGM.”
This year the election will include advance polling (Saturday May 2nd, 11 am- 7 pm) for the first time, after some years of requests for it. This is the first year of a three-year trial, as explained during the November 2025 general meeting.
While the regular election day is a weekday, the advanced poll is on a weekend. GFPID Chronicles believes that providing a second, weekend option is an important step in increasing voting accessibility and strongly supports doing so.
This post summarizes what happened at the November 5th, 2025 general meeting, and provides transcripts for some areas of discussion. Timestamps (which may not be precise) from the official video recording are provided so that you can fill yourself in on anything of interest.
Motions require a second in order for discussion to be opened. Our transcripts do not record the seconding of motions; if discussion continues seconding may be assumed. We do note explicitly if a motion is not seconded, and the matter is never opened for discussion.
Motions initially reported may not exactly match the final motions in the minutes. When possible we will update them from the official minutes and will note any substantive discrepancies.
Meeting packages, videos and supplementary materials are linked from the Calendar on the Trustees CALENDAR page.
Key to the character of different segments: most of this meeting was reasonably efficient and collegial; some items that were more contentious or confusing are indicated by
🐌 took a while to get there
🌀 confusion
🔥 disagreements
Date: November 5, 2025
Present: all board members with the exception of Trustee Bussler, plus the Corporate officer, Fire Chief, and Deputy Chief. Past Returning Officer Cheryl Hannebauer, who made a presentation on revisions to election policy, joined the Corporate Officer at the board table.
This summary follows the outline in the Agenda. Timestamps indicate approximate locations of discussions in the meeting video. The meeting addressed all items on the agenda and lasted 2.5 hours.
At the October 1st General Meeting of GFPID there was some discussion with regard to election policy. The 2026 Budget included an increased allocation for elections, with the intention that the Board respond to community requests for advance polls. During the meeting the Returning Officer from the last election correctly pointed out that Policy # 24-09 in the GFPID Handbook of Governing Policies, “Policy and Procedures for Elections Conducted by the Gabriola Fire Protection Improvement District” explicitly prohibits both mail in balloting and advance polls (p 58).
However, in January 2023 the Minister of Municipal Affairs issued a Ministerial Order under the Local Government Act to amend the Letters Patent of improvement districts, which would certainly supercede organizational policy.
The following are taken from transcripts of audio recordings, but note that the echoes in the room made interpreting some of the content very difficult.
This post includes:
This post documents presentations, discussions, and questions relating the first three agenda items at the AGM.
Please note that difficulties with echoes in the room and random loud noises made hearing very difficult, and the transcriptions that follow are in some places incomplete. Gaps resulting from editing out repetition or extraneous words are indicated by ... and gaps resulting from audio being unintelligible are indicated by [...] or [unintelligible]. Words which were not completely clear at are in square brackets.
Questions to the board, when not directed to the Auditor, were answered by Paul Giffin as Chair.
There were some difficulties with distributing copies of the minutes of the previous year's AGM because the power outage that had lasted for much of the day had made it impossible to print copies until just before the meeting commenced. It was explained that the agenda for AGMs is set and does not deviate from year to year.
Based on previous year's minutes, the standard Agenda is:
The land acknowledgement and presentation and acceptance of the previous year's minutes proceeded normally.
The auditor from KMA Chartered Professional Accountants, Doug Parkhurst, explained that there were no financial statements to present.
The Gabriola Fire Protection Improvement District Annual General Meeting was held on June 18th.
The audited financial statements were not presented; the AGM was adjourned to be re-opened at a later date, likely in July, so that this requirement can be completed.
The election was held, and as reported by the Sounder Alert, three new trustees were elected. 1035 ballots were cast, 3 were spoiled and 2 were rejected.
At the Regular Meeting held after the Election, the Board elected Wayne Mercier as the Chair of the Board.
There were some contentious discussions during the meeting, and we will be posting content relating to that. However, the fire hall is very echoey and at one point there were a number of mysterious loud noises. Both factors make some audio illegible and other parts difficult to understand, so transcribing the audio is challenging. We'll get further details up as soon as we can.
As we all know, people running for election often talk in general terms. This makes sense; you can’t address every detail, and if you focus in too tightly you are likely to leave something out that you didn’t want to. Or you might be worried that something you don’t know about will prevent you from fulfilling a promise.
However, general statements are not helpful when it comes to holding people to account for taking the actions they say they will take. Apart from rarely being measurable, a big problem is that vague promises can be understood and interpreted in very different ways, and people can use exactly the same language to describe fundamentally different approaches to issues. So:
What concrete actions are the candidates for Gabriola Fire Protection Improvement District Trustees committing to? We’ve gone through the Q+A published in the Sounder and the transcripts of the All Candidates Meeting (see earlier posts) and made a list of specific actions that have been mentioned by the candidates. The names of people who have committed to action are appended to each item on the list. Not everyone used the same language to describe what they plan to do, so some list items are paraphrased, but we have included names where we think their intent was clear.
On June 4th there was a well-attended All-Candidates Meeting for the 2025 Election of GFPID trustees. The meeting was held at the AGI Hall and facilitated by Gabriola Talks. The Sounder News will have a full report on the meeting, which we will link to as soon as it is published. This is the last of a series of blog posts documenting the eight questions and responses at the ACM.
I'm a trustee. I didn't run for re-election. I ran because people quit. People who quit a dysfunctional board. [unintelligible]. So this board has worked really well together. So enough of my advertising. But just so you know, where I come from.
The question to everyone is: how we can handle all the misinformation and the disinformation that people put on Facebook and social media? People have alluded that they can't talk about things, or say that they can't talk about things—there are provincial guidelines that they have; but people post what they want on social media, and I want to know how you're going to counteract that in the community, because I'd like to hear what you candidates think.
...continue reading "GFPID 2025 All Candidates Meeting – Question 8"
On June 4th there was a well-attended All-Candidates Meeting for the 2025 Election of GFPID trustees. The meeting was held at the AGI Hall and facilitated by Gabriola Talks. The Sounder News will have a full report on the meeting, which we will link to as soon as it is published. This is part of a series of blog posts documenting the questions and responses at the ACM.
The past 20, 30 years or so, it seems to me there is a systems dysfunction. I've heard a lot of talk this evening about the exact ways in which the process is supposed to work, but I've heard nothing about some other form of coming to agreement, and that is through mediation. I heard none of that, except from Chris when she opened her comments, she alluded to that, and I'm really hoping that the board is open to trying to find a way of mediating their dysfunctional board. [Missed first part of question, updated after seeing Sounder News transcript]
...continue reading "GFPID 2025 All Candidates Meeting – Question 7"
On June 4th there was a well-attended All-Candidates Meeting for the 2025 Election of GFPID trustees. The meeting was held at the AGI Hall and facilitated by Gabriola Talks. The Sounder News will have a full report on the meeting, which we will link to as soon as it is published. This is part of a series of blog posts documenting the questions and responses at the ACM.
Thank you. Just a response to a comment Mr Giffin made earlier with regard to firefighters always asking for additional services and [...] material items, that's not correct. We've got a number of members of the fire department who have left the fire department recently, and that wasn't the reason they left.
After reading numerous articles in the Gabriola Sounder over the past few years about the Fire Protection Board and the oft-used dysfunctional description of the board, not the fire department, but specific to the board, many Gabriola residents, and the fact that you, Mr. Giffin, have held the key position as the board chairman throughout the past six years. How can electing you to yet another term help resolve the extensive turmoil, lawsuits, staff dismissals and internal grievances?
...continue reading "GFPID 2025 All Candidates Meeting – Question 6"
There have been statements recently about whether the Fire Board followed proper process with regard to a complaint: one side says they did, one side says they didn't. We looked at the policy to see who was correct.
On June 4th there was a well-attended All-Candidates Meeting for the 2025 Election of GFPID trustees. The meeting was held at the AGI Hall and facilitated by Gabriola Talks. The Sounder News will have a full report on the meeting, which we will link to as soon as it is published. This is part of a series of blog posts documenting the questions and responses at the ACM.
[Ed. note: some answers below reference the complaints policy, which is not on the GVFD website but can be found here.]
Okay, my question is for Oliver, given that your wife is a named witness in a lawsuit for the plaintiffs against the Gabriola Fire District Board, the fire chief, the Chair, I just wonder how you propose to maintain an attitude of neutrality, or even camaraderie of any kind, with the rest of the fire Board who may still be here, or the fire chief, thank you.
...continue reading "GFPID 2025 All Candidates Meeting – Question 5"
On June 4th there was a well-attended All-Candidates Meeting for the 2025 Election of GFPID trustees. The meeting was held at the AGI Hall and facilitated by Gabriola Talks. The Sounder News will have a full report on the meeting, which we will link to as soon as it is published. This is part of a series of blog posts documenting the questions and responses at the ACM.
[Recording missed first part of question] …over 20 years ago, I've observed a kind of contextual shifting of how we understand the fire departments as, as the fire improvement district. And so if a citizen says, "I have a concern about how the trustees are governing," what we hear back is, "You're criticizing our firefighters. You're not behind our firefighters." I would like to know what the candidates would do to remedy that situation so that as a citizen, I can be assured that the trustees are carrying out their role, and it's an appropriate role in relation to the firefighters who deserve to be supported by a board that understands that distinction.
...continue reading "GFPID 2025 All Candidates Meeting – Question 4"
On June 4th there was a well-attended All-Candidates Meeting for the 2025 Election of GFPID trustees. The Q+A meeting was held at the AGI Hall and facilitated by Gabriola Talks.
The Sounder News also published a Q+A with candidates on June 4th, 2025. The Sounder will have a full report on the meeting, which we will link to as soon as it is published.
What follows are the introductory comments from each candidate, in which they introduce themselves and say what they stand for. Each candidate was allowed two minutes for their introduction.
...continue reading "GFPID 2025 All Candidates Meeting – Intros"
On June 4th there was a well-attended All-Candidates Meeting for the 2025 Election of GFPID trustees. The meeting was held at the AGI Hall and facilitated by Gabriola Talks. The Sounder News will have a full report on the meeting, which we will link to as soon as it is published. This is part of a series of blog posts documenting the questions and responses at the ACM.
You know, I'm very interested in the vote, and I find seven hours in the middle of the week, that disenfranchises too many people. It's in the middle of a work week and it's just one day, and if you [...] work in Nanaimo, if you miss the 5:20 ferry, you can't vote. I find this appalling. So my question is to all the candidates, will you work to provide advanced polling dates and a mail in ballot for next year's election?
...continue reading "GFPID 2025 All Candidates Meeting – Question 3"