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Tag: All Candidates Meeting

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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.

...continue reading "But what exactly will you do?"

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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.

QUESTION

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"

Published on

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.

QUESTION 7

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"

Published on

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.

QUESTION 6

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"

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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.

The 2025 GFPID candidates introduce themselves

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"