On Saturday, Oct. 13, the three independent mayoral candidates (Moneca Kolvyn, Alex Megalos and Vytas Vaitkus) held an informal gathering for Deltonians at the Rose & Crown Pub in Tsawwassen.
The caliber of attendees was fantastic. The message was – the independent candidates have offered Deltonians with a reason to pause, to re-evaluate before casting their ballot on Oct. 20.
From the evening, the following messages were received:
“People just don’t understand the slate thing in respect to municipal politics,” said Vaitkus, or V as he likes to be referred too. “It is being interpreted as a budgetary exercise in order to amass a much larger campaign budget. One conversation equated the slate to an all-inclusive vacation – allowing some voters to feel like one vote, one slate will get them everything they want and need. However – this is not the case.”
The environment, for all ages is very important. All three independents already know this and it was great to have it echoed by the Deltonians that attended the event.
Conversation about affordable housing and the ‘not-in-backyard’ obstacle was also discussed at great length.
“It was determined that very few in Delta actually understand what affordable housing is or even interpreting what that might look like,” said V. “The current government and mayoral candidates with a ‘housing plan’ have done a terrible job at change management and general communications/education. The independents rallied together to come up with a plan on how to overcome this government/people gap.”
V said preparations for marijuana legislation in Delta is horrible and so is support for addicts and the needy.
“The recent North Delta mayoral debate was a farce. The questions were rigged and biased toward the team candidates because they were brought forward by slate members or their supporters,” said V. “To actually be prepared for a ‘what will you do about dog parks question’ and the ‘North Delta farmer’s market’ is incredible. These are not top 10 issues in Delta. The independents were prepared for the key questions, but they were not asked.”
The event at the Rose & Crown proved to the independents that they have a place in this campaign. Moneca, Alex and V feel they are offering an intelligent choice, a worthy option to the folks that call Delta their home.
They are looking forward to the outcome on Oct. 20.
