Residents of Cranbrook will get their chance to hear from all seven of the federal election candidates in Kootenay-Columbia at an All-Candidates Forum on October 1, 2019.
Hosted by JCI Kootenay at the Key City Theatre, the public will get to hear from all seven candidates in the riding, with doors opening at 6:30 pm and the actually forum running from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm.
A non-partisan group, JCI Kootenay is putting on the forum for the community.
“We wanted to provide this even playing field for all of the candidates to come together so then they can get their message across.,” said
Coco Seitz, JCI Kootenay Chapter President. “How many of us in the community actually know the candidates in person, know who they are and what they stand for and why they should be the party that is leading the country or they should be our MP for the riding?”
Hoping the forum is educational for voters and provides a balanced platform for all of the candidates, Seitz said it’s important that voters are informed heading into the polls on October 21, 2019.
“Moving forward as Canada, we have a big decision to make and everyone’s got their own opinion,” Seitz told MyEastKootenayNow.com. “In this way, the candidates also have an opportunity to tell or convince our local community why they are the best candidate for the job and they have the best interest for this riding.”
All of the questions asked at the forum will be collected at the door by JCI Kootenay members and organized into their categories or topics. Seitz said the questions will then be put into a sealed box and randomly drawn by the moderator and asked to the candidates.
Each candidate will have three minutes to introduce themselves, three uninterrupted minutes to answer each question asked and another two minutes at the end of the forum to say whatever they wish. Each of the candidates will also get four rebuttals to utilize during the forum, giving them two minutes to respond to any other candidate’s answer or rebuttal.
The Cranbrook All-Candidates Forum is just one of many planned across Kootenay-Columbia ahead of the federal election.