An all-candidates meeting has been scheduled for Central Saanich but the number of candidates attending remains up in the air.
“There are five declared candidates, but only three of them have said they will be there. The Green, Liberal and NDP will come, but we have yet to hear from the Conservative and Libertarian candidates,” said Ian Cameron, president of the Residents and Ratepayers of Central Saanich Society.
The Saanich Gulf Islands all-candidates meeting has been set for Sept. 18 at the Brentwood Bay Badminton Hall, at the corner of Wallace Drive and West Saanich Road. The meeting will run from 7 to 9 p.m. with a voluntary collection to pay for the hall.
Cameron said the rules for the meeting will be somewhat unusual. “I get annoyed at these meetings when someone asks one candidate a question, and every other candidate comments on it, whether it pertained to them or not,” he said. “So we will be asking for written questions, addressed to one, two or three specific candidates, or to all of them.”
Cameron said organizers will separate the questions so that each candidate will have equal opportunity to reply.
“Questioners will have to identify themselves by raising a hand, to prevent one person from asking a dozen questions. People can bring the questions with them, already written or typed, or write them there. Members of the audience will not be allowed to make speeches disguised as questions,” he said.