And by their advertising, we shall know them...

With the Prince Rupert By-election Candidates Forum now behind us, the main focus of information from those seeking our votes on November 16th will most likely come by way of their advertising in the local paper, or through Internet contributions.

So far we've picked up a recurring and rather familiar theme on the campaign, that ever popular refrain of "more accountability and transparency".

That always popular political marketing slogan is getting a strenuous work out from a number of candidates as election day nears.

Barry Cunningham makes use of those twin themes with his advertisement in Wednesday's Northern View. In his introduction to the voter, he stresses three themes for us to consider.

Better relations with the Port and the First Nations of the region, Transparency and Accountability on  City Council and Affordable housing for the community.

He doesn't expand much on them in the course of his ad, however he does provide an email address, barryforcouncil@citywest.ca for those wishing to inquire further about his campaign.

Gurvinder Randhawa  was one of the first of the candidates to take to advertising, most recently taking out a quarter page ad in Wednesday's Northern View, highlighting education and training as key to the job prospects for Prince Rupert's future.

He also would like to see small business and the local economy supported by council.

Randhawa also touches on the state of the city's aging infrastructure and the need to look for ways to provide for repairs. In addition, he stresses the need for a commitment to building relationships with area First Nations and neighbouring communities.

Randhawa also introduces the concept of encouraging educated and timely decisions on all matters that Council faces, suggesting the use of a strong committee system supported by administration.

Accountability is also a theme that can be found on his lawn signs which have sprouted up in front of many homes in the city.

Mr. Randhawa also provides contact information on his ad, should voters want more background on his proposals, his contact point is skeenads@citytel.net

Len Lovering is stressing accountability and jobs in his advertising, which for the most part consists of lawn signs and posters on hydro and telephone poles around the community.  For those who are looking for more background on his campaign, he recently launched his own blog on municipal issues.

Introduced in September, it appears to have been designed to set the stage for his by-election campaign. Whether he continues post campaign with his new found interest in blogging, remains to be seen.

Larry Golden has yet to take out advertising from local media sources, but he too has an Internet presence, having been providing background and comment on civic matters through his e-princerupert website for a number of years now.

The remaining two candidates, Wade Niesh and James Kirk, have thus far limited their visual information campaign to lawn signs and campaign material affixed to vehicles around the community.

You can review developments along the by-election campaign trail from our By-election backdrop archive page.