Thursday, October 16, 2014

Daybreak North puts the talk into Election Talking Points

The four Mayoralty candidates in Prince Rupert had their moment ruling the airwaves yesterday.

As the CBC Radio program Daybreak North gave each of the candidates a chunk of the morning drive air time, allowing them to expand on the themes of their campaign in these early days.

Incumbent Mayor Jack Mussallem continued on with his approach of late, stressing performance, commitment and credibility as key to the top job in the City.

He reviewed some of his thoughts on the nature of the generational change that is arriving for the community and the Port. Observing as to how that will impact on the needs of those living in the city and the amount of work it will provide for those working at City Hall.

Through his six minutes he touches on such issues as Watson Island, Pinnacle Pellet and other Port Issues, as well as some of the other items of concern that were left for this Council from those of previous years.

You can listen in to his overview of the situation today and where he sees the city going into the future below:

Mayor Jack Mussallem is all about his familiar refrain: experience (audio)

As for the Challengers, each offered up a follow up to some of their presentation that is found on their websites and in recent advertising efforts.


Tony Briglio opened up his time with the CBC to recount some of his past experiences and how he's back to the North Coast to stay. As for his campaign, he started with familiar ground that of health care requirements in the community, moving on to thoughts about infrastructure and the need for financial restructuring by the City.

Expanding on that theme of restructuring, Briglio called on the practices in place at the Credit Union as a guideline for how the City might approach its financial issues.

He took issue with what he called the current approach of the city of hold the fort when it comes to their financial concerns.

He tackles that recurring theme of false hope of the past and how it seemed to cloud the vision of previous councils, including the ones that he previously served on.

His closing overview examined where the city is at currently, as well as to review whether the City should be involved in things that are not appropriate for a city this size to be involved with.

Mr. Briglio's seven minutes in the morning with Daybreak North can be reviewed below:

Tony Briglio wants an end to false hope (audio)



Sheila Gordon-Payne, outlined her approach to municipal government should she be successful on November 15th.

Providing some background on her three pronged approach, the first item which would focus on the city's core mandate of streets, sidewalk and recreation facilities.

A second prong would be to make the City a livable place for families and a place where people will choose to live and stay to raise their families.

The third prong is to keep a focus on the opportunities ahead and to find a way to manage those opportunities, manage current relationships and to build new ones.

She outlined her thoughts when it comes to infrastructure issues and how the City should approach them. As well, she had concerns over how the City spends its time when it comes to conducting municipal government at City Hall.

She touched on the need to make sure that Council is not spending its efforts on issues that don't actually improve the city and how there needs to be a readjustment on what Council considers important.

She touched on the issue of taxes in the community and how the City needs to provide more information to the community as to how the City is spending those tax dollars, suggesting a score card might be of use to help provide a clearer picture on spending.

On the theme of the potential for economic development, she cautioned that the city should live within the means of today, while planning for that future, but not counting on it or spending money before the City has it.

As her time with the CBC came to an end, she touched on the somewhat acrimonious nature between the Port and the City, suggesting that she would take a different approach than the current Council seems to have adopted.

More on her platform positions can be reviewed from her morning chat below:

Sheila Gordon-Payne is promising a municipal scorecard (audio)


Lee Brain, who has been formulating his approach the longest, having declared his intentions back in the Spring also touched on many of his familiar themes.

The focus of his time with the CBC was to address the issue of false hope, providing the opportunity for Mr. Brain to re-introduce the alternative approaches he has outlined in recent months.

He talked of renewable energy possibilities, other ways to be innovative on financials and the need to have third party audits of the financial situation to find out where mis-spending may be happening.

On the theme of taxes, Mr. Brain said the City should keep the level where it is while it seeks to expand the tax base in the community.

As for priorities and items that the City should address, Mr. Brain offered up that he believes the City has a role in Housing which he called a city issue.

He suggested that there are boundaries on such things as pipeline protests and other social issues that what the City should examine and what it should leave to others.

He also touched on the topic of LNG, explaining how he would want to see a way to make LNG work and how if one or two of the proposed projects moves forward they could help alleviate some of the problems in the community, but how there was a need for a Plan B.

His campaign overview can be heard below:

Prince Rupert Mayor candidate Lee Brain (audio)

Daybreak North's George Baker also provided an early election primer, outlining some of the early themes on the way to the November 15th vote.

Prince Rupert Municipal elections primer (audio)

For more items on the 2014 Municipal Election campaign see our archive page here.

You can find links here for those candidates that have a more detailed approach to their campaign through websites and social media.

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