If elected mayor, what will Sharon Gaetz, Cameron Hull or Raymond Cauchi do to save the bees?

As if running an election campaign and dealing with the local media wasn’t enough to occupy the time and the minds of those running for civic office, candidates in municipalities across B.C. have been inundated with surveys and questionnaires from a huge range of special interest groups.

The Wilderness Committee's call on candidates to "stand up for bees" is just one among many. (Specifically, the Wilderness Committee wants municipalities to stop buying ornamental plants treated with pesticides that are harmful to bees.)

The Canadian Homebuilders want to know where the candidates stand on development issues. Local environmental group The WaterWealth Project and various unions also looked to see where candidates stand. Members of the local First Nations community are asking candidates to make a proclamation, as Vancouver did, to state that the city sits on unceded aboriginal territory.

The newly created Chilliwack Heritage Committee has asked the candidates a series of questions. And local anti-pipeline group PIPEUP issued a report card on candidates.

It’s also been a long-standing rumour that some churches tell parishioners who to vote for, and which candidates most closely align with their values.

Most of these surveys or Q&As or report cards come from environmental groups, keen to publicly present which candidates will even respond and, of those that do, what they had to say.

But some special interest groups ask questions that the public never hear about. Some unions issue endorsements of certain candidates by way of a process that’s somewhat mysterious. Then there is the Canadian Homebuilders’ Association of the Fraser Valley (CHBAFV), an industry body for developers, which issued a questionnaire to candidates. The responses were to be sent out to members.

Among the CHBAFV’s more interesting questions suggested public hearings were too onerous for developers: “With respect to the OCP/Rezoning process – is the public hearing system broken? i.e. when a developer purchases a property with a development in mind that meets the criteria of the OCP but requires rezoning – why is a public hearing necessary?”

As for the more public comments by special interest groups: the Hazardous Waste Coalition issued a press release just before last week’s mayor candidates meeting to talk about the 17,000-name petition opposing the rezoning for a toxic waste recycling facility near the Fraser River.

The issue has proved to be one of the more popular to bring up among certain council challengers, while incumbents try to avoid the topic if possible. How many of the 17,000 signatures are local is unclear as the issue spread nationally and even internationally. (Margaret Atwood even Tweeted a link to the petition to her half-million followers.)

"The number of signatures on [the] petition is nearly three times the total seen in 2013 on the chlorination petition, and that was an issue considered to be unanimously opposed," said coalition member and Chilliwack resident Wendy Major. "I think the public consensus is pretty clear."

Sabrina Gidon, who create the petition, asked candidates in the press release, and later in person on Monday: "What are you going to do about this?"

The coalition's report card on candidates is here.

Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project is another potential environmental issue top of mind with citizens and candidates. The PIPE UP Network, the local group opposed to the pipeline twinning, which will triple its capacity, issued a report card on candidates based on a response to an online survey.

Candidates Patti MacAhonic, Phill Bruce, Phillip Maxwell and Sam Waddington got an “A” from PIPE UP for their “commitment to municipal climate change action.” Dick Harrington and Jason Lum got a “B,” and Michael Kha and Brenda Currie, a “C.” The other nine candidates and all three mayor candidates didn’t respond.

The PIPE UP Network report card is here.

Local environmental group The WaterWealth Project posted questionnaire results from city council candidates on a number of topics, including Kinder Morgan, Aevitas, and the protection of drinking water. On these questions, you will again see nothing from incumbent mayor Sharon Gaetz although challengers Cameron Hull and Raymond Cauchi responded. Ten council candidates responded, including: Patti MacAhonic, Phill Bruce, Richard Williams, Phillip Maxwell, Dick Harrington, Gerry Goosen, Jason Lum, Brenda Currie, Chris Kloot and Michael Kha.

The WaterWealth results for Chilliwack are here. They also posted results from candidates in Abbotsford, FVRD, Harrison Hot Springs, Hope, the District of Kent and the Langleys here.

The newly created Heritage Chilliwack Society (HCS) asked four heritage questions to all candidates. Twelve of 20 mayor and councillor candidates responded to questions such as: “What do you think is the single most important action that the local government could undertake to encourage heritage preservation in Chilliwack?”

Jason Lum was the only incumbent who responded to the heritage questionnaire. Full responses are on the HCS Facebook page here.

Environmental group Dogwood Initiative created a survey on the topic of oil and coal export projects for candidates across B.C. In Chilliwack, only Phill Bruce, Brenda Currie, Dick Harrington and Sam Waddington responded. Results are here.

And, of course, the Times asked all mayor, council and school district candidates a number of questions and all responded. Check them all out here. Or visit via www.chilliwacktimes.com/municipalelection.

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