With only a week to go before the provincial election, Similkameen voters must be starting to feel neglected.
The Similkameen does not seem to be high on politicians’ priority lists so far in this campaign.
BC Liberal leader Christy Clark has been the only party leader to stop in Keremeos, while both Adrian Dix and John Cummins so far have chosen not to make a stop here while stumping through the nearby Okanagan valley last week.
We are only aware of two candidates who have made two or more public visits to the Lower Similkameen so far in this campaign - Liberal candidate Linda Larson and NDP candidate Sam Hancheroff.
The other candidates - independent Mischa Popoff, and Green Party candidate John Kwasnica stumped through the village on May 2. A second independent candidate - Doug Pederson - didn’t even show up for the debate.
As far as we are aware, that has been roughly the extent of candidate exposure in the Lower Similkameen.
The Review had similar results with a questionaire emailed to the candidates. Only two responded to the query prior to deadline.
Finally, during the all candidate’s meeting, Moderator Carroll MacLean asked each candidate what they knew of Keremeos and area. The responses from all four candidates were, at best, vague and generalized.
Perhaps in the final days of the campaign we’ll see a little more of the candidates. It would be nice to have some evidence from the candidates that the voices of the Similkameen matter, because who knows - with five candidates on the ballot, and widespread dissatisfaction amongst the electorate, the handful of votes up for grabs in the Similkameen just might be enough to make a difference to one of the candidates this time around.