INNISFAIL – A quartet of town council hopefuls have thrown their hats in the ring to claim the vacant seat left behind by Doug Bos who resigned last March.
The municipal byelection is scheduled for Monday, June 8. The candidate nomination deadline was noon on April 27.
Immediately after, Heather Whymark, the town’s director of corporate services and the byelection’s returning officer, released the names of the four town councillor nominees - Daryl Hillman, Don Harrison, Jim Kristinson and Patrick Teskey.
Whymark said advance polls will be held May 29 and 30 at the town office.
She said the town does not have any guidelines for candidates on how they conduct their campaigns with the many provincial and municipal COVID-19 pandemic guidelines and restrictions in place, including those for group gatherings and social distancing.
“They are just going to have to find as many avenues as they can to get their word and their messages out there,” said Whymark. “We don’t govern that component.”
The June 8 byelection is believed to be Canada’s first election for public office since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March.
Previously scheduled municipal byelections across Canada began to be cancelled or postponed last March 15. These included ones in Montreal, Cambridge, Ont., Carrot River, Sask., Eastern Shelburne County, N.S., Windsor, Ont., and separate ones in Rossland and Victoria, B.C.
All of New Brunswick’s scheduled municipal elections for May 11 were postponed to next year. The eastern Canadian province also postponed two provincial byelections scheduled for June 15.
Also cancelled were two Winnipeg School Division trustee elections scheduled for March 21.
As well, the Green Party of British Columbia postponed its leadership election that was scheduled from June 15 to 26. The Conservative Party of Canada has also postponed its June 27 leadership election.
However, the Yukon Party leadership election for the Yukon territory is still going ahead on May 23 but voting will take place over phone and online.
Meanwhile, the town’s decision to move forward with its own byelection has inspired the four confirmed candidates to do the best they can with available and approved campaigning options, which will include an online all-candidates forum on May 20, an event organized by the Innisfail & District Chamber of Commerce.
Harrison, a former manager of the legion, said he distributed door knockers last week in residential areas while maintaining social distancing.
“They got my message on them and my phone number. We can’t be face to face with our constituents,” said Harrison. “I welcome all calls and I have a website and a Facebook page. It seems to be working but it’s certainly challenging.”
Kristinson, 58, a relative newcomer to town after living in Red Deer for 25 years, said he will be putting up signs around town and will activate a Facebook page. His goal at this point is to be as much a part of the community as possible.
“What I want to do is be more involved in the community that I live in,” he said. “I see that Innisfail has a lot of potential for growth for when things do start to pick up.”
Teskey, a former local newspaper editor and now director of marketing and communications with the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame, said he’s also getting set up on social media and is gearing up for the all-candidates forum. However, he noted he’s been an Innisfailian for almost a decade with strong connections to the community through minor sports, volunteerism, and school and church activities.
“I am also relying on word of mouth. We have a lot of good friends we’ve made over the years. If people ask friends about me they are able to offer a glimpse into what kind of person I am,” said Teskey.
Hillman, a successful longtime businessman in the community and current commercial real estate associate broker, said he would soon have signage up, including digital at Henday Mall where he is a part owner.
“We are learning to deal with it as best we can,” said Hillman, noting the business world is increasingly using Zoom technology for online meetings. “I think we can do a lot of this campaigning electronically.
“We are going to be facing extreme challenging times and we need the best hands on deck,” he concluded.
