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OPINION

Did you catch the series finale of the Colin Basran Show on Saturday?

It ended with a cliffhanger he wrote himself — turns out, no one knows if he’ll be elected ever again.

It was a stunning repudiation of a two-term mayor. Eight years ago, it was Basran-mania. He got national headlines for the city just by being elected as a young, Indo-Canadian Mayor of a young and beautiful growing city of Kelowna.

He could have been on cruise control his second campaign, his term secured largely by miscues from his opponent and he walked away with double the votes.

So what happened this time?

Former Kelowna councillor Gail Given thinks it was those nasty Conservatives imposing national party lines on local government where it doesn’t belong. She’s right of course, it doesn’t belong, but it is successful so of course they could and would do it.

But that isn’t what happened. Not really, not completely.

Basran, a born-and-raised Kelowna boy, somehow managed to lose not just his home community of Rutland but the Indo-Canadian vote as well. Don’t flatter the Conservatives — Basran managed that feat all by himself.

It’s because this isn’t the age of television anymore. The Colin Basran Show was a one-way broadcast — but we have interactive social media now.

For eight years, he tried to tell us our reality. Crime is your perception, it’s not as bad as you think. Crime doesn’t follow homeless people, you are being hateful. I won’t listen to your concerns about wet shelters, it’s the right thing to do. We can't build a new theatre there, we're already in process. Later, he started doing it with his own council, trying to dictate and even manipulate votes to get what he wanted, like the development on the former RCMP site or paving Kelowna Springs Golf Course.

For eight years, he gave speeches and got the City of Kelowna to produce videos telling us how great he is doing, how great the city is doing and the great things he’s going to do. For eight years, he dismissed any and all criticism. And if you were critical and he found you in public, he had no problem letting you have it. You’re wrong. He’s right.

Marshall Jones, managing editor

From the moment he was elected mayor, it became all about him and he turned on or ignored the people who helped get him there. 

His campaign was the same thing. He used all that money he raised to campaign like he's a social media influencer — over-produced social media videos, hosting and attending events with him as the star to be ascended again.

Listening is not a core competency of his.

Compare that with Tom Dyas, the man who more than doubled him in votes. He knocked on 12,000 to 14,000 doors. Voters told him they were concerned about crime and no one was hearing their concerns.

But Dyas did.

And he made those the two central tenets of his campaign.

Basran was talking when he should have been listening. Cue the perfect highlighted of him swearing at Ron Cannan and kicking him out of his campaign launch. I can tell you that reader numbers on some of our past stories — like Basran living in the home of a major developer — spiked during the election, but I think the Cannan incident was likely the turning point and sunk his chances. I bet that did indeed stir up a few old school Conservatives to push Cannan, a rabid anti-vaxxer, to the top of the polls (congratulations, Kelowna).

Some returning councillors would do well to digest this storyline. Most of them thought Basran was not a good mayor but a great one and in some respects, perhaps they weren’t wrong. But I think they got caught up following his lead and several of them too, wouldn’t entertain criticism about anything including him. Only one officially went to bat for Basran in the election and that’s what pushed Given out — not Conservatives.

The only surprise for me was Loyal Wooldridge escaping the fray. He spent his entire first term sucking up to Basran, supporting and voting with him in lockstep. He was rewarded with, and gleefully took, the chair of the Central Okanagan Regional District. It’s a fine politician indeed who can play these games and not get any stink on them.

But then again, voters elected former TV newsperson Rick Webber, who purposefully never said a thing in the election campaign, so what do I know?

As election results came in, I wondered what was next for Colin. No doubt that fourth MLA seat destined for Kelowna will be his for the taking, I thought.

Then I saw Basran’s press conference with reporters. That fake smile and condescending tone told me he hasn’t learned a thing. He continued to blame residents for their own thoughts and feelings, took no responsibility.

He refused to call Dyas to congratulate him.

That’s petty.

That’s selfish.

That’s how you end the Colin Basran Show… th-th-That’s All Folks!

— Marshall Jones is the Managing Editor of iNFOnews.ca

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