Mayor Colin Basran at his re-election campaign launch.

(ROB MUNRO / iNFOnews.ca)

It was no surprise to anyone that Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran announced yesterday, Sept. 8, that he’s running for re-election.

It was also no surprise that he took the opportunity to fire shots at his main rival, Tom Dyas.

“I’m sure there will be many more attempts, like there was today, to scare you and tell you how awful and corrupt everything is at city hall,” Basran said during his “Kelowna's Future, My Future” campaign launch at Red Bird Brewing.

“Please don’t let them confuse and mislead you. This election is about you and your future so let me remind you of the real progress we’re making here in our community. One can’t coexist with their darkness,” he said.

He was referring to Dyas’ news release earlier in the day accusing the city of spending taxpayer money to increase Basran’s social media profile.

READ MORE: Kelowna mayoral candidate challenges city Facebook ads featuring Basran

While taking time to tout his accomplishments in getting things like complex care beds for the city, he also took a shot at Dyas over leadership. Dyas has stressed the need for strong leadership in the city.

“There is some evidence of some cracks within our system that aren’t being dealt with by the leadership,” Dyas told iNFOnews.ca in July. “There will be a number of things in the future that need to be addressed and they need that strong leadership.”

READ MORE: Tom Dyas wants to fill the cracks in Kelowna’s boom by becoming its next mayor

Basran had a different take on leadership issue.

“Some might try to discredit everything else we have accomplished by constantly pointing their finger at our crime and homelessness challenges,” Basran said. “I find that approach extremely unproductive and, quite frankly, divisive. Real leaders don’t divide people, they unite them. Real leaders don’t make empty promises without realistic policy solutions and real leaders never use fear to score an easy vote, let alone use our most vulnerable population as a tool for their benefit.”

Basran pointed out, among other things, that Kelowna is the fastest growing city in the country, has historically low unemployment, record building permits and was recently voted one of the best cities in Canada.

“Friends, it’s not a given,” he said. “This doesn’t happen by just luck or coincidence, but (through) a real vision that keeps delivering real results.”

Today is the final day for candidates to submit nomination papers for the Oct. 15 municipal election. Basran had not filed his papers by the end of the day yesterday.

Along with Dyas, Glendon Charles Smedley and Silverado Socrates have filed papers to run for mayor.

So far, 22 people have filed to run for the eight city council seats, including five incumbents: Maxine DeHart, Gail Given, Mohini Singh, Luke Stack and Loyal Wooldridge.

Incumbent Ryan Donn announced earlier he was not running for re-election. The other two incumbent councillors are Charlie Hodge and Brad Sieben.

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