Tom Warshawski is spokesperson for Liveable Kelowna
Image Credit: Submitted/Tom Warshawski
August 29, 2022 - 9:30 AM
A newly formed Kelowna lobby group, motivated by climate change but frustrated with city council’s attitude towards public input, will be supporting a slate of like-minded candidates in the upcoming civic election.
Called Liveable Kelowna, it has set up a website and Facebook page and registered with Elections B.C. as a “third party sponsor” for the Oct. 15 election.
“If you are a candidate with conviction, you go with best practices, even if it looks like the parade hasn’t come behind you just yet,” spokesperson Tom Warshawski told iNFOnews.ca. “These are the principles you should not be afraid to stand up for.”
Number one on the list of principles is to battle climate change, something that is not addressed in most city plans.
In fact, on July 25, city staff presented council with a review of its climate and environment plans.
“It starts off good, saying there is a global race to battle climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, that we don’t need to tinker, we need transformation change,” Warshawski said.
The report goes on to say how environmental concerns need to be embedded in every city policy. They it says, as a “quick start” that it will take two to three years for further study.
“My blood pressure nearly went off the roof when I read that,” Warshawski said. “Many cities have these tools. These tools are existent. Finding the tools takes two to three months. You find it. You get two or three different tools and you adopt them. You don’t have to re-invent the wheel for Kelowna.”
While the environment is a driving motivation for Liveable Kelowna, it goes beyond that issue to how city council views public input.
“Community voices must be listened to,” Warshawski wrote in a news release. “Neighbourhood associations are ignored and the public is given little time to provide input into important policy decisions. It’s time to bring the community to the decision-making table.”
He pointed to the recent council decision to approve a 46-storey downtown highrise for UBCO, a 20-storey exemption to their own plans and a move widely opposed by many.
READ MORE: Work crews heading to Kelowna’s UBCO downtown campus site in a matter of days
Even the provincial government has cut out the voices of the public by no longer requiring public hearings for rezoning applications that conform with city plans for fear their “not in my back yard” attitudes will slow or scuttle much needed housing projects.
“NIMBY, for sure, is there but I trust the neighbourhood associations,” Warshawski said. “When they put forward their opinion, these are for the most part, responsible citizens who know densification is necessary but it has to be done responsibly. You have to listen to people. You have to consult widely. It doesn’t mean they have veto powers but right now, the pendulum has swung the other way and those voices aren’t being heard.”
Liveable Kelowna is not fielding any candidates itself. It wants to advocate on these issues instead, Warshawski said.
“If you are seen also as a competitor for the seat, then you cannot be listened to as well,” he said. “I would rather have a marketplace for ideas than competing for voters so I want people not to think that we are out to embarrass somebody. We want to be able to exchange ideas and evidence without candidates or elected officials thinking we’re out after their jobs.”
The plan is to send each candidate a questionnaire and support a slate that best reflects its views.
As a “third party sponsor” it must be at “arms length” from candidates so it cannot fund or direct a candidate’s campaign but can advertise in support of people they choose.
That’s different from an elector organization that actively campaigns for individual candidates and whose name goes on the ballot.
Warshawski said he was once was a member of the B.C. Liberal and spoke highly of former Premier Gordon Campbell.
He did not like the direction the party took after Campbell left so he is now the riding association president for the Green Party of Greater Kelowna, encompassing all three provincial ridings.
He’s also a practicing pediatrician.
Liveable Kelowna, he said, is a non-partisan organization with support from business, academic, neighbourhood associations and people with “lived experience” who are NDP as well as federal and provincial Liberals.
Although there are only about 20 members, it hopes to grow in numbers as the election campaign progresses.
Its website is here.
READ MORE: Election nomination papers hot items in Kelowna
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