Ron Cannan meets with supporters following a shocking loss to Liberal Stephen Fuhr.

(JOHN MCDONALD / iNFOnews.ca)

In the 2022 municipal elections, voters in Kamloops and Kelowna spoke loudly and clearly.

They wanted change. They wanted something done about crime and lawlessness and homelessness and if they couldn’t have that then they chose candidates who at least understood their needs.

In Kamloops, they said buh-bye Arjun Singh, Dieter Dudy and Sadie Hunter and chose Reid Hamer-Jackson. It wasn’t close. In Kelowna, they punted Mayor Colin Basran and Gail Given.

I see no evidence anyone elected in 2022 listened to a damn thing.

Instead, in Kamloops, they’ve pretzeled themselves. They can’t get anything done because councillors — and yes, staff — are fighting Hamer-Jackson over every stupid thing you can think of — processes, committees, note-taking, recording, his manner and tone. It’s so bad, the province has to provide a babysitter. You can’t make this stuff up.

I’m not taking a side here. No doubt Hamer-Jackson is difficult to deal with. But he was also the one elected with a mandate. At some point, you have to wonder if you’re just getting in the way.

Marshall Jones, managing editor

It’s not much different in Kelowna. Their version of Reid Hamer-Jackson is Ron Cannan. The former MP is a devout Christian, social conservative and a businessman(ish).

In other words, he’s kind of an embodiment of Kelowna itself. If you’re new here, it’s a very conservative city. Just because it elected Colin Basran twice and Liberal MP Stephen Fuhr once, don’t kid yourself. This is Alberta West, an outsized and perhaps still growing coalition of fiscal conservatives and small-c conservatives and Capital-K Conservatives — the bible-toters, vaccine-refusers, fetus-defenders, climate change-deniers and Trump humpers.

And yet there’s feigned shock and virtue-signalling from the people who consider themselves his betters whenever he says exactly what you’d expect him to say.

I’ve taken my shots at Cannan in the past, but that was different. He was trying to tell people in the middle of a public health emergency not to listen to health officials, peddled cheap conspiracy theories and urged people to trust Jesus instead of vaccines.

But this week, he apparently penned another column on the conservative news site Kelowna Now (I don’t know what else to call it, at this point) and the left has its collective hair on fire. I had to give him a click and regretted it immediately. It’s another poorly-worded, boring column you’d expect. He suggested trusting in fictional sky-beings instead of actually doing something about climate change. He was flippant about Ukraine, took a shot at the prime minister, pondered a coming apocalypse, urged on the anti-SOGI crowd, suggested Justin Trudeau and Jagmeet Singh are having familial relations and urges the BC United Party to join the far right Conservatives to defeat the NDP.

You know, Stuff That Matters.

Truly ridiculous reading. But those are his honestly-held views. Kelowna Now can obviously amplify the voices it wants to court its audience. And large swathes of Kelowna are on-board. Cannan topped the polls in Kelowna and not by a slim margin.

What did you think Ron Cannan believed? He’s a pretty open book. Wait until you hear his views on women's rights! And yet he’s been elected by voters every year for the last 25 years (except for that little hiccup in 2015 to 2022.) To his absolute credit, he has never hid his views. He’ll tell you to your face and he’ll lap up the liberal tears as he does so. Lots of people have these views; this one just happens to be dunking on the left when it matters at every opportunity.

But still, oh, the outrage! Mostly by the fast-fingered social media-warrior types, not anyone serious, mind you. I had several people suggest this is a story and I just can’t see it. Headline: Politician repeats his views for the 50th time, town burns down. I just don’t get it. Was it ‘inclusive’? No. Did it violate council’s code of conduct? Not one little bit.

So what's the hubbub?

I’ve said before about Cannan: Politicians should have to write columns so we know who we’re electing. Can you write the next one about your views on abortion, Ron?

Mayor Tom Dyas had to interrupt his Mexican vacation to calm things down, sending a news release to remind people of what should be clear to anyone familiar with the English language: These are Ron’s thoughts, not council’s. He included some vague notion of an investigation, but Dyas should be careful with this one.

I have no doubt Cannan’s going to run for mayor, and he’ll probably win.

Go ahead, feel embarrassed that he represents your city if you have opposing views. I do. But you should be embarrassed that you let him in. Next time maybe save your keyboard a good mashing and get involved at election time when he goes for mayor. Voter participation rates are around 30 per cent. That leaves plenty of opportunity.

You’ll notice that not one of the issues people complained about involves Kelowna or his role as a city councillor. Just like in Kamloops, they’re all stuck gazing at their own navels instead. It reeks of champagne liberalism to complain about words and demeanour while the plebs in the streets scream for help.

This is what politicians fart around with instead of getting to work on what they were elected to do.

— Marshall Jones is the Managing Editor of iNFOnews.ca

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor.

News from © iNFOnews, 2024