Osoyoos has just dodged a bullet!
The results of last Saturday’s civic election ended up being as satisfactory as could be reasonably hoped.
An experienced candidate who successfully ousted the incumbent mayor would have, perhaps, been better – allowing a new council more fresh blood, new ideas and original thoughts which would have inevitably followed with the election of the two new councillors who join the veteran councillors who provide necessary experience and continuity.
The ‘dodged bullet’ is the newcomer who arrived with all the instant solutions who thought he could manage the town like a business without spending any time ‘learning the ropes’ with a term as a councillor or by just spending more time with his eyes and ears open. A small town (and even a country) is not a business and cannot be successfully operated as such.
Mr. Sikora can gain valuable insights about this amazing little town if he continues to be an interested observer and takes a more positive attitude about the place. It will, however, take a long time for the taint of his support for an undemocratic overthrow of our duly and democratically elected federal government. That he continues to think that his very sizeable funding of the so-called “Freedom Convoy” was a good thing without any indication of remorse is troubling. Additionally, his election advertising used typical conservative ‘dog whistles’: Pro “family values” and “tradition” have become all too familiar for disguising right-wing anti-progressiveness and non-inclusiveness. Osoyoos does not need any of that.
Government overreach? There’s a process for expressing your views and changing governments. It’s called an election. You’ve just taken part in a democratic exercise called an election. No honking required.
David Smith, Osoyoos
