r/abbotsford • u/Muddy-Fraser • 11d ago
Progressive (-ish?) picks for mayor and council: Feedback welcome
I lean progressive. I own a business and a home. I want a sustainable, inclusive, diverse, pro-science community. I'd love any feedback on my picks for:
MAYOR:
See my impressions here of debate between Siemens, Dhami, and Mahil. Leaning toward Ross Siemens even though he's old guard and not my ideal mayor. Kind of like voting for a Carney vs. my party of choice because we need someone with local government experience, understanding of complexity/jurisdictions of issues affecting Abbotsford, and respect for fair process, long-range planning (e.g. Official Community Plan) and City staff. Dhami and Mahil did not make that grade IMO
COUNCILLOR (no particular order):
YES:
- Rupi Kanda-Rajwan: Acknowledges Indig rights, pro-diversity
- Jeremy Klix: Very computer literate, active transportation planning, gets environmental concerns (possibly only candidate in favour of these)
- Preet S. Rai: Involved in restorative justice, familiar with Indigenous education
- Patricia Ross: Shows awareness of environmental, food security issues, importance of civil dialogue
- EDIT: I've cut for now: Rick Thiessen: ??? Unconfirmed report from Redditor in discussion below, that RT preached anti-LGBTQ views in his very conservative church (see https://www.rossroadcc.ca/podcasts/ross-road-community-church-podcast/2026-07-14-christ-centered-community; now deleted) in July 2026. I've moved him off my YES list pending confirmation either way.
- Shirley Wilson: Shows awareness of issues like food security, sustainable food; shows empathy for people with addictions (lost a son) / mental health, pro-Agricultural Land Reserve preservation. Redditor here reports that she 'stood up for lgbtq staff and students in an unhinged board meeting'.
MAYBE?
- Doris Woodman-McMillan: Gender balance! Very educated, financially literate, recognizes need to develop Abbotsford infrastructure rather than seeking growth at any cost.
- Dao Tran: Came here as refugee from communist Vietnam. Very community-minded. 40 years servicing bikes (own business); weak signals that he may be receptive to more bike infrastructure?? Haven’t seen much about his politics though.
- Jag Sidhu: Seems very community-involved (not just photo ops), organizing meaningful contributions to Salvation Army and Archway food bank. Pro-diversity, not a residential schools denier (I know, a f'ing low bar, right??). Likely looking to move up in politics as was previously angling for MLA position.
NOT FOR ME:
*Amrik Narang: Long resume but don’t see much meaningful engagement with social or environmental concerns. Endorsements by conservatives Brad Vis and Sukhman Gill are not bonuses in my opinion. * Rick Thiessen: A lot to like: blue-collar background, long career in public high school, pro-Indigenous, pro arts, big on balanced development for Abbotsford. BUT Redditor here makes credible allegation that he preaches anti-LGBTQ stuff at his very conservative Ross Road Community church. * Les Barkman: very religious, unlikely to support active transportation, opposed homeless shelter proposal, reputedly NIMBY * Patricia Driessen: Lots to like, but I am not a big fan of factory farms (she co-owns one) * Carmen Fast Hollett: Might be fine but Trinity Western degree makes me wonder about ideology re: inclusiveness, Maga, climate change, etc. Please set me right if I'm mistaken *Kirsty Mills: Very educated nurse. Not sure about her party: reputedly downplays significance of Indigenous reconciliation, and according to one Redditor here, she is very conservative. * Simon Gibson: 50 years in politics? Seems watchful of status quo. Is this why Abbotsford’s facilities levels pale in comparison to comparably sized cities? * Joel Madsen: Evangelical?? Redditor in this forum associates JM with evangelical Lifespring church on Gladwin, which is reported to be anti-LGBTQ... makes me wonder about ideology re: inclusiveness, Maga, climate change, etc. * Jasmit Phulka: Don’t see meaningful social component in his community involvement record. Highly conservative vibe, endorsed by conservatives * Mark Warkentin: Very Conservative (was with Abbotsford First, since dissolved) * Dave Sidhu: Disqualified because caught censoring political opponents by removing or papering over their advertising. Fair play is important. * Matthew Cavacece: Not much substance / qualifications. And why does he have an obituary?? * Skully White: hot dog stand owner, conservative. EDITED HERE: Generously donated a kidney to save a life and organizes the flea market, but qualifications for local government seem thin compared to many other candidates. No-show at debates * Thomas Votik: Hard pass. Facebook profile suggests he is anti-vaxxer, Maga (his photos include Confederate flag!), mockery of people concerned about climate change and racism. Recently posted this gem: ‘Rocking out to Rock Band 3 while all my married friends are watching ROM-COMs with their shitty wives!’
Thoughts, anyone? I just found the link to an all-candidates meeting where issues like food security are discussed... hope it's useful to someone: https://abbynews.com/2026/10/08/abbotsford-council-hopefuls-discuss-food-security-at-final-all-candidates-meeting/
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u/noctambulare 10d ago
Thanks so much for building this list ! Def agree with your yes list.
Shirley Wilson is likely the best draft choice out of the list.
A lot of experience that maybe people aren’t aware of. She spoke in Ottawa in front of MPs and Senators for legislation about Mental Health policy in Canada.
People don’t realize how $ big the Abby School District budget is. And that responsibilities include organizing and project managing things like new schools, compliance for earthquake safety updates of old buildings and all the paperwork and understanding that goes along with that.
and she stood up for lgbtq staff and students in an unhinged board meeting.
cant think of many folks on this list who have had the same prequalifying experience.
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u/Muddy-Fraser 10d ago
Wow. Thanks for this very good info. I'm adding some to my list so people see it.
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u/ship_toaster 10d ago
Just to add to your disqualification of Dave Sidhu, here he is supporting anti-SOGI protests. Also, you're missing a space after your asterisk for Amrik Narang and Kirsty Mills.
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u/Figgy90 11d ago edited 11d ago
I was going through the IG posts for Abbotsford Voice and found what I assume was their Truth and Reconciliation post. Zero reference to the history of the day or Indigenous peoples, but made a weird catch phrase out of it by saying “every voice matters”. That made all three of them a hard no for me.
Edited for typo.
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u/incorkerated 10d ago
Most of my neighbors who have Abbotsford Voice signs also have a provisional Conservative sign as well. That weighs on me.
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u/Practical-Battle-502 10d ago
Which is how it should be. Not certain communities getting free handouts . Every voice matters. Hard yes
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u/Muddy-Fraser 11d ago
Sorry, not following you here... 'all three of them'... who are you referring to?
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u/Figgy90 10d ago
Sorry, I meant the three candidates running under Abbotsford Voice. So, Kristy Mills, Patricia Driessen and Carmen Fast Hollett. The more I think about the post the more I'm confused by it. I don't understand how you allude to Truth and Reconciliation day without naming the purpose of the day AND you make it about your election campaign.
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u/Katietn 11d ago
Here are some other resources to see candidate positions if you’re not already aware. Personally I think those that don’t participate in these forums aren’t working very hard for a vote.
All Candidate Meeting on Food Security
https://abbotsfordfoodbank.com/2026/16-city-council-candidates-participate-in-food-security-forum/
Chamber of Commerce survey
https://abbotsfordchamber.com/elections-hub/
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u/Muddy-Fraser 11d ago
Yes, I'm aware... thanks for posting these! I haven't yet watched the food security meeting, so my views could change still
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u/Gullible_Ground_2941 11d ago
Full candidate responses for the food security all candidates can also be found here:
https://foodjustice.ca/all-candidates-meeting/
Rupi Kanda-Rajwan’s responses are quite obviously AI generated.
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u/Muddy-Fraser 11d ago
Thank you so much for posting this. Although the text here doesn't seem to cover many questions and answers. I will watch the video, though.
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u/Thyrias 11d ago
Madsen is an active member of a church that is vocally anti-LGBTQ. Make of that what you will
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u/Muddy-Fraser 11d ago
Really? What church?
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u/Thyrias 11d ago
Lifespring on Gladwin. They regularly have sermons that are overtly anti-LGBTQ.
They've, in the past, barred lgbtq members from serving within the church.
One of their active members and regular speakers runs a ministry - The Union - which is actively supported by Lifespring, which promotes so-called "Biblical" relationship values.
They - both the church itself and the aforementioned ministry - regularly engage in trans denialism and promote the notion that same sex relationships are inherently sinful and that marriage can only exist between a man and a woman.
That being said, Lifespring is not a monolith. It is a fairly large church with a diverse population and not all of the people who attend necessarily hold those values.
I cannot speak to Joel's values or exactly how they align or differ from the church leadership - I don't know the man, I only know that he's deeply involved in it.
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u/Muddy-Fraser 11d ago
He's a 'worship leader', so it's probably safe to assume he espouses anti-lgbtq values. Thanks for this info.
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u/Thyrias 11d ago
Worship leader just means he can be regularly found on stage leading the band by singing and playing guitar at the start of the service.
I'd be inclined to assume he holds those values (and is part of why I won't be voting for him), but I cannot say for certain.
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u/Warm-Shower-2939 2d ago
He wouldn’t be allowed on the worship team if he had views outside of what the church stands for.
Churches do that.
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u/Extension-Wind6055 11d ago
Thank you for doing some research and sharing. Not sure i agree with you on all of them. One thing that I automatically disqualified candidates on was if they didnt live in Abbotsford. Apart from Sukhi Dahmi there were 4 other candidates whose normal place of residence was not Abbotsford. See last week's Abbotsford News city page.
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u/Muddy-Fraser 11d ago
Fair point, although working here for years is a kind of investment in this community. Where is Dhami based? Do you have a link to Abbotsford News page where this is? Also, assuming it's legal, I'd take someone who lives close by and knows the issues and works here over an underqualified person who lives here.
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u/Extension-Wind6055 10d ago
The city pages in last week's News had his normal place of residence as Aldergrove. I got it in hard copy, but its probably somewhere on the city website as well.
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u/alaynabear 10d ago
This year is the most I've ever talked to my friends about voting. JUST GET OUT THERE AND VOTE yknow?
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u/Muddy-Fraser 10d ago
Hear hear!! If we don't participate in democracy, even to vote in imperfect but sane people, systems get taken over by extremists and degrade. Use it or lose it
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u/MarieMeridian 11d ago
This is amazing, thank you for putting this together and sharing! Any insight to share on the School Trustee candidates?
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u/Muddy-Fraser 11d ago
You're welcome, and my views can still change so I welcome feedback... Also, here is input on school trustees
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u/Necessary_Long1612 11d ago
Rick Thiessen is very conservative and religious.
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u/Muddy-Fraser 11d ago
I gather he's Mennonite. What suggests to you that he's very conservative? I looked at his facebook profile and that wasn't obvious.
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u/Necessary_Long1612 11d ago
He preached a sermon at his church a few years ago that was very anti-gay
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u/Necessary_Long1612 10d ago
https://www.rossroadcc.ca/podcasts/ross-road-community-church-podcast?speaker=32 It looks like they’ve removed that sermon from his history, but here is that church’s stance on sexuality
https://www.rossroadcc.ca/podcasts/ross-road-community-church-podcast/series/holy-sexuality
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u/Muddy-Fraser 10d ago edited 10d ago
Very interesting. Can confirm that the sermon and podcast (see https://www.rossroadcc.ca/podcasts/ross-road-community-church-podcast/2026-07-14-christ-centered-community) episode are not there, but appear to relate to the Adam/Eve story so this is plausible to me. He's now off my YES list, pending further information.
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u/AcceptableHorror705 10d ago
Amrik Narang donated to Brad Vis and Kristy Mills was endorsed by him if that matters to you
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u/Stoic-Equation 6d ago
Great post to start getting a profile of the available choices!
I'm 2 candidates short, and yet it seems we have more options of extreme right ideologues.
One thing is sure, we are close to being half the population now, and can't keep complaining about underrepresentation/options when we are showing low interest in participating as candidates.
This post proves it, we do the homework when electing, we need to start actively postulating ourselves more to do the work.
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u/Muddy-Fraser 6d ago
And as voters. Only about 25% of eligible voters show up in abbotsford civic elections, which leaves lots of room for book-burners, racists, etc.
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u/Stoic-Equation 5d ago
I didn't know only 25% of the eligible voters actually used their vote!
Damn shame, I think Australia has penalties for being enrolled to vote and not voting. I would certainly like for the idea to get some traction here. Mainly since everyone has an opinion about higher costs, but when asked to make their voices heard, they don't participate.2
u/Muddy-Fraser 5d ago
I wonder if it's partly because there's not enough media here (that isn't owned by billionaires, like Black Press / The Abbotsford News). Having to sort through a few dozen candidates on your own to see what they think is a lot of work. We need to crowd-source this effort better. I'd really like to see Abbotsford / FV progressive types get better organized.
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u/knittingandnetflix 5d ago
Coming from another province, I find it baffling that there isn't a ward system for municipal elections. When you have to research like 30 people, that will dissuade people. With wards, you look through like 10 and actually know who to talk to when you have concerns in your community
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u/Muddy-Fraser 5d ago
I'm not sure I understand what you mean. Here there are, like, 30 or so candidates for a total of about 8 councillors and 7 school trustees for Abbotsford. So there's not actually a ton of choice for each role, but there are a lot of people to choose from to fill those roles.
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u/knittingandnetflix 5d ago
The city would be broken up into small sections called wards similar to a provincial election. You vote for 1 mayor, 1 city counselor, and 1 school trustee to represent your specific area of the city.
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u/Muddy-Fraser 5d ago edited 5d ago
You mean 1 councillor / 1 trustee for your ward? Presumably only one mayor for whole city, right? Edit: I can see upsides and downsides to that -- for example, such small divisions could encourage really parochial thinking, e.g. 'will candidate A get X amenity for my neighbourhood?' rather than 'will my selection of candidates spread density more evenly around the city or ensure we all have access to cooling centres during heat waves' etc. There are a lot of ways to run democracies. Some systems have at-large representatives as well as sub-area reps.
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u/knittingandnetflix 5d ago
Yes 1 counselor and 1 trustee got your ward, and many wards across the city for a total of 10 or whatever number
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u/Muddy-Fraser 4d ago
Interesting. There are many systems of representation, each with different pluses and minuses.
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u/lobeless14 11d ago
How did you generate these impressions? It is really hard to find information about the positions and policies of candidates for local office, and there are some very specific assertions here.
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u/Muddy-Fraser 11d ago edited 11d ago
I spent hours going through links on this excellent spreadsheet created by user Sierra93, plus googling for recent news coverage and doing site-specific searches for key terms. Candidates' own social media, e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn, and even Redditors in this and other forum offer many clues as to where they stand. Of course I look at stuff through my own values lens. Others will come to different conclusions based on what's important to them.
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u/Barbarella_39 11d ago
Some good school trustees to consider, all pro sogi and supporting all students and teachers…
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u/Muddy-Fraser 11d ago
Excellent! I made some suggestions for trustees here too: https://www.reddit.com/r/abbotsford/s/HaSBbL1Rko
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u/RJG190894 11d ago
I would push back a bit on discounting Carmen Fast-Hollett for her Trinity Western education. It's a big school that has been around a long time. It's not the undisputed indicator of a person's politics. For example, I did my undergrad at Columbia Bible College and would identify as a leftist who holds progressive views. I work in mental health and have several colleagues that went to Trinity for their Masters. For all the rightful criticism that school deserves (and it deserves a ton!!), their counselling grad school program oddly enough has a fairly solid reputation.
I don't know her personally nor do I know much about her so she could very well have some more conservative views, or she could even maybe regret going to that school. Ultimately it's very difficult to tell at this point given what she's put out there in her campaign. I'd say focus on her policies and what she's promoting rather than assumptions we're making based on the post-secondary she attended. Obviously vote how you see fit here! Just taking you up on your invitation for feedback haha.
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u/tentwardrobe 11d ago
She is the daughter of Ed Fast, longtime Abbotsford Conservative MP. Children are not necessarily their parents but it can give you an idea of her upbringing.
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u/Muddy-Fraser 11d ago
Hey, I appreciate your perspective. Certainly all graduates from any school don't think alike. I couldn't tell enough about her policies to know based on what I read, so am going partly off my own experience and sense that TW heavily pushes Christian worldviews over all others. Thanks for weighing in!
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u/RJG190894 11d ago
No problem! As far as I can tell she's hardcore into revamping our parks and recreation in this city and seems to be meeting that issue with the urgency it requires. That means a lot to me so that's why I'll likely vote for her. But in all honesty, I don't know much about her platform beyond that largely because she's made parks and rec her thing lol
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u/Muddy-Fraser 11d ago
Yes, she seems clear on that, and it's important to many people for sure. Also, FWIW I suspect Jesus had very progressive values too! Somehow that's been forgotten by many today
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u/RJG190894 11d ago
So very true! Also I should add you made some interesting points about a couple of your selected councillors that I didn't know about. It gives me some extra things to consider with the new info so thank you very much! Appreciate you facilitating this dialogue.
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u/Terrible-Guard5355 11d ago
The whole Dave Sidhu covering someone else’s sign is a bit suspicious to me. He’s a city council candidate and a mayor candidate is claiming that his signs were recovered?
How would covering a mayoral candidate’s sign help Dave?
I also didn’t see this covered by any local media other than the fake media on Instagram, which obviously are just candidates with fake account accounts.
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u/Confident_Media5279 11d ago
Thanks for this. I have to say that your list is the same as mine! Abbotsford needs diversity and progressive views.
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u/Delicious_Screen7242 11d ago
I’d say being endorsed by a local conservative politician shouldn’t be a deal breaker. There aren’t a lot of non-Conservative politicians with any sort of following here. Not many notable names to get “endorsements” from outside of the Cons.
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u/Numerous-Account5335 8d ago
Just saw an article where Korky Neufeld was calling Dao Tran his good friend. That’s a scary endorsement and reason enough to not vote for Dao.
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u/PersonMcNugget 2d ago
How so? I am extremely liberal but I have conservative friends. Doesn't make me 'scary'.
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u/Odd_Movie_963 11d ago edited 11d ago
For the council candidates that are former school trustees, I recommend watching past live streams of school board meeting. I wouldn’t vote for any of them for council based on what I observed in the school board meetings.
See for yourself:
https://youtube.com/@abbotsfordsd?si=YTmB_1gZKejMarrE
For council members that are running for reelection, you can view past
council meetings here:
https://www.abbotsford.ca/city-hall/council-committee-meetings/agendas-minutes-and-videos
I have not watched the council meetings online, so I can’t comment on the council
members running for re-election, but I can imagine watching them in council meetings would be quite helpful in deciding whether you want them to continue in the role.
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u/Right_Cloud_1323 11d ago
Everyone is entitled to their preferences, but some of these assessments seem based on assumptions rather than candidates’ stated positions. I’d encourage voters to look beyond this thread and the spreadsheet. Go read candidates’ platforms, review their community involvement, and ask them questions directly. Endorsements, education, or a perceived political “vibe” don’t tell the whole story.
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u/Muddy-Fraser 11d ago
I fully agree. And I did. Feel free to share your own values and preferences, and more relevant facts
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u/Electrical_Cod7288 4d ago
The OP seems pathologically adverse to candidates who happen to be religious. There are more important things to worry about than someone's faith.
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u/Right_Cloud_1323 4d ago
Yes, it’s kind of scary.. the OP seems to be pushing a specific agenda of their own. They initially claimed to do hours of research but reading through this thread they missed quite a bit on candidates and continues to adjust their ranking. It makes me wonder what else they’ve missed. Instead of presenting facts as I mentioned before, they are going off education, vibes, endorsements, and potential “party” associations even though candidates are running as independents.
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u/Electrical_Cod7288 4d ago
Perhaps the OP fears conservatism? Personally, is be more afraid of what the NDP can do than anything the Conservatives can do...
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u/JeezieB 11d ago
Something to consider.
I like Les... I've had many a beer with him, and he's always been really engaged with the community. He definitely leans conservative, but isn't in any way maga-y.
I say that as a feminist, leftist, atheist :)
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u/Terrible-Guard5355 11d ago edited 10d ago
Was this put out by the Abbotsford recreation advocacy group? They are by no means non-partisan.
I have seen both the Abbotsford recreation advocacy page, as well as the two women who run the page like posts from certain candidates. Most usually they have been liking post from the Abbotsford voice slate and from mayor candidate Sukhi Dhami.
I also think that recreation shouldn’t be the only issue we consider when casting the ballot
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u/Muddy-Fraser 11d ago
Thank you for this! Good info.
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u/Terrible-Guard5355 3d ago
Go check out abbyrecadvocacy Instagram page! They said they won’t be endorsing any candidates and that they are non-partisan.
They finally gave up on the act and storied Sukhi Dhami’s post 😂
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u/worm_drink 10d ago
I appreciate this list & discussion. I haven’t lived here that long and am only familiar with a few of these candidates.
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u/Muddy-Fraser 10d ago
Thanks! And welcome ... no one person can do a deep dive on all candidates so it's worth sharing impressions I think
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u/Electrical_Cod7288 9d ago
Thank you for this list, as it helps me narrow down who to vote for that isn't too progressive. Going out to vote now.
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u/Sierra93 4d ago
Our lists are very similar.
I don't think I will be voting for Patricia Ross, she's had enough time on council and we need another wealthy old person on council as much as we need less bike lanes.
There are not many progressive options and a lot of the conservative options are much too conservative.
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u/colieflower_ 2d ago
Simon Gibson showed up to my door saying my next door (Asian) neighbour should move to North Korea if he's not going to vote. So I'll vote anyone but him.
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u/BlazingImp77151 2d ago
Rupi looks promising, but it should be noted that the platform/priorities on her website are seemingly written with AI (it's got the classic "not X — Y" with the em dash and everything. it's possible it's not AI, but it happens on 3 out of her 6 priorities). I know not everyone cares about AI, but I thought it should be known for anyone who didn't read her website and does care
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u/BlazingImp77151 2d ago
Wilson also looks really promising, but has an interview with the Patrika (run by Dave Sidhu) on her website. She seems to be fine, and the interview appears to have been something she paid for (based on the video description), but it's something to look into/keep in mind (with the Patrika's connections to Sidhu, whom people seem to dislike, and the anti-SOGI articles that I hear they have posted).
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u/SciroccoBurner 11d ago
Idk, I like the hot dog guy! He is very community driven and to my understanding is very instrumental in organizing the Abbotsford flea market!
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u/Elegabalus 11d ago
Anyone that's willing to donate a kidney to a near stranger is worth consideration. He also helps others find donors.
I think he gets stuff done which is needed.
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u/Muddy-Fraser 11d ago
That is very generous, I agree.
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u/Xzenek 11d ago
I think Skullly is a perfect candidate! I wish I could better articulate why, but I feel discounting him solely based on inexperience in politics is unjust. We need more ordinary people who genuinely care about ordinary people, like he does,in government!!
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u/Muddy-Fraser 11d ago
I don't doubt that he's a very lovable guy and it sounds like he's really earned your (and lots of other people's) vote. This is just a list of my personal faves among a big batch of them -- subject to change based on new info.
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u/Cool_Ask_7609 5d ago
Ross Siemens needs to go! I completely disagree that "local government experience" makes him a good mayor. Just cause he can play the game doesn't mean he's doing anything for residents. What has he done in 4 years besides raise taxes? Personally I'm ready for a change in leadership.
"long-range planning" is a joke. He's swapped plans for recreation facilities several times now with it now ending up on the Langley side of town. The King road ALR proposal was never going to happen. Now they talking about ice at MSA but no real plan... I know it's not all rec but come on, he's had 4 years to move things forward, now this election year we get announcements but no progress.
All the councillors running I've talked to (granted it's not all) would not endorse Ross or say he's the guy they want in the mayor. Only person who's endorsed him is Dave Loewen who not running.
It doesn't help that provincially and federally we're on the opposition side of things, but the dollars have not been flowing in with Ross. We got huge issues and for the most part been ignored. I'm not sure how that shows any sort of track record for our current mayor.
Mahil has a past, look it up. About as serious as David Pellikaan.
I'm going with Sukhi Dhami
I talked to him while he was at the park filming a video and he had good ideas. I think he came off a bit negative at the debate but it's hard to nicely point out someone failures and lack of action. I think it's unfortunate that he didn't lead the debate with more ideas but his Instagram has lots.
I did ask him about "red tape" and still respecting process. He seems to think-
- Staffing and attitudes are a big problem, "we're looking for reasons to say no" Biggest thing was that we need to attract new business and not make rules to keep them out.
- Directing a new CAO to work with staff on collaboration is important while maintaining order and fairness.
- Flexibility for developers to pivot to lower cost housing as the market falls
- Using the OCP to move things that aline through quick, having dedicated staff to help things that aren't so they don't get stuck waiting.
- Allowing development of walkable communities with transit and lower parking mins in some areas (south fraser way)
I think he can bring it together, I didn't make it but the video from his "rally" has just about every councillor at it with him saying we're going to work together to get things done.
Unless you have a good reason to not vote for Dhami, I'm willing to give him a shot.
Just my $0.02, do your own research and make sure you vote!
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u/Elegabalus 11d ago
Skully white has done more for the community than most. He has helped homeless people, donated a kidney to a stranger, helped dozens of other find donors, and revived the flea market.
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u/Apprehensive-Tea-295 7d ago
But not showing up to candidate meetings ? That makes it tough to persuade me to vote for them if they can’t show to up to stuff (I haven’t watched food one but I know he wasn’t at the rec one)
He was also super stand off ish at the candidate mingle before the mayoral debate.
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u/Elegabalus 7d ago
He can be a colorful character but I've never found him stand-offish
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u/Apprehensive-Tea-295 7d ago
Me neither in all my prior experiences. But I think the vibe of the mingle and all the people / context were just not his thing. He was velcroed to his partner and didn’t have a set up in the foyer where everyone else was. Instead there was a sign that said come find me . And when I tried to find him I couldn’t , and then when I did he was just very unapproachable and just briefly acknowledged me before rengaging with his partner. I’m not expecting a candidate to bend over backwards for me but this strategy was very off putting .
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u/Store-Diligent 4d ago
Just remember If you vote progressive you are voting for higher taxes, feel free to move to the eu if you want higher taxes.
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u/gin_possum 4d ago
Ooor feel free to vote for whoever you want without getting told to move out of the country for your choices. Imagine if democracy meant you could just hold a free election and vote, because we respected difference of opinions.
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4d ago
[deleted]
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u/Store-Diligent 4d ago
Didnt know was america, im sorry I thought this was canada.
Calling canadian politicians at any level MAGA just goes how little you even know how our political system works or the people that work in it.
Btw you can maintain all those things you mentioned without having a nominal tax rate of 50% and the delusional 150% expected rate from businesses and rich people.
Problem with progressives is they dont understand if you increase the size of the economy you naturally create more tax revenue they are really bad at math and even worse at understanding what makes a great society.
Tbh its not even about taxes for people who are progressive its about oppressing the majority of people who want to just be left alone and be free to live their lives as they wish within the bounds of the law, but, progressives cant have that you must always bend the knee to the state.
If you vote in progressives into the municipality you will get higher taxes and you will get more social problems such as homeless and drug issues thats just a reality of voting left and if you dont believe me just look at the the last 15 years across this entire country.
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u/Muddy-Fraser 4d ago edited 4d ago
I am very proud to be Canadian, and live in a country where people can still hold civil conversations about political stuff without having to sling mud at each other. Happy voting!
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u/po-laris 11d ago
Thanks. I have a friend in Abbotsford that was looking for something just like this. Honestly it's kinda hard to sus out a lot of this info since on paper it seems like every candidate has a near-identical platform.