With COVID-19 restrictions and 24 candidates for Okotoks council, the municipal election forums will take a new format.
Dawn LeMaistre, executive director for the Okotoks and District Chamber of Commerce, said the committee wavered on how best to offer opportunities for candidates to connect with the public.
In the end, two nights were selected with mayoral candidates taking questions in a virtual format and council candidates setting up a trade show-style display for residents to get to know who is running for council and ask specific questions.
“We decided this would be the best way to allow the most residents to interact with candidates,” said LeMaistre.
The two sessions will take place ahead of advance polls, which are at the Okotoks Recreation Centre on Oct. 8, 9, 11, 13, 14 and 15. See the Town website for times.
The mayoral candidate forum will be held via Zoom on Oct. 5 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Each of the three candidates will be in-person with a tech team, media, moderator and the Chamber committee and the event will be live-streamed by The Eagle 100.9. A video will also be available after the event for those who miss tuning in live.
With capacity limited to one-third, LeMaistre said it was the best way to ensure an unlimited number of people could attend.
“Everyone at home will be able to log into the Zoom link and provide their questions via private chat,” she said. “It won’t be a live chat, so we don’t get the nastiness and everything that comes with that.”
Questions will be collected by the team and moderator at the venue, with similarly-worded questions being combined into one to avoid repetition.
Candidates will have 90 seconds to introduce themselves and their platforms before the question period, during which they will have 60 seconds to respond to each question and the order of response will rotate.
For council candidates, she said the number of people running made it unfeasible to host a debate-like event, especially with one-third capacity limitations on attendees.
Instead, the 24 council candidates will be present at Foothills Centennial Centre on Oct. 7 in an open house format, which will allow residents to ask questions directly at each booth and get to know the candidates.
“We’re looking forward to having a nice, casual evening where everyone can basically come and talk to the candidates,” said LeMaistre. “I don’t expect residents will come and speak to all 24 candidates, but if they do that’s fantastic.
“That’s what we’re there for, is the opportunity to meet everybody.”
A seniors-only window will run at 4 p.m., with doors open to the general public from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Twice, at 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., each candidate will have 90 seconds to introduce themselves and their platform for those in attendance and streaming through The Eagle 100.9.
The venue is limited to 200 attendees at a time, so there may be a line outside the door and LeMaistre said they’re asking people to be respectful of others and not come for hours.
Masks are required and physical distancing practices must be followed inside the Foothills Centennial Centre, she said.
For more information visit www.okotokschamber.ca
