The Parkland Chamber of Commerce hosted the first of their planned Candidate Forums yesterday, hosting City of Dauphin candidates to speak on some of the issues the City faces.
At the forum, questions covered a wide variety of topics - from housing and homelessness, to economic development, to safety and security. The answers from the candidates were also varied - some calling for provincial and federal partnerships for housing, some calling for transparency with local businesses, some calling for the development of a new subdivision.
Nancy Tregunna, Chamber Board Member and Forum Moderator, said the forum went well. She's moderated debates and forums in the past, and said forums like yesterday's event at the Dauphin Active Living Centre are always more informative than debates.
"It is far easier to get people's input and get their point of view, as opposed to having lots of chaos and commotion, and people saying things that are detrimental and negative," said Tregunna.
Tregunna and the Parkland Chamber of Commerce are thankful for the strong working relationship they have with the City of Dauphin, and the opportunity to help facilitate this forum. It's one of the better ways they can show themselves to the City, and help give the Parkland's businesses good representation.
"It's important for us, as we are representing all the small, medium, and large-sized businesses in our membership, and so we want to be able to represent them at the table, and give people and opportunity to build the community that they want, and in order to do that, they need to be heavily involved in the municipal government," said Tregunna.
The next planned Candidate Forum is tonight in Rorketon, hosting RM of Lakeshore candidates. There's also a pair next week for paired communities - Gilbert Plains and Grandview.
