Local residents will be able to hear the thoughts of the 12 candidates for Estevan city council during a forum on Oct. 12 at the Saskatchewan Energy Training Institute (SETI).
The Estevan Chamber of Commerce is once again organizing the forum, and executive director Jackie Wall told the Mercury the forum will have a similar format to previous editions.
Each candidate will deliver an opening statement that will last 90 seconds to two minutes, answer a question from the chamber that they will know ahead of time, respond to questions from the general public, and deliver a closing statement that will likely last for 60 to 90 seconds.
The forum is expected to start at 7 p.m. A moderator has yet to be selected.
Wall expects the forum will likely begin with the councillor candidates. Following a brief break, it will shift to the mayoral candidates.
“That way there’s some differentiation and distinction so people know these are councillor candidates and these are mayoral candidates,” said Wall.
The chamber will be soliciting questions from the public for the prepared question portion of the forum.
Wall said they decided to have the councillor and mayoral forums on the same night because the chamber recognizes people are busy, and it’s hard enough for them to attend one event, let alone two. They also wanted to have the forum before advanced polls open on Oct. 13.
“We thought we would just do everything in one night,” said Wall.
The chamber’s candidates forums have traditionally been held at the Royal Canadian Legion, because the debates can be televised live on Access Communications when held at the Legion.
Since it will be at the SETI, the forum won’t air live, but it will be shown the following night.
The Southeast College said they wanted to host the forum at the SETI, Wall said, and the chamber wants to have their events at various venues in the city.
Three people are running for mayor. Incumbent Roy Ludwig has been challenged by James Halladay and Rhyan Hagel.
The nine candidates for councillor are incumbents Greg Hoffort, Brian Johnson, Trevor Knibbs, Dennis Moore and Kevin Smith, and challengers Travis Frank, Cameron Robock, Shelly Veroba and Lyle Yanish.
