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By Lloyd Mackey
A QUESTIONNAIRE submitted to candidates in the November
15 Kelowna civic and school board elections, created by the Kelowna
Evangelical Ministerial Association (KEMA), bore significant fruit.
It produced responses from a majority of those elected
to council; however, only one of the successful school board candidates
responded.
The responses, for the most part, provided insights
into candidate positions on subjects ranging from homelessness and the
definition of marriage to city growth and development, and social,
cultural, environmental and economic sustainability.
KEMA president Kim Unrau, senior pastor at New Life
Church, said the association considered the questionnaire to be a good way
of spotlighting issues of interest to people of faith, and bringing them to
the attention of the candidates.
He noted that, before the questionnaire was sent out,
KEMA vetted the idea with Don Hutchinson, legal and public affairs vice
president at the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada.
KEMA’s initiative, Hutchinson suggested,
was based on the estimate that some 16,000 Kelowna residents are active and
regular participants in evangelical Christian churches, and many more
people are influenced by such congregations.
If those 16,000 people would get out and vote, he said,
the outcomes could be statistically affected. The mayor was elected by a
margin of 12,770 to 4,056, in a field of two. And the range of votes for
the elected candidates ran from 9,198 to 4,683.
Hutchinson confirmed he had offered some suggestions to
KEMA as to the “dos and don’ts” for charitable
organizations, in interacting with politicians.
He pointed out that KEMA was “reflecting a
concern for the particular spiritual community they represent.” That
would lead the organization’s member churches and leaders to express
that they would be interest to “know the position” of the
candidates on a range of issues.
“The issue of homelessness has roots in
scripture,” he noted. “So does caring for the city, [as well
as] social, cultural and economic sustainability.”
Intriguingly, the worship venue of choice mentioned
most often among the candidates was Willow Park Church, a multi-site
congregation affiliated with the Mennonite Brethren.
Six responding candidates listed Willow Park, including
Charlie Hodge and Luke Stack, who were both elected to city council.
But both of them also listed other churches on their
attendance list: Stack weighed in with St. Michael’s and All Angels
Anglican; and Hodge, with the United Church.
Sharon Shepherd, who was elected mayor, identifies with
St. Charles Garnier Roman Catholic Church, but points out that she attends
“many services of many faiths throughout the community.”
Homelessness was an issue on which there was general
agreement, no matter the faith stance of the candidates.
However, questions pertaining to same sex marriage and
abortion access at Kelowna General Hospital received diverse and, for the
most part, carefully-crafted answers.
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In some cases, candidates said marriage and life issues
were not relevant in a civic election.
Shepherd likely reflected the viewpoint of most of the
declared Christian-rooted candidates, in exercising care that they would
need to speak for more than their church constituency.
In answer to the question “What is your
perspective on marriage as defined by the Civil Marriage Act of
2004?” she replied: “I have been married 36 years. The Canadian
Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the right to equality to civil
marriage.”
Hodge, for his part, noted that “marriage between
two persons,” rather than between “a man and a woman” has
been “entrenched law since 2005 . . . It has no impact on a city
councillor.”
Stack, new to city council, who is well known for his
private sector leadership in faith-based affordable housing, put his record
forward in answer to the family/life questions.
On marriage, he said: “I believe in strong,
healthy marriages. I have been married for 30 years.”
With respect to abortion, he referenced the biblical
passage of James 1:27 and added: “For 20 years, I have focused
my energy on providing affordable housing and supports to young single
mothers and their children.”
Unrau pointed out that KEMA hopes using questionnaires
like this one will encourage greater voting turnout by “those who
name the name of Christ.”
He encourages people who have questions to add or
how questions should be posed, to send an email to KEMA at:
info@kelownachurches.com.
That kind of input, he suggested, would be useful in
future elections at various levels.
The full report on the questionnaire and the responses
from the candidates can be found online.
Go to www.kelownachurches.com and click on
‘candidate survey results.’
December 2008
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