It’s time for Stoltz to go. He was Shari’s minion this past term. I hope to see Stoltz and Wilbur be unseated.

So he believes it is ok to obfuscate if you can dream up a lame excuse to do so? I think he has pretty much excluded himself for consideration. I missed the part where he recused himself for the entire year of council sessions dealing with finance or budgetary issues. It should be illegal for him to vote on any matters pertaining to…just about everything council related as long as he is withholding his property tax arrears.
With so much canned cliché sound bites emanating from the mouths of wannabe council members, when you get a clear idea what their real unpolished character is like you act on it.

..when you get a clear idea what their real unpolished character is like you act on it. Well said. However as far as excluding himself for consideration, some people don’t seem to care about dishonesty. (Rob Ford?) I hope your right.

Cameron’s mea culpa sounded as sincere as the sorry we say when we bump into somebody. It might not have been mandated by regulation (and that is debatable) to declare unpaid taxes in a financial disclosure statement but anyone but the extremely arrogant would know it would be a perceived problem by the general public. I also want every current councilor to take some responsibility for their actions. Their I didn’t know responses are starting to tick me off. This current crew is permeated by the “it wasn’t me” excuse. I truly believe that this mayor has been the worst ever but it is time to talk about what did YOU do in the past 3 years. God help us we will be electing the next council for 4 years and we have a 2 cycle history of internal bickering, plots to get rid of the leader and we wonder why nothing gets done. A pox on all their houses. We need new blood on council.

Bottom line, if you were not “active and out there” on council, taking names and pushing to get things done, you don’t need to warm the seat again. Next contestant please.

Cameron Stolz you need to produce the original AGM notification that was sent directly out to ALL conservative members in the PG/Cariboo Riding Association! If you cannot do this and this was not done 14 days prior to the AGM meeting last May, you are not only in violation of the Societies Act but the Conservative Riding Association Constitution. An ad placed in a local newspaper is NOT a notification, its is a reminder ONLY. I urge all my fellow fair minded Conservatives to email Stolz and demand an answer. Head up, there may have to be a new AGM called, folks! The current board may be illegal.

Another one that needs to go… says lots of words that mean nothing.

He votes for a raise yet wont pay his taxes.. nice double dipping dude.

Wow, tough crowd.

Everyone taking a shot at him, but he knows most here never vote anyway so little to worry about.As for I am sorry, well if he really cared about public opinion he would have step a side from the finance committee but no would have hurt his ego

The forms for all mayor and council candidates are online and you can read about their current employment, assets and liabilities. Good material for a news item. There is a section on liabilities on the second form of 2 forms online in which Stoltz should have mentioned his debt.

There was a section for home address on the form, but I didn’t see the date of birth. Among the candidates you can see a range of candidates with no job to those with multiple positions. Don Zurowksi had more assets in stocks than other candidates and there was even an oil sand stock among them.

The basis of our economy and political system is an open equitable system. We attempt to do this by creating within each organization a constitution of policies and rules. A council’s job is to make sure these are upheld. This is a key responsibility of a government official.

I have heard the rumblings of the conservative AGM several times now and would appreciate some type of response about the lack of notification to all members. This goes to who a politician is, so here is your chance Mr. Stolz. The floor as they say is yours.

prof: “There is a section on liabilities on the second form of 2 forms online in which Stoltz should have mentioned his debt.”

The debt has been paid off, as per the article above.

prof: “Don Zurowksi had more assets in stocks than other candidates and there was even an oil sand stock among them.”

Oh, the horror!

Stolz said it was not required under the Provincial Act and considered the tax bill as part of the daily living expense not required for disclosure.

Daily living expense? I consider the annual tax bill an annual expense.

Also he should have known that his unpaid status would become public at the annual listing of properties in arrears. He had ample opportunity to avoid this embarrassment. He did not.

Lives Here Long Time: “The basis of our economy and political system is an open equitable system. We attempt to do this by creating within each organization a constitution of policies and rules. A council’s job is to make sure these are upheld. This is a key responsibility of a government official.”

I agree with your observation. The Mayor and all Councillors sign an Oath of Office, creating a legally binding contract with residents. The Rule of Law, assumes everyone, including Elected Officials will follow and respect the laws of the land and face the same consequences for failing to follow the Rules of the Land. Grand fathering is not defined in those rules.

Unfortunately, there seems to be no consequences to any of them, if they chose to ignore things like the Municipal Act as advised by City Legal advisers, and their Signed and Witnessed Oath of Office, for the last sixty years.

If all 28% of the voters vote for change this time… will any of this change and improve? Do they have to follow the Rules, if no one votes and they get in?

I did not hear the interview but the obvious follow up question to the property taxes being paid is “where did the money come from?” If it was a loan from friends as implied in the story then that should show up as a liability. If it was from his own funds why wait till the taxes are almost two years past due to pay? The guy gets around 40 grand for this part time gig, paying city taxes in a timely manner should have been the #1 priority. So what if his business is struggling, his assets show some vacant property he could have liquidated to raise some cash.

The fact that Stolz did not resign as chair of the finance and audit committee the moment his taxes fell in arrears show how little character the man has. That he fought to remain after it became known only re-enforces the point. Green is gone soon and the next thing to move council forward is to boot this clown to the curb in November

Millman 55. I would bet that 90 percent of the people who post on this site will vote.

It hard to believe that Stolz as a politician would get himself into such a mess about his taxes. He basically shot himself in the foot.

As for Don Zurowski having the most assests in terms of stocks etc I would list that as a big positive in his favor. It shows that he has enough smarts to tuck something away for the future and not live hand to mouth or go deep in debt to maintain La Dolce Vita.

Would you prefer someone who has no job, no assets, no income like some on the list to make decisions on our behalf for the next four years? What about someone who lists Telus or the CRA as a liability.Guessing on the details here but I don’t think that I will be placing an x beside the name of some one who can’t pay cell phone bill or the taxman.

Every interview I’ve heard between Stolz and Meisner has had an adversarial tone, this one was no different. Ben was trying to nail Cameron on a clause on the Financial Discolsures Act, and Cameron had one interpretation while Ben had another.

The tax issue has been done to death, everyone has had a chance to have their say and decide whether to vote for him or not.

I am still on the fence, but one thing I can say is that Mr. Stolz came prepared for the interview. I can’t say that for the previous candidate. If all of the newbys come to the table sounding the same as Ms. Larsen, spouting off a lot of vague statements about looking at this and that, then I’ll have to vote for Stolz.

Everyone is crooked and messed up …..if you dig hard enough.

I don’t really need to hear an interview with Ssssssstoltz to guage what he might be like as a member of the next council, his past performance is more than enough to skip his name on the ballot. Ms. Larson finding a couple of mill in the couch cushions to fund snow removal sounds earily similar to cutting every depatment by 10% and we all know how far that lead balloon sailed 3 years ago.

I have sat on teams that interviewed people for a job and can remember two occasions where an internal candidate,that I knew would be a perfect fit, fail miserably in the interview. Had we based the hiring on just the interview they would have have been considered to make the short list. Sadly I think that the same type of thing happens with local elections- slick snake oil salesmen can win out over a good person who gets nervous and stutters and stumbles in front of a mike.

Editor’s note:
this comment has been edited to remove offensive material

sparrow: “Would you prefer someone who has no job, no assets, no income like some on the list to make decisions on our behalf for the next four years? ”

I cannot make that determination unless this information has been raised somehow by the media for the public, or I have gone and looked it up online myself. That is called ‘journalism’ to go and “hunt” a story that hasn’t been told before. Journalism is gathering, processing, and dissemination of news and information to an audience. You see, I spent some time in the media as a reporter and news analyst before getting my PhD and the PhD helped the analysis part more than the story telling side.

The sharp contrast between Zurowski and the unemployed candidate is part of the story, and again what type of stocks Zurowski has is part of the story considering that PG is considered as a route for oil sands. [In brackets: I hope he has dumped his oil stocks before the recent oil price noise-dive].

Vote on what you know, not what you suppose. If any candidate is dense enough to carry the albatross that Stolz does, then what more do you need to know? a) He can’t manage his finances very well. b) He had more than enough assets to sell to cover the bill, but chose not to. c) Sought to keep his cavalier attitude towards paying his way as a member of this community hidden…While a member of council that preaches transparency.
If everything spouted by candidates is takin’ with a grain of salt, wouldn’t it be prudent to base one’s vote on what we know as truth?

The reason Ben holds Cameron’s feet to the fire is because of an established history.Cameron has gone on his show many times and he tells Ben one thing and ends up doing the opposite.

I hadn’t noticed before but JohnyBelt you sure tow the line for the status quo on everything. Not a bad thing just different than my own style.

Change is inevitable progress is optional.

prof

I would have to question your journalistic ability to hunt and gather information based on a couple of factors. Without even digging I would bet any amount you like that 4 of the companies on the list are involved in the Alberta oil sector and pretty sure that Pembina also has significant interests in the province as well.

I had a big belly laugh the other day when you stated a whole new library could be built for the 2.5 million they plan to spend on the entrance. Could not even do it if they brought in TFWs and paid them $.50 cents an hour.

The mayor of PG, who ever it is, will have little or no impact on whether or not the pipline procedes-a spit in the ocean.

monkey: “I hadn’t noticed before but JohnyBelt you sure tow the line for the status quo on everything. Not a bad thing just different than my own style.”

You must not read my posts much. Either that, or you don’t know what status quo means.

– One for the Libs vs Dippers crowd.

Prior to Mr. Stolz’s tax trouble becoming public, he was proudly tweeting that he was in West Kelowna helping out the Christy Clark campaign. To me, Cameron just needs a reason to wear a suit and be at the trough. It’s not about doing what’s right, it’s all about the political ladder. Half way through his first term as councillor, he ran for a seat in Parliament.

Remember way back, Cameron tweeting that he was having the lobster for lunch ? That was hilarious.

Oh, and didn’t mention that Cameron really didn’t need to be at the council meetings the last three years. He could have put a sign at his chair saying “What She Say’s”.

Sparrow – where the money came from to pay Stolz’s property tax is none of our business. You obviously aren’t familiar with running a small business. It slowly sucks all the capital you may have had until you are living on credit cards. We can thank the Walmart’s and Costco’s, etc for that.

Nevertheless, Stolz made a fatal error and the voters of PG will be the judges on Nov. 15.

“Everyone is crooked and messed up …..if you dig hard enough.”

If enough people keep accepting that as the status quo for politics and don’t care it will be like that until Hades freezes over.

Ben, keep digging!

We also have to remember that this blog is not the center of the universe. Somewhere out there is a silent majority waiting to speak on voting day.

lbear

When property taxes are almost two years in arrears but are paid in full days after it became public any journalist worth his salt would ask where the money came from. If from personal funds fine but why were they not paid earlier. But if it was through borrowed money that liability should be disclosed especially if it was from an individual in the community to avoid any conflicts of interest, real or percieved, should that individual have any dealings with city hall or council.

You know “Open and Transparent” a phrase that is tossed around like beads at MardiGras every election campaign.

Sparrow, you are misinformed, my cousin who is in development business can build a library in the West of PG for 2.5 Million Dollars if the land is provided. This town is addicted to overspending and wasting money on pet projects on a whim.

I don’t care about your opinion about my past work and experience in the media. I have met more ‘undesirable’ characters, on this forum, than around the library ground. It is just a reflection of PG itself.

Hey Cameron, you’re not getting my vote. As far as I’m concerned, you’ve lost your integrity, pretty hard to get back.

JB:” Somewhere out there is a silent majority waiting to speak on voting day.”

The trouble with that statement is that the last voter turnout was predictably pathetic!

Looks like the silent majority always decides to remain uninvolved! Perhaps most are resigned to the status quo!

Of all councilors I would like Cameron to loose his seat. He really is not a trust worthy individual. The interview today really was entertaining. Ben was really a lot easier on him than Cameron deserved, good for you Ben, Cameron ended up making an ass of himself without any help.

Local guy does good. Works his way through school. Pays his own way from the sweat of his brow. Opens small business that now employs three or four full time. An entrepreneur of the first order….watch, listen then do it.
Then the fun begins……..steps into the public lime light, and gets elected to City council. ………..

Does due diligence and is re-elected. Continues to operate business and council agendas….Being a single father of three children I admire Cameron Stolz. Not for what he says, but what he has done and continues to do. I find his strengths AND weaknesses admirable! I support Cameron Stolz because he is the real deal…no bull shit.

And a note to Cicero. Every annual AGM is organized by the PREVIOUS EXECUTIVE, not the one that was voted in. The PREVIOUS EXECUTIVE is the group you want to point your finger. Again, Cicero, the EXECUTIVE of the day organizes AGM, elections, etc…..not the group that are elected in at the A.G.M.

Once again, I am going to vote for Cameron Stolz because he is the real deal
…my name is Ron J Davis

I’m not sure what your point is Runner47, but yes I know very well how an AGM is organized. Stolz was on the previous executive and now currently sits as president. Seems to me he’s the perfect guy to ask…

Having watched him in council meetings, he is disinterested as to what is going on and his body language means that he was not engaged in the ongoing process, his mind was already made up. His failure to recuse himself from the vote on introducing pay parking back into downtown PG was unacceptable.