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Candidates filing papers on time should get preference

Sometimes things might be legal, but they just don’t feel right.

A case in point is the Bear Lake Community Commission. The commission is made up of four locally elected representatives and the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George Director for Area G.

When nominations closed, Jerrilyn Kirk was the only person in for the director’s position, so that was easy. There were only two people who had filed nomination papers for the local representative positions, so the nomination period was extended.

At the end of the extended period, three more people had filed papers, so there were now five people who will be on the ballot of October 15 to select the four local representatives.

What I’m wondering is why the two people who filed by the original nomination deadline weren’t declared elected by acclamation, and then the three people who filed in the extended period would be on a ballot to elect two of them.

I realize legally the RDFFG probably can’t do it that way, but it seems like the people who filed on time are getting a bit of the short end of the stick.

They did things right. They had their nominations in on time, but they are still in an election against people who didn’t.

As I said at the beginning, some things might be legal, but they don’t feel right.

While the elections across the province are set for October 15, there’s something almost as important happening on October 5. That’s the date when Post to Post, a sports talk show on CFIS Radio which I am a co-host for, will be moving from Thursday evening to Wednesday afternoon.

The decision was made that since we are not broadcasting any sports live now, being an evening show wasn’t necessary. And with talk shows already on the station schedule at 1 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, it was pretty easy to figure out what time slot we’ll be in.

I’m hoping it will make one part of the job easier for me. (No, not staying up until 7 p.m. Thursdays. I can usually make it that late.) No, getting guests may be easier.

I was amazed at how often I would call people associated with various teams in the city and be told, “We’d love to have someone go on the show Thursday evening, but that’s when we have our practice.”

I don’t think many teams practice at 1 p.m. Thursday, so maybe they’ll be easier to get for an interview.

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