Ask Your Candidates: 2026 Election Questionnaires for Kamloops, British Columbia and Stand with Ukraine Communities

[Photo: Voting in the 2024 BC provincial election, October 19, 2024, Kamloops.]

Every Saturday at 3:00 PM since February 24, 2022, residents of Kamloops have gathered peacefully near City Hall in solidarity with Ukraine. We have stood through an entire council term, and we will keep standing no matter who is elected.

This fall, British Columbians vote twice in one month. BC municipal and school trustee elections are on Saturday, October 17. The BC provincial election is on Saturday, October 24, with advance voting from October 16.

Elections are a chance to learn what the people asking for our votes actually think. This is not new for our community.

2022 municipal election. I asked every Kamloops candidate for mayor, council and school trustee the same questions, and published their answers in full:
https://krasun.ca/2022/10/13/kamloops-stand-with-ukraine-and-more-municipal-election-questionnaire/

2024 provincial election. I wrote to the provincial candidates and asked how BC can support Ukraine and Ukrainian newcomers:
https://krasun.ca/2024/10/13/engaging-bc-election-candidates-on-their-stance-on-ukraine-a-guide-for-voters/

Their answers are here:
https://krasun.ca/2024/10/19/the-engaged-voters-of-kamloops/

This year I am doing it again, for both elections, and I am sharing the questionnaires so any community can do the same.

Not an endorsement list

These questionnaires do not score, rank or endorse anyone. Their purpose is to let residents read what candidates think, in their own words. Every answer will be published in full, unedited, side by side. Each of us is free to support whoever we choose.

For Kamloops

Part A of each Kamloops questionnaire draws on my report Where the Rivers Meet: Kamloops at a Turning Point, a free public analysis of our city’s Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations and Results. You can read about it here:
https://krasun.ca/2026/06/15/where-the-rivers-meet-what-i-learned-about-kamloops/

Part B asks how candidates would stand with Ukraine.

Mayor and City Council
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Yfd0ru9JiEMlqw3YhZ5uluO-RG69U1E6/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=113015266300667943585&rtpof=true&sd=true

School Trustees, School District 73
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FHj_HDsVjZ07xWQxYKDoe0uUsdN_z3Yc/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=113015266300667943585&rtpof=true&sd=true

MLA candidates, Kamloops Centre and Kamloops-North Thompson
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RBJnPui1_MIDr3T5uq_d5GDxkH0MYk6p/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=113015266300667943585&rtpof=true&sd=true

Timeline

• Until Thursday, October 1: your feedback. These are drafts. If you would like to add, remove or change a question, please comment below or message me.
• Friday, October 2: the final questionnaires go to every candidate for mayor, council and school trustee.
• Saturday, October 3: the provincial questionnaire goes to every MLA candidate in Kamloops Centre and Kamloops-North Thompson, once nominations close.
• Sunday, October 11: the deadline for candidates’ answers.
• Monday, October 12: all answers published in full on this blog, before provincial advance voting opens on October 16 and before municipal voting day on October 17.

For Stand with Ukraine communities across British Columbia

If you live elsewhere in BC, this template has everything you need to ask your own candidates. It includes three questionnaires, one each for mayor and council, school trustees and MLA candidates, and a short guide to running them:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fK50O5KsOiGPmh-vmF7MIiKatMFsofGN/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=113015266300667943585&rtpof=true&sd=true

To use it, open the link, choose File, then Make a copy (or Download), and fill in your local details. Each questionnaire has:

• a Part A you write yourself, on your community’s own concerns
• a Part B on standing with Ukraine

Part B asks about:

• recognizing February 24 and August 24
• Holodomor Memorial Day, which BC law has recognized on the fourth Saturday of November since 2019
• remembering the 1914 to 1920 internment, including the BC camps
• welcoming Ukrainian newcomers
• honouring Ukraine’s poets
• sister city and university partnerships with Ukraine
• staying in contact after the election

For Stand with Ukraine communities in other provinces

Ontario votes in municipal elections on October 26, Manitoba on October 28, and Prince Edward Island on November 2. The BC template adapts easily: replace the BC facts with your own. A few facts help:

• Holodomor Memorial Day. Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec, like BC, recognize it in law, so you can name your own province.
• Internment camps. Library and Archives Canada lists every First World War internment camp, so you can name the one nearest you.
• Sister cities. Vancouver and Odesa have been sister cities since 1944, and New Westminster and Ivano-Frankivsk formalized theirs in September 2026. Your community could propose one too.

How to run a questionnaire in your community

1. Send the same questions to every candidate, with a clear deadline. In 2024, some answers reached me only on election day, so give candidates at least a week.
2. Publish every answer in full and unedited, and list candidates who do not reply as “no response.”
3. Invite every candidate to your gatherings, before and after the election.
4. Check your province’s rules on third-party election advertising before you publish.
5. Whoever is elected, offer to meet them and keep working together.

Thank you to everyone who stands with Ukraine, in Kamloops and across Canada. Please share this post with your community, and message me if you run a questionnaire where you live. I would love to hear what your candidates say.

With respect,
Sasha

Dr. Oleksandr (Sasha) Kondrashov
One of many Kamloops residents who stand with Ukraine every Saturday
Co-organizer, among many, of Stand with Ukraine Kamloops
Author, Where the Rivers Meet