Poll: Running For Higher Office

Sixty-five year old Kelowna City Councilor Al Horning, now BC Liberal candidate in Kelowna-Lake Country, says he will let council decide if he is going to serve out his full term as city Councilor if he gets elected to the legislature in May's provincial election.

Given past voting trends of the Lake Country riding, any right of centre candidate seems to be a shoo-in. Horning will then serve his two constituencies simultaneously until municipal elections in November 2005.

Currently, Kelowna has one mayor and eight city councilors, all who serve the same constituency the entire City of Kelowna. Presumably, with a lack of civic wards that each Councilor represents, City council could operate without Horning, although it could make some votes tricky, with certain that require more than a simple majority.

Horning says the Liberal Party has no problem with him serving both roles.

Horning was first elected to Kelowna City Council in 1980 and served four two-year terms before being elected as Kelowna Conservative MP from 1988 to 1993. Despite now living outside Kelowna boundaries, he was re-elected to City Council in 2002.

This forms the basis of today's poll question.

Can a person serve two offices simultaneously like this with no conflicts, or is it better to step down? Should politicians once elected to any office, be allowed to run for other offices?