Out in left field?

I watched a very polished video on Facebook called The Flip-Flop, which was obviously produced by the Colin Basran campaign.  The star of this video was Andre Blaneil, a local businessman, previous city councillor and a very good fastball player.

I have admired Andre’s business acumen over the years, however I now wonder if he even remembers where first base is? Or any other base for that matter!  Appears he might even be in left field? 

You see, Andre flip-flopped from last month when it was reported locally that he was considering making another run for city council this fall for a couple of reasons. 

First, he expressed his frustration with what he indicated is the current council’s inability to seriously tackle growing problems of public disorder in downtown Kelowna. “So many people don’t feel safe going downtown,” Blanleil said. “I know the city’s Journey Home strategy is designed to end homelessness, but that’s a long-term strategy that doesn’t address the problems that are here and now.” 

In his video on Facebook, he said the exact opposite!

Blanleil’s second reason for wanting to run for public office was due to the extreme level of tax hikes over the last four years of 16 per cent, much higher than the inflation rate. “On taxes, I feel council should have pushed staff harder to get the rates down to the cost-of-living range,” Blanleil said. Again, as this is the exact opposite of what he said in his video!  Then again, Andre is getting a little older and it is taking him longer to get around the bases, so he might have forgotten what he said last month. 

On behalf of the citizens of Kelowna, who need a mayor with integrity and more transparency from City Hall, I must call you out, Mr. Blanleil.

Time to go to the bullpen and bring in reliever and bench strength Tom Dyas as mayor so he can hit a home run for the citizens of Kelowna.

Cindy Cannan, Kelowna