Two municipal candidate events are being held this week in Okotoks.

First up is the mayoral forum, which is being held tomorrow (Oct. 5).

It was initially planned to be held in front of a live audience, but the Okotoks Chamber’s Executive Director, Dawn LeMaistre, says there was a change of plans due to the latest pandemic COVID restrictions.

“We’ve moved our municipal mayor candidates’ forum to an online platform that will be conducted through Zoom. The candidates will be in-person at the Okotoks Alliance Church with our tech team and our municipal forum committee.”

The new format, says LeMaistre, was decided upon due to capacity limitations as opposed to the Restrictions Exemption Program.

Residents will still be able to ask questions live via the Zoom chat, which the moderators will select throughout the events.

Some questions have also been pre-submitted ahead of time.

Attendees were originally asked to register, though anyone is now free to join after the format change.

The three candidates will be asked questions in random order in a quick-fire format that LeMaistre thinks will make for an interesting evening.

“They’ll get a 90-second prelude to the start of the evening to introduce themselves and what they stand for, and then they will have 60 seconds to answer each of the questions and will be timed at cut off at that 60-second time frame. It’s quick and on your feet. Verbal communications, not written, nothing is provided in advance.”

More information on the event can be found on the chamber’s website.

 

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