Dear Editor,
I attended the Oct. 8 All Candidates meeting for the Langley-Aldergrove riding.
Overall, it was a good night for democracy.
However, I was dismayed to see my candidate repeatedly interrupted by loud shouting, heckling, and raucous laughter.
In my view, the moderator from the Chamber of Commerce did a poor job of maintaining order.
The candidates were constrained to only a one- to three-minute time limit to respond to each question.
Under these strict limitations, and in the interest of fairness, no candidate should have been permitted to be interrupted.
I came to hear what my candidate had to say, and do not appreciate the disrespectful and immature behaviour from some members of the audience. Every member of the voting public heard comments from a candidate that we didn’t agree with, but we didn’t all take licence to interrupt/derail that candidates speech.
I would have hoped to see better facilitation from the Chamber of Commerce – the organization that claims to represent the ethos of professionalism.
Sandra Topelko