Whitehorse Daily Star

Image title

Photo by Vince Fedoroff

MODEST TURNOUT – It was far from standing-room-only Wednesday evening at the Gold Rush Inn as the city’s three mayoral candidates gathered with interested residents for a forum. Left to right are Mandeep Sidhu, Wilf Carter and incumbent Dan Curtis. Council candidates will have a forum this evening. Dan Curtis inset

Not responsible for death, mayor says

Mayor Dan Curtis says the 2014 death of a man who died after being struck by a vehicle while crossing Fourth Avenue at a crosswalk was very tragic, but that he and the city are not to blame.

By Stephanie Waddell on October 8, 2015

Mayor Dan Curtis says the 2014 death of a man who died after being struck by a vehicle while crossing Fourth Avenue at a crosswalk was very tragic, but that he and the city are not to blame.

Curtis addressed the issue following a Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce forum Wednesday night for the three mayoral candidates in the Oct. 15 municipal election.

Curtis is seeking a second term as the city’s mayor, challenged by candidates Mandeep Sidhu, who ran in the 2012 vote, and Wilf Carter.

It was in response to a question about what the business community could do to help the city deal with a number of issues that Sidhu told the crowd of about 50 that Curtis has not listened to advice provided to him.

“He’s led to the death of one individual even though he had information which could have stopped that from happening,” Sidhu said.

Curtis appeared to be taken off-guard by the accusation, but soon went on to answer more questions around the election.

Having responded to the question about what the business community can do for Whitehorse prior to Sidhu’s comment, the mayor did not address the matter directly during the forum.

In a separate interview, he said he was shocked that such an accusation would be made by another candidate during a public forum.

However, it’s not the first time he’s “received comments similar to that,” he added, and he’s learned to have a thick skin over the years.

“It does wear on you,” Curtis said, noting it is difficult when such misconceptions are put out to the public but that it will not change his campaign.

Curtis went on to acknowledge Sidhu has brought forward numerous suggestions for Fourth Avenue, including putting in a pedestrian overpass.

Curtis forwarded those ideas to the city’s traffic committee – made up of city staff from various departments involved in street design and safety – to consider.

As he noted, the traffic committee’s members are the experts, and can determine what might best work for city streets.

William Lagimodiere died in the accident.

Keith Ramage, the driver of the vehicle which struck the pedestrian, pleaded guilty to two Motor Vehicles Act charges stemming from the death.

Those included failing to yield to a pedestrian right-of-way at a crosswalk and driving without due care and attention.

He was issued a three-month sentence to be served in the community followed by 18 months’ probation, with orders that he cannot operate a vehicle for the duration of the sentence.

A coroner’s report on the death recommended the city install an overhead light for the crosswalk in addition to the flashing lights that were in place when the collision happened.

Sidhu’s comments last night’s appeared to shock both the other mayoral candidates and the audience, which included many of the 22 candidates running for the six councillor seats, but discussion soon continued on a range of topics.

Carter, Sidhu and Curtis each outlined their own goals and stated their positions on topics like downtown parking, local purchase policies and taxes.

Each of the candidates cited transit as a possibility in helping to alleviate the demand for parking downtown.

Carter was the first to question what incentives are in place to encourage greater ridership on the buses.

He questioned why more government employees based in the downtown area aren’t using the buses more.

“These are simple questions,” he said.

It’s an issue downtown residents and businesses will have to look at for a solution the city could then move forward with, he added.

Sidhu, meanwhile, suggested in addition to a bus system that could continually loop around Fourth and Second avenues, a parkade should be built to accommodate those coming downtown.

He noted there could be a few locations, including next to the former Dairy Queen site on Second Avenue at the corner of Elliott Street.

Even with an expanded ridership on city buses, there will remain a need for parking downtown, Sidhu maintained.

Curtis, meanwhile, drew on the efforts over the past three years to boost transit use, arguing “it is changing a culture.”

Agreements with the territory’s Department of Education and Yukon College have seen high school and college students provided with transit passes that not only gets them to school, but to their jobs and extra-curricular activities.

Meanwhile, the addition of evening service until 10:20 p.m. Monday through Saturday means those who work at a number of businesses open until 10 p.m. have the time to catch the bus home after work. Those efforts have seen ridership increase dramatically, the mayor said.

Curtis continued to note a number of measures the city has underway on a number of fronts.

Those include the city’s existing policy on procurement, which encompasses a provision in favour of local firms, and efforts to keep tax increases as close to the rate of inflation as possible.

Curtis also emphasized throughout the forum that the mayor has one vote of seven on council.

Meanwhile, Sidhu and Carter argued change is needed at the city level, saying they would not be in favour of tax increases.

Carter stated more funding needs to come to the city from the Yukon government for facilities like the Canada Games Centre.

Sidhu argued the need to look at ways to save money. He also suggested a parkade has the potential to generate revenue for the city.

Carter stressed he’d like to bring Whitehorse “back to prosperity,” and emphasized he has the management experience to do that.

Sidhu stressed his leadership experience and committed to more transparency as mayor.

Taking in last night’s session was former councillor Kirk Cameron, who resigned earlier this year over the firings of two long-time city directors by the city manager.

Cameron – who opted not to run again due to the time commitment involved after considering the possibility – would not comment directly on the three mayoral candidates.

He did note, though, he is impressed to see three people come forward for the mayor’s seat and another 22 seek the six councillors seats.

It shows there is significant interest in the city and democracy, especially with a federal election just four days after the municipal vote.

“Democracy is so important to us,” Cameron said.

The chamber’s forum for the 22 councillor candidates is set for 7:00 to 9:00 this evening at the Best Western Gold Rush Inn.

Comments (9)

Up 3 Down 44

Josey Wales on Oct 13, 2015 at 10:24 pm

hey pumpkin, thanks for the feedback and yes your right...thicker skin need be had.
just a POV from a dude...one, remember when we could all have opinions despite the current version of sanitized PC crap too scaredy cat of someone getting upset or (gasp) being offended in these advocacy times we are engineered into (some of us opted out)...how was that for a run on grammar butchering?
Oh yeah...this Josey for all you haters of this one....deal with it it's on you.

Up 36 Down 5

Beth DeGalley on Oct 13, 2015 at 5:55 pm

Dan Curtis goes to event after event to support cause after cause. He gives a damn about the City and the people who live here. You don't have to like all his policies, but only a very misinformed or spiteful individual could accuse him of not having his heart in the right place. Accusing him of criminal neglect is absolute BS and wildly inappropriate.

Up 12 Down 2

Just Say'in on Oct 10, 2015 at 2:13 pm

Holy Smokes! Nobody was in the Hall to listen to them at all. It states that the twenty two people running for council were present as well as many from the local media. Have a look at the picture that is about how many there was.

Up 12 Down 7

Pumpkin on Oct 10, 2015 at 12:05 pm

You need to thicken your skin a little bit Mr. Cameron. (and you need to know just who this 'josey wales' character is - just a tedious old keyboard warrior). I wouldn't take any of this to heart.

Up 2 Down 13

Josey Wales on Oct 10, 2015 at 9:01 am

Hey Kirk...this Josey here letting you know the "other" Josey is a lame impostor trying to dilute my POV as it is diametric to its own.
Kirk this Josey does lots for the community, just little of it is seen.
Unlike politicians with delusions of grander, I'm a real deal.
I hold windbags to account by going right to their zone and they get to deal with me moderators sans, PC sans, eggshell walking sans.

The other Josey, congrats you impressed a grammar Nazi.

Up 28 Down 10

Kirk Cameron on Oct 9, 2015 at 3:35 pm

And we wonder why so many good caring people pass on running for office when negative souls like Mr. Wales take these gratuitous cheap shots. Why do this? Yes, it would be good to have Doug Graham's perspective, as it would any other public figure past or present that people in our community value. Perhaps Josey Wales should redirect some of his energies to positive solutions for our community. I'm sick of this kind of attitude!

Up 46 Down 8

BnR on Oct 9, 2015 at 12:33 pm

Its not a traffic light issue, it's a drivers-not-paying-attention issue, and this is endemic to the whole city.

Up 29 Down 24

Max Mack on Oct 8, 2015 at 6:00 pm

Many, many, many people have pointed out the problems with the crossing lights at Tags to no avail.

The City chose to install crossing lights that were all but guaranteed to lead to vehicle-pedestrian collisions. Any traffic engineer or safety consultant worth her salt would have been able to point out the problems with the proposed system before the City made the "go" decision.

That the City chose to proceed anyway indicates that safety was deliberately ignored or minimized. That the City continued to ignore repeated warnings about the crossing suggests a far deeper problem.

Up 45 Down 14

Josey Wales on Oct 8, 2015 at 4:17 pm

it don't surprise ol' Josey that the Star keeps askin' Cameron for opinions, even though he's totally inconsequential to anything related to the city elections. Might as well ask Doug Graham or other past councilors, too?

Add your comments or reply via Twitter @whitehorsestar

In order to encourage thoughtful and responsible discussion, website comments will not be visible until a moderator approves them. Please add comments judiciously and refrain from maligning any individual or institution. Read about our user comment and privacy policies.

Your name and email address are required before your comment is posted. Otherwise, your comment will not be posted.