Whitehorse mayor candidate accused of 'low blow' comments at election forum
A comment by one of the three Whitehorse mayoral candidates squaring off last night at the Gold Rush Inn took the room by surprise.
Mandeep Sidhu, who is vying for the city's top job along with Dan Curtis and Wilf Carter, made an accusation about Curtis, the incumbent mayor, at the forum hosted by the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce.
"He's led to the death of one individual even though he had information which could have stopped that from happening," Sidhu said.
It was unclear what he was talking about. When asked for clarification on the break, Sidhu said he was referring to a fatal traffic accident on 4th Avenue.
"He was given suggestions about how to help a pedestrian crosswalk," said Sidhu.
Dan Curtis was shocked by the comment.
"He did send an email some time ago with a long list of requests and I put that through to the traffic committee and I guess he's not satisfied with the outcome and therefore he felt the need to suggest that that death was my responsibility through my inaction," he said.
He called the accusation a low blow.
Chamber of Commerce president Rick Karp called Sidhu's comment inappropriate.
"Obviously mayor and council can't be responsible for the death of someone," he said.
Curtis said he was shaken but carried on with the forum.
Property taxes were one of the issues under debate. Curtis said it's a balancing act and he'll work hard to deliver essential services and stick to the inflation rate. Sidhu said he doesn't support raising property taxes and would look to generate other revenue streams.
Carter said he doesn't support any tax increases. He said the city needs to look at sharing more costs with the Yukon Government.
"The Canada Games Centre, we spend $2 million a year to subsidize that project," he said.
"The Yukon government should at least pay for half of all of it like they proposed with the soccer field project. They're going to pay for it all, why don't they come in and pay for that and there's other projects out there that they should be subsidizing."
The Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce is hosting a municipal councillors forum tonight from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Gold Rush Inn.
Yukon municipal elections take place Thursday, Oct. 15.
