Almost 400 people were at the Clarke Theatre Sept. 29 for one of the first all candidates meetings for the Mission Matsqui Fraser Canyon riding in Mission.

All candidates were there except for Elaine Wismer, representing the Marxist-Lenninist Party who had personal matters to attend to.

Rick Rake of MCSS served as moderator,  Annie Charker of MCSS was the timer, and a panel of three (Sanjay Gulati of MCSS, Dawn Hein of Mission Association for Community Living and John Laing of Click Media Works) sifted through scores of questions from the audience, through email and from the partnering organizations.

Rake told the audience that “social services represents it own heartbeat in Mission and without the critical helping hands from our community, its volunteers, non profit organization, government funders and community advocates . . . certainly many people would fall through the cracks.”

Kyle Cardon and Sara Williams provided sign language services for the hearing impaired during the forum. Damian George of Mission Friendship Centre provided a drum welcoming ceremony to open the event.

Coverage of the night in the Mission City Record is available at this link.

The spirited debate covered a wide range of social issues,  and candidates showed their style of leadership as they shared their thoughts with the audience.

Partners in hosting the forum were Mission Community Services Society, Fraser Valley Child Development Centre, Mission Association for Community Living, Mission Friendship Centre and Women’s Resource Society of the Fraser Valley.

Election day is Oct. 19.