Gord Lovegrove

Kelowna council forum #2 at Revelry

Castanet and Revelry, with ForChange Kelowna · Sept. 24, 2026 · Full video of this forum on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

1. Opening statement

   I agree and I've pushed for all eight years for mandatory compassionate care of those that are so mentally ill and or addicted that they are a danger to themselves or others. That is the number one thing I've heard from 8,000 doors I've knocked on this time.

2. Opening statement

   Our surveys are telling us transportation is also a big deal. And I've heard from many, they love my valley rail vision. It's time to start planning that [...] We don't need a second bridge. We need to remove our traffic congestion.

3. If you were to tackle one issue, what would it be and how will you pay for it?

   Front and foremost from everybody that's talked to me at the doors, it's the number one issue of homelessness. [...] they need to be apprehended under the Mental Health Act and they need to be brought to the Oliver correctional center. The problem is the province hasn't stepped up to open that.

4. What grade would you give the last four years of work, and why?

   we've done a lot of things that are positive, but we haven't moved the needle. In fact, it moved the wrong way on safety. [...] Our partnerships offices got huge grants, one of the biggest and first in Canada, $31.5 million, to move the needle in housing and affordable housing at that. So we've done some good things.

5. A position you hold that may be unpopular with some voters but you believe is necessary

   I was the guy that launched the, hey we need to declare a climate emergency and do something about it. [...] I'm going like I don't care whether you believe it's man-made or not and I just said it we're in the sixth year of a drought we need to deal with smoke

6. Candidate question: How do we get affordable housing and keep infrastructure up, and who pays?

   Parking. Do we need all the parking we're providing, if we have housing along transit supportive corridors, that's at least five to ten percent of the cost of housing. [...] So there's lots of tools out there, we just need the leadership and the vision to get there.

7. Question from Todd Daniels: What real-world result would show the current approach to safety is working?

   I admit what we're doing hasn't worked right off the bat because we haven't got what we want. Number one, we've got still revolving doors. Number two, we have a capacity problem. [...] So we have failed, but we're still pushing and we're advocating to Victoria

8. Candidate question: Where will the people we attract live, start businesses and raise families?

   Well, our staff experts through our official community plan and Imagine Kelowna made sure that we have ample space within our permanent growth boundary within our current areas to have ground-based as well as towers and everything in between to house us for at least the next 20 to 40 years.

9. How could you support small business and cut red tape?

   AI, digitize more and more, realize efficiencies, [...] Secondly, let's actually engage and actually have a business council.