Les Bellamy

Kelowna council forum #3 at Revelry

Castanet and Revelry, with ForChange Kelowna · Oct. 1, 2026 · Full video of this forum on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

1. Opening statement

   I believe that growth should pay for growth. But what if I suggested a way that we could finance new infrastructure without raising your property taxes while reducing the cost of new housing at the same time? And what if I suggested that we could reduce public disorder and crime by shifting a schedule? And what if I suggested that the provincial government's harm reduction strategy is missing a key component? Early prevention.

2. How does your specific skill set make you an effective councillor?

   I spoke about how we could reduce public disorder and crime by simply shifting a schedule. We've hired 17 new bylaw officers since 2017. We have 42 bylaw officers, and they work till 10 p.m. [...] So why don't we shift the schedule and have those resources working when they need to be working.

3. There is talk about a different model for policing. What is your position, and why?

   My position is the same as most positions. We need to research it. [...] Those are the questions that I'm going to have before I can have a position on whether it's the right decision or not.

4. What role can the city play in making Kelowna more affordable and livable for families?

   So my solution is that we look at amortizing those costs over the intended lifetime of the house. When we build a house that's intended to last around 50 years, if we spread that over that 50 years, that works out to $50 to $80 a month, as opposed to putting $50,000 on the purchase price of that house.

5. What role can the city play in making Kelowna more affordable and livable for families?

   On my platform, you'll see that I've advocated for an external audit of the city's operations to find efficiencies. [...] As a city, we can use the same mechanism to find efficiencies to lower our taxes or to better use our taxes instead of increasing them

6. How would you help make Kelowna livable 365 days a year?

   we need to create, as a municipality, we need to create more opportunities for other industries to come in. [...] I think there's also a time that we need or about time that we start talking about a convention center that can be working in the shoulder seasons

7. What one or two issues are top of mind for you?

   So before you guys go home tonight and study my website, I want you to Google the Redfish facility in Coquitlam. [...] I'm going to ask you all to consider some city-owned land that is called Diamond Mountain lands, and that might be a spot that we could put something like this