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Council hopefuls have to bring novel ideas and visibility

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — There’s only two weeks left before people across B.C. head to the polls to elect their mayors and council.

You’ve got to stand out and focus on your target group. That’s the advice of a former B.C. politician to candidates as the civic elections inch closer to D-day. Current and wannabe politicians are putting on their best game to try and win your votes, but what’s the best way to do that?

Former B.C. Premier and Federal Liberal Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh says it’s all about having a strategy and standing out, though not because of any scandal.

“You want to appeal to people at large or you can do segmented politics, or you can have a thread in your campaign that appeals to all of them,” Dosanjh says.

“You need to be able to challenge everybody else in the field and seem like a person that everybody else should be following. You have to come up with some novel ideas, and I am finding that novel ideas are rare in these campaigns.”

And though novel ideas may be key, he says so far, no parties have really stood out this election.

“Keep going to meetings. Stick out in areas where you think your support might be. Knock on every door that you can,” he adds.

“Go for it,” he instructs. “Treat it as the race of your life. If you put your name on the ballot, you need to do justice to yourself.”

Election day is Saturday October 20th.

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