Wild campaign kickoff for Kelowna’s Basran
Kelowna city council candidate Ron Cannan says Mayor Colin Basran swore at him and told him to leave an event where Basran announced he was running for reelection.
Basran acknowledges asking Cannan to leave his campaign kickoff but wouldn’t comment on whether he also swore at him.
The exchange took place about 4:15 p.m. Thursday at the Red Bird Brewing Company in downtown Kelowna where hundreds of Basran supporters had gathered for an RSVP event.
Cannan said he didn’t have a ticket but he was nevertheless admitted to the gathering. After he got inside the gate, Cannan said, Basran came over to see him.
“I shook his hand and said, ‘Colin, if we’re both elected we have to work together’,” Cannan said. “He told me to f–– off and get out. So I’m leaving.”
After he gave his 10-minute campaign kick-off speech, Basran was asked about the incident by The Daily Courier.
“So Ron Cannan was not invited to this event and I think that’s all I’ll say,” Basran said.
Asked specifically if he swore at Cannan, Basran repeated: “Ron Cannan was not invited to this event and that’s all I’ll say.”
Asked why he didn’t want Cannan, a former three-term city councillor and three-term Conservative MP to be at the event, Basran said: “Again, it’s a private event just for supporters.”
However, while there was an initial line-up when volunteers did check for invitations, many other people got into the event long before Basran began speaking without being asked to show their invitation.
Asked if he told anyone else to leave the event, Basran said: “I personally did not.”
Cannan did not approach reporters to tell them Basran had ordered him to leave. Another former city councillor, Gerry Zimmermann, told a reporter from The Daily Courier that Cannan had been told to leave.
Cannan appeared initially reluctant to discuss the incident. But he did so, before leaving the premises.
One of the people at Basran’s campaign kick-off was Stephen Fuhr, who as a Liberal candidate defeated Cannan in the 2015 federal election.
Wayne Pierce handled Fuhr’s 2015 election and has overseen Basran’s two successful runs for mayor. Pierce was at Thursday's event, collecting donations Basran solicited from his supporters.
On his election-related Facebook page, Cannan has not criticized Basran directly. But one post says: “Low vacancy rates, increased pressures of rising interest rates, historic levels of inflation combined with serious crime and mental health crisis have resulted in a great deal of anxiety, loneliness and hopelessness in our community.”
During his campaign kick-off speech, Basran said: “My council colleagues and I don’t always agree on everything. But we always agree on collaboration, not division.”
Asked after the speech if telling a council candidate to leave his kick-off speech might be seen as promoting division, Basran said: “Again, Ron Cannan was not invited to this event and that’s all I’ll say.”