Caithness councillor candidates to be quizzed by public
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Caithness Voluntary Group (CVG) has announced that it will quiz the 12 Caithness election candidates on a range of issues facing the county.
The local charitable group is calling on the public to submit their questions, nine of which will go to the candidates this weekend.
They will then be given one week to formally respond, and all answers will be posted on CVG’s Here for Caithness website.
So far, 11 out of the 12 candidates have confirmed they will take part.
CVG ran a virtual hustings during the Holyrood elections but with 12 potential councillors standing across two wards they decided a written Q&A was the best option.
“We’re all bombarded with glossy leaflets containing information that the candidates want to tell us, but there’s limited opportunity for people to get answers to the questions they want asked,” explained Allan Tait of CVG.
“This is even more the case now when we are still living in a pandemic. There are so many issues impacting on the county that it is important we get a strong group of councillors who will stand up and be counted. ”
CVG led a strong community response during the pandemic in Caithness, winning a Highland Third Sector Interface Award for their efforts.
The group says it will continue to work closely with the eight new councillors elected on May 5.
“The community sector does incredible work in Caithness every day of the week and led the response to support the most vulnerable during the Covid pandemic,” said Mr Tait.
“The more we are connected and all working together the better the outcome.
“One of the first actions I will be doing after the election is to invite the new councillors to a meeting with community representatives to discuss the cost of living crisis so we are all working together.”
In the meantime, CVG is sifting through public questions to select the final nine. The candidates' answers will be published in full over three days commencing April 25.
“We’ve already had a good number of questions emailed in, so hope to have an interesting read for everyone,” added Mr Tait.
“There are certainly a few questions that will make the candidates pause and think.”
There are 12 candidates standing in Caithness, which encompasses wards two and three. Four candidates will be elected to each ward.
The candidates are:
Ward 2 – Thurso and North West Caithness
Alexander Glasgow, Independent
Iain Gregory, Independent
Ron Gunn, Liberal Democrat
Struan Mackie (incumbent), Conservative
Matthew Reiss (incumbent), Independent
Karl Rosie (incumbent), SNP
Ward 3 – Wick and East Caithness
Raymond Bremner (incumbent), SNP
Bill Fernie, Independent
Andrew Jarvie (currently a councillor in Inverness South), Conservative
Neil MacDonald, Labour
A.I. Willie MacKay (incumbent), Independent
Jan McEwan, Liberal Democrat
