Black Press newspaper editors throughout the Kootenay-Columbia riding have conspired to bring their readers an in-depth Elections 2015 feature leading up to the October 19th Canadian federal election.

For six weeks, the five candidates in the riding — David Wilks of the Conservative Party, Don Johnston of the Liberals, Wayne Stetski of the NDP, Bill Green of the Green Party and Christina Yahn of the Libertarian Party of Canada — will be invited to respond to two weekly questions — for a total of 12 — over the course of the six-week Q&A feature. Their answers will be printed in Black Press papers in Revelstoke, Golden, Nelson, Fernie, Creston, Cranbrook, Kimberley and, of course, here in the valley.

We are hopeful all five candidates will accept our invitation and agree to participate in the spirit of encouraging interest in this year’s election and voter turnout.

A similar Q&A feature was published over four weeks in The Echo last fall in the lead-up to the November 15th municipal election, and was so well-received by readers that all four weeks of the Q&A were published simultaneously in the last issue of The Pioneer prior to election day.

In order to ensure the largest audience possible for this new Elections 2015 feature, it will be published each week in The Pioneer (being the free paper with a wider circulation) starting Friday, September 11th and ending Friday, October 16th.

The Echo will continue its own election coverage in the form of ongoing news stories from a local angle. Between the two Columbia Valley newspapers, we hope to provide, to the best of our ability, as much information as possible so readers can make an informed decision when it comes times to cast a vote.