Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran has responded to criticism over his appearances in sponsored ads on the city’s Facebook page.
Mayoral candidate Tom Dyas said he is “concerned the City of Kelowna has used taxpayer dollars to promote the mayor in the lead-up to the municipal election.”
Basran noted that as a spokesperson for the city, the mayor will regularly be the face of its communications on social media.
“If you look at our social media channels you will see that I have been featured in videos consistently throughout the course of the term,” Basran said in an emailed statement. “To say this has increased leading into the campaign is just not factual. There are reasons why some videos are boosted, while others are not depending on the situation or issue at hand.”
Basran also pointed out it’s his job to communicate to residents about the work being done to address their concerns.
“Letting them know how those issues are being tackled via video is responsible and transparent. I will not apologize for continually trying to do a better job of communicating with our citizens.”
Basran also directly addressed comments made by Dyas.
“Given how thin this candidate’s election platform is thus far into his campaign, he likely won’t have much to say about how he intends to address our top priorities. This is just another attempt to draw attention away from that.”
READ MORE: Hotel tower for downtown Kelowna makes its way back to council
READ MORE: Jack Creek wildfire in Glenrosa continues to grow
@GaryBarnes109
gary.barnes@kelownacapnews.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and subscribe to our daily and subscribe to our daily newsletter.