VIDEO: Kelowna council candidate says programs for the homeless are failing us all

Kelowna council candidate Brian Rogers believes it's time for some big changes at city hall.

He said people need to think twice before they vote the same group back in again.

"Somebody needs to be fired," said Rogers, "and a few changes have to be made."

"I heard absolutely nothing from our city council over the past two years when people lost their jobs, people lost their businesses through the pandemic," he said.

"And this council is going to the same people now saying 'we want our jobs back'."

The 50-year resident of Rutland runs against the grain on a few key issues.

He's opposed to the widely held view that we need to 'build up instead of building out'.

"If you don't spread out, I honestly believe that you're just going to create a municipality that stays the same, but gets more and more expensive as development happens," said Rogers.

And on the issues of homelessness, drug addiction and crime, he argued that the generally accepted 'harm-reduction' approach is simply enabling destructive behaviour.

"How do we help them when we give them sites to do their drugs, we give them fresh needles?", asked Rogers.

"Should we not be putting these people into rehab centres that can help them out?"

And he believes we need to take a tougher approach when that doesn't work.

"They can either be helped out," Rogers suggested, "or if they don't want to be then maybe they need to be incarcerated for a while."

He worked as a security guard and spent some time on Leon Avenue, where he became convinced that our approach is failing.

"I just see the same people over and over again."

Rogers has no previous political experience, but he has run for office in the past.

He ran in the last federal election for the People's Party of Canada.

Municipal election day is Oct. 15.

To check out all of the candidates, visit KelownaVotes 2022.