Noteworthy: Medicine Hat’s city hall silliness has nothing on City of Kamloops

By Bruce Penton on October 15, 2025.

If you thought the chaos and dysfunction around Medicine Hat’s city council table over the last four years was bad, the City of Kamloops simply says, ‘hold my beer. I’ll show you chaos and dysfunction.’

The situation in Kamloops was far worse, making the Medicine Hat schmozzle resemble a playground spat by comparison.

In 2022, Kamloops’ citizens elected a mayor who had no previous council experience, Reid Hamer-Jackson, and within one week of election day, the fireworks began. The new mayor threatened a lawsuit against a non-profit involved in the city’s supportive housing sector after it wrote him a letter pleading for the mayor and council to work together with the non-profit, suggesting the new mayor’s previous comments about the organization had planted seeds for a possible defamation lawsuit.

Everything went downhill after that. Battles with fellow council members, allegations about conflict of interest and misuse of the mayor’s powers led to Hamer-Jackson being banished to an office in the basement of city hall. His role as spokesperson for the city was eliminated and his pay was docked (hmmm, that sounds familiar) for what The Tyee said was “repeated breaches of its code of conduct.”

As in Medicine Hat, the messiness around city hall cost Kamloops the job of its chief administration officer. In Kamloops, the mayor is in the midst of a lawsuit against one of his councillors, who was chosen by the rest of the council to visit Hamer-Jackson in his office and read to him a prepared statement from the councillors outlining perceived violations. Hamer-Jackson’s suit against the councillor, said The Tyee, was “in part for reading the statement.”

It’s apparent from the situations in Medicine Hat and Kamloops that acrimony around certain council tables is common. There must be a ‘why?’, but I’m not sure what it is. Hopefully the next group of people chosen by voters to run Medicine Hat’s affairs for the next four years will have amicable debates, positive programs and sensible tax rates.

â€¢ Sign, sign, everywhere a sign: The beautification of Medicine Hat’s streets begins this week, which will be the first major accomplishment under the auspices of the Gas City’s new city council.

All those damn ‘vote for so-and-so’ election signs cluttering up the boulevards will, hopefully, be removed by the end of the week.

Were those signs effective? If my view is average, I’d say the signs did nothing to win my vote. In fact, the more signs a certain candidate had that turned our streets and avenues to ugly advertising passageways actually created a little bit of irritation in my mind.

A printed sign carrying a candidate’s name didn’t tell me a thing about that person. What helped most was seeing the candidates in action at the forums held at the Esplanade. Interaction with the others on the stage was invaluable.

With the election only five days away, it’s time to offer congratulations to everyone who has put forth their name. It’s a sign of a healthy community to have six people vie for the mayor’s chair and 39 say they want to serve as councillors to guide the city’s future for the next four years.

Now, it’s up to the citizenry to do its part. There’s a button to press on the City of Medicine Hat’s website to register to vote, and while it’s not mandatory to do so, being pre-registered will help to speed up the process. Under “Information for Voters’ on the city’s ‘Election 2025’ website, 10 locations where people may vote are listed, so there should be no excuses to stay home on Oct. 20. Voting hours are from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

â€¢ Desert Blume Golf Club is playing host to the 2025 Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Golf National Championships this week. The four-round tournament started Tuesday and runs through Friday.

The city can offer golfers from all over the country great hospitality, a wonderful venue, friendly fans and terrific accommodation and food choices, but we can’t offer them blazing hot temperatures. The Weather Network is calling for daytime highs of 12C, 12C and 11C on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

The good news? Light winds and no white stuff swirling through the air.

â€¢ Short snappers: Question of the day: If the Blue Jays were to win the World Series, would the team – like all other major sports’ titleholders – be invited to the White House? … Michael Harris, a contributing editor at Vancouver-based The Tyee, refers to the U.S. Justice Department as ‘the department of revenge’ as it investigates and lays charges against President Trump’s political opponents. … Donald Trump will be awarded Israel’s Presidential Medal of Honor for his role in helping to broker the Israel-Hamas peace deal, The Times of Israel reports. Coming soon, likely, will be the Nobel peace prize. … The U.S. mass shooting count for 2025 is now up to 340 after three more deadly shootings last week. … On the same subject: The Americans who own the most guns aren’t hunters or veterans or cops – they’re white evangelical Christians.