One stop help

In this week’s report, I’d like to revisit May 2013. As some long-standing residents may remember, I previously advertised on a billboard in West Kelowna. It was situated along Highway 97 (heading south) from Westbank First Nation towards Kelowna.

Just like now, there were lots of highway billboard signs. I got the billboard spot from the last Member of Parliament and it helped me share my contact info with people.

This was important because back then, there wasn’t an MP office for local citizens, despite the growing population of West Kelowna.

Still, many people reached out to share their concerns and dislike for billboard signs, so we found a West Kelowna office that made the highway billboard unnecessary. Luckily, the cost of this office didn’t increase much when we cancelled the billboard.

The West Kelowna office opened and has been helping local people since 2013. It’s also conveniently located for people from Peachland, Merritt and Logan Lake who often pass through West Kelowna.

If you’re going south towards Peachland through West Kelowna this week, you’ll see that my old office, which was next to Valley Glass, is closed. Our new office in West Kelowna has been relocated in the new City of West Kelowna City Hall building at 3731 Old Okanagan Highway.

While it will be a few weeks before it is 100% up and running, the public can rest assured that we will be conducting the regular business of the constituency office. If you are in need of our services, please contact us at either the email or the 24/7 toll free number below. 

The new West Kelowna City Hall is a multi-purpose building. It houses the offices for the Member of Parliament and the Member of the Legislative Assembly, and is next to the Johnson Bentley Memorial Aquatic Centre. Also in this building are the Okanagan Regional Library, ICBC, and ServiceBC. Basically, this new building will be a place where locals can find many different services all in one spot.

The funds from these tenants will help offset some of the capital and operating expenses of the new City Hall. This method of combining different government services into one place should hopefully make things easier for people and could help reduce costs.

This week’s question:

Do you agree with the concept of combining different government services into one building like this city hall?

I can be reached at dan.albas@parl.gc.ca or call toll-free 1-800-665-8711.