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Lynnette Wray Answers 3 KCFN Questions - Cranbrook Municipal Election, October 2026
Municipal elections matter.
From land use and infrastructure to affordability, emergency preparedness, community services and local food systems (to name just a few)... politics and public policy have real consequences in our everyday lives.
With Kimberley and Cranbrook soon to be hitting the municipal ballot boxes — Advance Voting is open Wednesday, October 7 & Wednesday, October 14, with General Voting Day on Saturday, October 17 — the Kimberley Cranbrook Food Network recently narrowed our many possible interconnected food-system questions down to three (3) that we sent to all candidates for Mayor and City Council in both communities.
We're sharing their responses on our website/socials as they come back to us to help residents (which includes ourselves) hear directly from the people seeking to represent us all on important community matters such as the three questions we asked below.
Lynnette Wray is running for Cranbrook Mayor. You can learn more about their candidacy through their website and Facebook / Instagram — but first, please see below for Lynnette's responses to our three KCFN questions, which we have shared as submitted.
Q1. What specific actions would you support at the municipal level to strengthen local food production and access to local food in our communities?
As a 2022-2026 Cranbrook City Councillor, I have been honoured to vote in favour of the CCSSEBC Food Hub project on our highway corridor; I sincerely appreciate the community members who provided their feedback in support of this important project for our community. More recently, I have also been honoured to vote in favour of the initial steps of our new Food Charter, which will be an important addition to Cranbrook's Official Community Plan; the next Council will be responsible for the final steps to approve the Food Charter, which will provide the basis for future food security discussions, such as urban chickens. I was also pleased to attend a portion of the Community Futures East Kootenay Food Security Hackathon at the College of the Rockies, on September 26th. As Mayor, I look forward to continuing to work with our community partners in Cranbrook, including the multiple CCSEBC programs (i.e., Food Hub, Public Produce Garden, Food Recovery, Cranbrook Urban Farm) as well as the Cranbrook Food bank and others. We need to continue to have open dialogue, including innovative, 'outside of the box' ideas.
Q2. Food insecurity is affecting households in our communities, while local organizations providing food access and food-security programs are often working with limited resources. What role do you think the City should play in supporting this work, and what specific actions or partnerships would you pursue?
The City of Cranbrook has the opportunity to continue to support food security through new/updated policies, relevant updates to the Official Community Plan, zoning decisions, and the opportunity for dialogue and collaboration. Thanks to my 30-year career in the non-profit sector, I have deep connections with, knowledge of, and respect for our local non-profit partners, and I will bring this experience to the role of Mayor. The City also has an opportunity to enhance our community's awareness and skills regarding composting, which is an important component of local food production.
Q3. Wildfires, drought, extreme weather and disruptions to transportation can affect both local food production and our communities' access to food. How should the City incorporate food security into its emergency preparedness and climate-resilience planning?
Access to clean, safe water is essential to our community, and it is also essential to local food production. The re-construction of the Gold Creek Dam is a vitally important part of renewing and strengthening our water supply system. This project will improve the volume and quality of our water supply, with this water being at a higher elevation and, therefore, at a cooler temperature; this will improve our water supply's resilience, given the reality of scientifically-documented climate change. As Mayor, I look forward to participating in further community dialogue regarding this important topic.
Many thanks to Lynnette Wray for taking the time to respond to our questions — and cheers to all of the candidates who have put their names forward to serve our communities in these important roles (and thank YOU for stopping by to read & add some more context to your voting decisions/discussions).
You can learn more about Lynnette's campaign through their website and Facebook / Instagram, and you can read responses from other candidates through our Municipal Election 2026 page (which we will continue to update as more responses come back from candidates).
For official municipal voting information and full candidate information, remember where you live and then visit the City of Kimberley 2026 Election page and Kimberley candidate profiles (if you live in Kimberley), or the City of Cranbrook 2026 Election page and Cranbrook candidate profiles (if you live in Cranbrook). And for wherever you live, ElectionsBC is always a good spot online to visit for trustworthy election information.
And then remember, for the upcoming Municipal Election, whether you live in Kimberley or Cranbrook or somewhere else… these are the dates for voting in the upcoming Municipal Election:
Advance Voting: Wednesday, October 7 & Wednesday, October 14
General Voting Day: Saturday, October 17
Please Note: Kimberley Cranbrook Food Network (KCFN) sent the same three questions to all candidates for Mayor and City Council in Kimberley and Cranbrook that we were able to find contact information for on Sunday, October 4th (27 candidates in total between both communities). Candidate responses are published as submitted, with only minor formatting changes if necessary for readability. KCFN does not endorse individual candidates, we just endorse informed & engaged voters (and we hope people find these Q&As as engaging as we do).
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