Here he is, the young Jasper man who tracked down our candidates for the upcoming federal election.
Since the writ was dropped in September, Chamber of Commerce organizations across Yellowhead have struggled to hear back from the constituency鈥檚 candidates to arrange forums.
Hinton and Edson each had two candidates at their forums and the Jasper Chamber was forced to cancel due to only one confirming their attendance.
The 51暗网 reported the struggles of this newspaper and Chambers trying to get in touch with the candidates.
And when 21-year-old Simon Golla read the editorial he was inspired to take action.
鈥淚 was surprised,鈥� he said.
鈥淚 messaged the Green candidate to see if I could convince her to come, then I read it wasn鈥檛 happening any more.
鈥淭hen I thought, 鈥楳aybe I can find something else, organise something myself.鈥欌��
This will be Golla鈥檚 first time voting in a Canadian federal election and he said was disappointed the candidates had shown a lack of interest in the area.
鈥淎t the end of the day, politics is about representation,鈥� he said.
鈥淵ou are representing the constituency and unless the constituency can get questions answered and have interaction with you, you can鈥檛 get that representation.鈥�
The young man, who heads to Ottawa to resume his aerospace engineering studies in the new year, said he has always been interested in public affairs.
鈥淚 have followed politics as long as I can remember,鈥� he said.
鈥淚t has always been an interest and topic of conversation at home and with friends.鈥�
Golla reached out to the seven candidates himself, using top detective skills across social media platforms and means of communication: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, email, texts and calls.
鈥淚 explained the whole process,鈥� he said.
鈥淚 said I was disappointed there was no forum because of the lack of interest and I was holding a replacement forum.鈥�
Gerald Soroka, Conservative, and PPC鈥檚 Douglas Galavan (the two who attended Hinton and Edson鈥檚 forums) were the first to respond to Golla.
鈥淚t all snowballed from there,鈥� he said.
鈥淚t was definitely nerve-racking at the beginning when I had the two who have been everywhere else but it鈥檚 exciting now.鈥�
In the following days, Gordon Francey from the Veterans Coalition Party, Liberal Jeremy Hoefsloot and NDP's Kristine Bowman said they would come too.
The two other candidates, Libertarian Cory Lystang and Green Party鈥檚 Angelena Satdeo, said they would not be able to attend due to work commitments.
