A study ranking Kelowna as B.C.‘s top entrepreneurial city has opened up a can of worms in the campaign for mayor. Mayor Sharon Shepherd, who is running for re-election, is delighted with the findings in the recently released Canadian Federation of Independent Business‘ Communi-ties in Boom paper. "We‘ve been in the No. 1 position in the past and it‘s nice to be No. 1 again," she told The Daily Courier. "We have great initiatives in our community from streamlined policies at City Hall to what the Okanagan Valley Entrepreneurs Society and Central Okanagan Economic Development Commiss-ion are doing." Meantime, former radio station owner and former mayor Walter Gray - who wants the job back that he lost to Shepherd in the 2005 municipal election - sees things differently. "Kelowna is No. 1 based mostly on its entrepreneurs - the people who have created jobs for themselves in this community. We are outstanding in that category," he told The Daily Courier. "Where Kelowna falls down in the study is how many businesses think local government has good awareness of them. Only five per cent do. The national average is 8.4 per cent, so no city is good at it, but Kelowna is still well below the national average." Chartered accountant Todd Sanderson, a former council candidate and former president of the Uptown Rutland Business Association, concurs with Gray. "When you break down the three different sections of the study, yes Kelowna is No. 1 in B.C. and No. 3 in Canada (behind only Grande Prairie and Calgary) when it comes to business startups, number of businesses per capita and number of entrepreneurs with a score of 74 out of 100," he said. "But in the policy section that is mostly to do with local government Kelowna scores 52 out of 100, which is the lowest in B.C." Gray said his goal, if elected, is to make City Hall business friendly and help those entrepreneurs and small businesses (97 per cent of companies in Kelowna are considered small because they have less than 25 employees) to thrive. Gray has also been vocal that under Shepherd Kelowna hasn‘t been business friendly. "It‘s very confusing as to why Walter has make those statements," said Shepherd. "I have a bi-annual breakfast with business to get input and processes have changed at City Hall as a result. We‘ve also moved ahead on the downtown plan and Bernard Avenue revitalization is going ahead. And highrises of up to 26 storeys will be allowed in certain sections of downtown." Shepherd stressed the downtown plan because her council shot down the so called CD21 (comprehensive development zone), aka the downtown highrise plan, and there was a lot of public complaint afterward. "We‘ve moved on," she said. "We have a new completed downtown plan that encompasses the entire downtown, not just the four blocks of CD21." The CFIB city entrepreneurial index puts Kelowna at No. 1 of the 15 cities in B.C. ranked with an overall score in 12 categories of 59 out of 100, ahead of Prince George and Port Alberni, both with 55, Penticton with 54 and Fort. St. John, Vernon and Kamloops, all with 53. Kelowna ranked No. 13 of the 100 cities ranked nationally. Grande Prairie was No. 1 in the country with an overall score of 74.
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