In our efforts to give voters a chance to meet all the candidates, we welcomed Silverado Socrates into our interview studio. After a failed bid to secure the Green Party nomination, Socrates entered the race as an independent. Unlike the other candidates, she actually sings during this interview, so check it out!
Currently staying in a travel trailer on someone elses property, Silverado Socrates describes herself as homeless. Despite her own troubles she has become a perennial candidate in Kelowna elections appearing on the ballot municipally, provincially and federally.
"The time that I ran municipally, I actually had a broken neck," she recalled. "So I was like, 'this is a good time to be involved', because I couldn't do too much." Her interest in politics grew while she volunteered at an MLA's office. "It felt great to be able to help people with their problems," she said.
Socrates attempted to establish a "Motivational Centre", at the building that came to be known as the Habitat. What she ended up doing while she leased the property was helping homeless people. "It really woke me up to a lot of things," she said. "Homelessness is better prevented than cured first off."
When Socrates broke into song, the lyrics were, in-part, as follows:
I'm talking about a culture, that leaves no one behind.
That honours those serving on the front line.
What you don't like will one day, be you.
Ashes to ashes is everybody's rear view.
You give a buck for the common good can be the only way.
For to live beyond today, you gotta do more than just pray.
'Cause we can build a future, that leaves no one behind.
