Now Cranbrook, TV is great and all that, but it's no substitute for the electric atmosphere of being there live. Whether it's the ongoing East Kootenay Festival of the Performing Arts, the upcoming festival of one-act plays (Theatre a Go Go, courtesy of Cranbrook Community Theatre - more about these two events later this week in the Townsman), or, say, the WHL Western Hockey League playoffs tonight and tomorrow, we can all do ourselves and our community good by getting out and taking in the action.

Enough preamble. Cranbrook is looking for bodies in the seats at the Rec Plex tonight and tomorrow, to help electrify the atmosphere, cheer on the Kootenay Ice as they take on the Saskatoon Blades in Game 3 of their series, and make sure our community spirit is well represented on a Western Canada-wide televised broadcast.

It doesn't behoove us to stay home to watch the home team on the tube. The Rec Plex is such that we need to hit 3,000 or more spectators to ensure an electric atmosphere comes across on TV. As well, the Kootenay Ice, up two games to none against the WHL's top-ranked team (and second-ranked in Canada), will feed off the crowd's energy and help maintain the momentum - the mo,' as they say. Head on down to the Rec Plex and get your tickets without delay. Be part of the mo.'

JCI Kootenay announced on Monday that due to the very short turn-around time for this year's federal election, JCI Kootenay will not be able to host an All-Candidate's Forum in Cranbrook, as they have done admirably in elections past. The group looking for another community group to accomplish a federal forum - but if it doesn't happen, that means there will be no candidates forum in the largest centre in the riding of Kootenay-Columbia. Mounting a forum certainly requires significant effort on behalf of the organizers, but we feel these events, with all their to and fro, are an essential part of the election process. It's one thing to stick to meeting your supporters and party members to try to get out the vote. It's another to go from door to door or put out releases and advertising. But it's another thing again to face off against your fellow candidates, to test your mettle in the furnace of debate - as well as giving the electorate a chance to see you in bona fide action. Taking part in an all-candidates forum takes courage, to demonstrate how you as a candidate can present and defend your ideas. So to have no forum in Cranbrook is, well, too bad for us.

In the meantime, JCI Kootenay encourages the citizens of Cranbrook to attend the All Candidates Forum hosted by the Kimberley Chamber of Commerce on Monday, April 18th in the McKim Theatre - and we concur. There is also a Creston forum Friday, April 15th. Golden is hosting a forum on April 19, and Invermere on April 26. So to see pure, unadulterated electioneering in action in Kootenay-Columbia, there are opportunities in the area.