Municipal election candidates got their feet wet last night at the first all candidates forum but the format was a little different than usual.
Members of the community had the opportunity to sit down one-on-one across from 10 candidates for three minutes as part of Speed Candi-dating.
"I was a little bit nervous but as soon as the first person sat across from me I was like 'Oh no, this is going to be great,'" said Candice Batycki. "It's actually way better than dating, I think."
This is Batycki's first municipal election and she's hoping to win a seat at the council table.
"It's different from the typical all candidates forum because there is a bit more onus on the person sitting down across from you as well to ask good questions," she said.
"I talked to two people about transit, another man educated me about Red Sands and area I. All of these are issues that I'm aware of and are important to me but it was good to have some face time with the people who were advocating for these really important issues. I think it's really neat to have a two-way conversation about the issues."
Tonight the candidates will sit down again tonight at the United Church for a more formal forum.
"This is a smaller venue. It's more intimate and we're having more of a conversation," said Batycki about the differences between the Candi-dating and the other forums.
"Now that I'm not speed dating I'm having conversations with people around the room. It has that informality to it that I think is really neat. It's fun to part of something new. This hasn't happened here before so I think that's really neat that we're trying out different formats here."
The members of the public were given three minutes to sit down with the candidates and ask questions, raise issues and just connect with the candidate on a more personal level.
"I'm going away and I'm voting tomorrow in the early polls and I wanted to hear what the candidates had to say about their platform for the next term on council if they get elected," said Danna Grevy who came to the Candi-dating
It was the first time that Grevy had participated in an all candidate's forum and said she came away feeling more equipped to vote.
"I like being one-on-one and they can talk to me like a person instead of just being in a crowd at council meetings instead of watching what they do at council meetings," she said.
Grevy's questions were mostly centred around transit and even though she feels ready to vote she said didn't feel her questions were answered.
"This is my first all candidates forum but I've been going to the last five city council meetings and I'm an advocate for transit use and I've been really hounding the council to get the transit going better," she said.
Tonight's all candidates forum starts at 7 p.m. at the United Church on the corner of Silica and Josephine.