In local government elections, the official campaign period lasts a mere four weeks. For some people, that’s long enough and they can’t wait for all the signs to come down and for hopeful candidates to stop knocking on their door.

But that isn’t really much time at all for such an important event as choosing the future of your community.

But we understand that voting can be a difficult task. It takes a concerted effort to scope out which candidates will best represent your views because you don’t get a lot of help. There are too few all-candidate forums this year that allow you to assess and compare the candidates in person. That leaves local news outlets and social media as the primary distributors of helpful information.

Decafnation tried to interact with as many candidates as our resources permitted this year but we found it disheartening that some candidates refused to collaborate with us. While most candidates did respond to our questionnaires and answer questions via email, an unusual number of candidates did not.

We think that reflects a prevailing mood in this year’s local elections that turned dark and menacing after the ultra-conservative and secretive group Take Back Comox Valley published advertisements that contained intentional misinformation.

Our candidate interactions, or the lack of them, have played a crucial role in determining which candidates we recommend today.

Some observations about our recommendations.

Four years ago, we generally supported qualified younger candidates because they are the ones who will have to live with the decisions our local governments make today. We respectfully encouraged the old horses in the race that their time had passed and that it was now time to let go.

Voters had similar thoughts, electing all but four of the candidates we endorsed for the region’s 22 local government positions. We did not endorse for school district trustees.

This year, we are again supporting that youthful and progressive movement so that they may complete their four years of work charting a path for the future of the Comox Valley suited to this modern time.

For example, the candidates we’ve endorsed understand that municipal-level decisions must always improve our adaptation to climate change.

That means, among other things, creating the opportunity to move around our communities without using a car, preserving a larger tree canopy, not giving in to urban sprawl and protecting future taxpayers from the unnecessary infrastructure debt it creates and supporting every practical policy to shift away from consuming fossil fuels.

We believe the local governments you elected in 2018 have made important strides toward a better future for everyone who lives here and that they have earned the chance to continue this work for another term.

It is the responsibility of incumbents to defend their record and it is the job of challengers to show why they would do better. This year, the challengers have failed to make that case.

Decafnation realizes that some readers won’t agree with our choices. We’re okay with that. Information, not persuasion, is our objective. 

We admire and congratulate everyone who’s stood for election. It takes courage and love of community.

Finally, look for our coverage of the District 71 Board of Education election, and endorsements, later this week.

Now, here are our recommendations.