“Liberal Rush” tricked voters in NDP ridings and exposed an electoral system flaw

by George Le Masurier | May 1, 2025

George Le Masurier photo

“Liberal Rush” tricked voters in NDP ridings and exposed an electoral system flaw

The 2025 federal election turned out pretty much as expected. The Liberals won a strong minority government. The Conservatives swept Alberta and Saskatechen. The NDP lost official status in the “Liberal Rush.” But who could have predicted Pierre Poilievre would be so unpopular in his own riding?

With 168 Liberal seats, seven NDP and one Green, this government looks solid for a whole term. That stability will benefit Canadians as the Mark Carney government deals with Trump and the economic chaos he has caused.

We fortunately escaped the damage to Canada that Poilievre – the “Mini-Me Trump” – would have caused by channeling the US Presidents attacks on education, the CBC and media, clean energy initiatives and more.

Now here comes the “But ….” Despite the positive big picture outcome, this election exposed a glaring vulnerability within our electoral system.

And that vulnerability caused otherwise smart people to forget how our Canadian parliamentary system actually works. Namely: We do not have a proportional representation form of government.

A Canadian majority or strong minority government gives a single party almost dictatorial powers to change and make laws, to decide how to spend our money and to shape our social, environmental and financial futures.

That’s because, like today’s American Congress, our provincial and federal governments vote in a block. If you’re a federal MP or a provincial MLA, you’re expected to vote how your party’s caucus tells you to vote. Exceptions to this rule are rare and usually get you booted out of town.

So it makes sense that when voters go to the polls on election day, they cast their ballots for the party they want to form the government, the party whose values, policies and promises align with their own.

And there’s the problem. What if the party you align with best has no hope of winning your riding? What if there are three parties running candidates in your riding and you like parts of all of them? What if you want to vote for one party in your riding but doing so will result in the election of another party that you detest, that stands for the opposite of everything you value?

Those were the conflicts facing many voters on Vancouver Island this year. And it was the NDP, Liberals and Green parties themselves that squeezed Island voters into this awkward and divisive situation.

When the NDP, Liberals and federal Greens all ran candidates against a single Conservative, the parties forced progressive voters to figure out on their own how the vote would split and where their vote would do the most good.

Sadly, the Liberal party enthusiasm convinced many traditional NDP voters on the Island to buy into the fantasy that a Liberal candidate could win in ridings like North Island-Powell River (NIPR) where they’ve never finished better than third for over half a century.

They sold “The whole country’s going Liberal this year” like snake oil hustlers in the Wild West. It was a hollow promise.

Yes, it’s true that the Liberals got about 12,000 more votes in the North Island-Powell River riding than they did in 2021 – most of those stolen from the NDP.

But they still finished third and accomplished nothing.

The whole push to “Vote Liberal” didn’t help anybody. It didn’t help the Liberal party win the riding. It didn’t help the NDP, which fell about 5,000 votes short. And it won’t help the majority of people living in the riding – especially indigenous people – who will now be represented by somebody they didn’t want and who will be a do-nothing opposition backbencher.

It had, in fact, the opposite effect of what the Liberals intended.

In NIPR, the Liberals, NDP and Greens tallied 47,819 combined votes compared to 30,551 for the Conservative. It should have been a dominant mandate for progressive values: 60.6 percent.

But we still lost. A gift to the Conservatives.

It was the same sad story in Nanaimo and Cowichan. Across the province, this strategy resulted in a gain of four Liberal seats but a loss of 10 NDP seats, for a net loss of six progressive MPs.

Did people get swept by the charm of Mark Carney and think they were voting for him? Canadians don’t elect a prime minister. We elect MPs in ridings and the leader of the party with the most seats becomes our PM.

After this election, the political parties and many individual candidates will take time to reflect on their campaigns and how their strategies correlated with the final results.

Conservatives will try to understand how they lost a 25 point lead in about eight weeks. Pierre Poilievre will reflect on how he lost his seat in Parliament. Political operatives from all parties will try to assess the effect US President Trump had on this election. The NDP will think about its future as a viable federal party.

Voters should take time to reflect, too, on whether their vote choice got the result they wanted. They might also think about which were the informative and trustworthy sources of information they relied on to make those choices, and which were not.

In the election aftermath, there will be a renewed call for electoral reform. Proponents of proportional representation will make another noble attempt, but Ottawa will be wary of such a fundamental change while Trump still has eyes on our natural resources.

The simpler solution is for the three progressive parties on Vancouver Island to embrace the greater good of sustaining and expanding progressive ideals by fielding a single candidate in the next election.

In short, stop fighting among ourselves.

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Battle of the North Island riding polls, does it really matter? A prediction

by George Le Masurier | Apr 23, 2025

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Battle of the North Island riding polls, does it really matter? A prediction

Heading into the final week of the 2025 Canadian federal election, national polls predict the Mark Carney Liberals have a slight lead over the Pierre Poilievre Conservatives. That means the two federal ridings that include portions of the Comox Valley could make a difference in which party forms our next government.

The fear among progressive-minded voters has always been that one or both of the Courtenay-Alberni and North Island-Powell River ridings will swing Conservative, which would help Poilievre.

But despite this shared goal of keeping Poilievre and his cadre of right-wing Freedom Convoy MAGA-style candidates out of office, progressives are once again so embroiled in fighting each other over small-picture differences that the Conservative candidates don’t even bother to show up for public forums.

Progressive voters have been dealt a difficult and divisive hand. Should you vote for the NDP again or the Liberals? Who has the best chance of overcoming the odds and defeating the Conservatives in our two ridings? I’ve already made my choice known.

Some progressive voters in our ridings are waiting to see which party, Liberal or NDP, is ahead in the polls before casting their vote. The problem is that polling at the riding level is often unreliable.

So now, progressives have found something new to squabble about: which poll of the North Island-Powell River (NIPR) riding is the accurate one? Some polls show the Liberals ahead of the NDP. Others show the NDP with an edge. Who to believe?

The realist (pessimist?) in me says it doesn’t matter. All of the polls show the Conservatives well ahead in NIPR. So, in reality, unless all of the polls are wrong, the outcome was already written from the start when the Greens, Liberals and NDP all fielded candidates.

Three candidates to split progressive voters and a single candidate to get 100 percent of the Conservative voters. Those are bad odds.

That shared goal, that common purpose of defeating the Conservatives on the North Island immediately turned into Mutually Assured Destruction. Flat out MADness, in my view.

WHEN THE BC LIBERAL and BC Conservative parties merged during last year’s provincial election, I contacted Green Party candidate Arzeena Hamir. I asked if she was concerned about splitting the vote with the NDP now that the small-c conservative vote would no longer be split. She was not concerned, Hamir told me, because the Greens had the dominant campaign. She genuinely believed she would win.

It was magical thinking then and it’s at play again in this federal election. With two strong progressive candidates in NDP Tanille Johnston and Liberal Jennifer Lash, there’s no way on God’s green earth that either one of them will win the riding.

Lash knew this back in 2021 when she wrote a post on the blog “Malcolm Island Post whatever you want” about that year’s federal election. Disclaimer: Mark Worthing reposted a screenshot of Lash’s blog post. It’s a private group, so I have not seen the post first-hand.

In that post, Lash promotes voting for NDP Rachel Blaney for three reasons. First, because the NIPR riding “historically votes NDP or Conservative with the Liberals and other parties not garnering many votes.” Second, Blaney has “done a great job as an MP.” Third, because the NDP “did a good job pushing the Liberals to do more and go further on climate and other important issues.”

Those were good reasons for voting strategically in 2021 and they are still valid today.

So, why did she spin 180 on this issue? One can only conclude that Lash, like Hamir in the provincial election, has succumbed to magical thinking that she can actually win, despite two other progressive candidates and a single Conservative.

I hope I’m totally wrong and that Lash or Johnston wins, but the Conservative vote looks too unified.

All progressive voters, despite their party affiliations, want a Liberal government, majority or minority. But battling each other isn’t a realistic path to achieving it.

MY ELECTION PREDICTION for NIPR is that the Greens, Liberals and NDP together will get more votes than the Conservatives and lose the riding. And, like new Conservative MLA Brennan Day, Aaron Gunn – the podcaster parachuted into the riding – will go to Ottawa knowing that a majority of voters didn’t want him. But he won’t care.

In the Courtenay-Alberni riding, I think it’s a different story. NDP Gord Johns has earned enough respect from voters to squeak by for another term.

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Greens dropped ridings to avoid vote splitting … ???

Photo Caption hen the federal debate commission disinvited the Green Party from national debates, its leader, Jonathan Pedneault divulged an election strategy that evidently didn't make its way to North Island-Powell...

Island group urges NDP vote to stop Conservatives

Photo Caption growing coalition of over 140 Vancouver Island residents has called for strategic voting in the North Island-Powell River and Courtenay-Alberni ridings to block the Conservatives and reject Aaron...

Greens dropped ridings to avoid vote splitting … ???

by George Le Masurier | Apr 16, 2025

Photo Caption

Greens dropped ridings to avoid vote splitting … ???

When the federal debate commission disinvited the Green Party from national debates, its leader, Jonathan Pedneault divulged an election strategy that evidently didn’t make its way to North Island-Powell River candidate Jessica Wegg.

Nor did the strategy reach Chris Markevich in the Courtenay-Alberni riding.

The commission yesterday said the Greens were banned from participating in the French and English debates because they didn’t meet the requirement of running candidates in 90 percent of the nation’s ridings.

When Pedneault was asked why, he gave a revealing answer. He told the CBC that the party removed candidates for “strategic reasons” to avoid “splitting the progressive vote.”

Yet that’s exactly what Wegg and Markevich are doing in their ridings.

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“Liberal Rush” tricked voters in NDP ridings and exposed an electoral system flaw

Despite the positive big picture outcome, this election exposed a glaring vulnerability within our electoral system. And that vulnerability caused otherwise smart people to forget how our Canadian parliamentary system actually works. Namely: We do not have a proportional representation form of government. But there is a simple solution.

Battle of the North Island riding polls, does it really matter? A prediction

Progressives have found something new to squabble about: which poll of the North Island-Powell River (NIPR) riding is the accurate one? Some polls show the Liberals ahead of the NDP. Others show the NDP with an edge. But does it really matter if neither party can win?

Greens dropped ridings to avoid vote splitting … ???

Island group urges NDP vote to stop Conservatives

For a Liberal government, vote for the NDP in the North Island-Powell River riding

If you want to help the Mark Carney Liberals form the next federal government, then DO NOT vote for them in the North Island-Powell River riding. That sounds counter-intuitive, but only a vote for the NDP can save this riding from swinging to the Conservatives in 2025. Why? Read on for the full article.

On Merville groundwater extraction it’s deja vu all over again

Regional district staff recommend approving an amended application for groundwater extraction in Merville as a “home occupation,” but rural area directors want more clarity on its legal definition

Merville water bottling issue returns to the CVRD, highlights provincial water policies

The Comox Valley Electoral Areas Service Commission will consider on Monday an amended application for water bottling operations in Merville and draw attention to larger water policy issues in British Columbia

The Meaning of Life: Five notable Vancouver Islanders reflect on their life’s journey

Decafnation starts a new tradition this year by asking selected Comox Valley people to share their acquired knowledge that didn’t come from book-learning or academic studies. We begin today with the collective wisdom of five notable Vancouver Islanders rooted in the Comox Valley.

The Week: Give us full transparency when paid ‘volunteers’ work with CV students

Faith-based volunteers can contribute positively to the educational experience in our public schools but everyone must be perfectly clear about who they are, what they can and cannot do and school administrators must monitor their activity closely and consistently

What’s dire: the lack of Comox subdivisions or climate change and gradual deforestation?

A Comox Valley developer is suing the Town of Comox because his permits to cut down trees and build more single-family homes haven’t been issued as fast as he’s wanted and because the town wants a wider walking trail through the property

For a Liberal government, vote for the NDP in the North Island-Powell River riding

by George Le Masurier | Apr 12, 2025

This April 1979 editorial cartoon published in the Comox District Free Press (AKA The Green Sheet), was drawn by the legendary Frank Lewis. He was a remarkable artist whose mural work can be seen all over the Island, including Victoria and Chemainus, and who contributed cartoons for the now defunct newspaper during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

For a Liberal government, vote for the NDP in the North Island-Powell River riding

A friend called me the other day to ask how she should vote in the North Island-Powell River riding on April 28th. The caller said she has always voted NDP, but some of her friends and neighbors have been leaning toward the federal Liberal Party this time.

She wondered if she should get on the bandwagon to help the Liberals win enough seats to defeat the Poilievre Conservatives?

I gave her what seems like a confusing answer to this important question.

Here’s what I said in a nutshell: If you want to help the Mark Carney Liberals form the next federal government, then DO NOT vote for them in the North Island-Powell River riding.

That seems counter-intuitive at first, but the Liberals haven’t won this riding since somewhere in the middle of the last century. For more than 50 years, the riding has swung back and forth between the NDP and the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC).

No Liberal has ever come close to winning it, even when their party enjoyed wide popularity and won a national majority.

And here’s the most important point: the NDP has only overcome strong Conservative support by the slimmest of margins; roughly 3,000 votes in 2019 and 2,000 in 2021. In both of those elections, the Liberals had weak campaigns in this riding and diminished national popularity.

The CPC vote, however, has been reliably consistent through the years and mostly undiluted by competing conservative parties.

What does all of that mean? It means if too many people who used to vote NDP suddenly switch to voting Liberal, that slim margin of victory disappears. And that guarantees victory for a completely unlikable Conservative candidate.

But why? My caller asked. Couldn’t the Liberal candidate win this riding and be a strong voice for the North Island in Ottawa?

I told her that for three reasons, I believe the Liberal candidate has absolutely no chance of winning this riding.

First, historical voting trends are crystal clear: Vote totals for NDP and the CPC have consistently relegated the Liberals to a distant third place finish. To win this year, the Liberals would have to more than triple their vote count (from about 8,000 to over 24,000). That’s not just unrealistic. It’s magical thinking.

Second, until recently, this Liberal government hasn’t been widely popular, perhaps unfairly so, but the tarnish still lingers on their brand. While their new leader has injected a strong dose of hope and enthusiasm for party loyalists, not everyone has forgotten why they were so unhappy.

Third, there’s a reason the Conservatives were topping the polls before Justin Trudeau stepped down. Right-wing support has surged around the world. The anger that surfaced in the Freedom Convoy movement still exists. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith keeps stoking federal animosity. These populist signals have drawn out candidates with questionable values. For example, Aaron Gunn in the North Island.

Isn’t it the Number One goal in this election, I asked my friend, to keep those people from gaining power and turning Canada upside down, as the MAGA crowd is doing in the United States? I think it is, because defeating the Conservatives means protecting universal health care, fighting climate change, not becoming the 51st state and everything else that makes Canada great.

Yes, yes, she said, I know all that, but I want to vote FOR something, not just against the Conservatives.

As crazy as it sounds, I said, a vote for the NDP in this riding is a vote FOR a Liberal government. By voting for the NDP in the North Island-Powell River and Courtenay-Alberni ridings, you are supporting the progressive perspective, keeping it alive and giving those ideals the best chance of being solidified and expanded in Ottawa. Not voting strategically for the NDP turns back the clock on social justice.

Because the NDP still has a strong brand on Vancouver Island and the historically proven support to win this riding – actually, the best chance – voting for the NDP’s Tanille Johnston means one less seat for Poilievre and one more MP to support a potential Liberal minority government.

Or think of it the other way around, I concluded: Voting Liberal will subtract from the NDP’s total and put both parties in a dead heat tie for second place.

And, in politics, second place achieves nothing. So, I told my friend to vote for NDP Tanille Johnston.

ELECTION COUNTDOWN

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ELECTION 2025 INFO

Advance polls will open from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., local time 7-10 days before Election Day. Electors must vote at their assigned poll. ID is required to vote.

To find out where and when you can start voting go to this page on the Elections Canada website

The deadline to receive mail-in ballots at Elections Canada headquarters is 6:00 p.m., Eastern time, on Election Day, and the deadline to receive mail-in ballots at local Elections Canada offices is when polls close in the riding where the office is located.

The rules for voting internationally are different than voting in Canada. When you vote in Canada, you must prove your identity and address, click here.

You have three options:

Show one original piece of photo identification issued by a Canadian government, whether federal, provincial or local, or an agency of that government, that contains your photo, name and address (for example, a driver’s licence), or
Show two pieces of identification from a list authorized by the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada. Both must have your name and one must also have your address (such as a health card and utility bill), or
You can still vote if you declare your identity and address in writing and have someone who knows you and who is assigned to your polling station vouch for you. The voucher must be able to prove their identity and address. A person can vouch for only one person (except in long-term care institutions).

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THE WEEK: Busting the myth that council members come with a blank slate

by George Le Masurier | Sep 27, 2022

Anonymous Old Guard political action groups in the Comox Valley have been trying to elect cohesive voting blocks for decades

THE WEEK: Busting the myth that council members come with a blank slate

Some people made a big fuss during last fall’s by-election for an open seat on the Comox Town Council when a group calling themselves the “Comox Greens” formed to support candidate Dr. Jonathan Kerr, who won by a comfortable margin.

That group is no longer active, but what got folks all riled up was the idea that provincial party ideologies might weave their way into municipal government business.

Chief among the critics was Brennan Day, who had just run unsuccessfully for the BC Legislature as the BC Liberal Party nominee. Day, who doesn’t live in Courtenay and had been previously rejected by Courtenay voters for a council position, explained his concerns in a letter to the editor during the by-election.

Voters, he said, would “no longer … be electing representatives on their individual merits … A cohesive voting block does not need to worry about pesky little things like debate and compromise, it has the ability to circumvent those who disagree and push forward with a single agenda.”

But hasn’t the right-wing, pro-development faction of the Comox Valley political scene – that would naturally support Day – been trying to create that “cohesive voting block” for over a decade?

In 2014, they called themselves Comox Valley Common Sense. In 2018, they called themselves the Comox Valley Taxpayers Alliance. In 2022, they are calling themselves Comox Valley Mainstream. And this year there’s a new more extreme group calling themselves Take Back Comox Valley.

The objective of these groups has always been to elect a majority of council members who will vote together to further their outworn ambitions. And once again, they are supporting the effort to unseat incumbents who they perceive as being too progressive.

So, groups of citizens banding together to affect local government elections is nothing new.

Be that as it may, let’s get real and dispel this notion that any candidate for municipal government can and should come to office with no partialty, predilections or preconceived notions. If a candidate says that, they are lying to you.

No one who seeks public office is without preference for a federal or provincial political party, or is without values that run closer to one party than the others. It’s just a fact. People who are motivated to run for local government usually have strong opinions about the issues of the day and believe that their ideas about how to address them are the best.

Voters know that. They just want candidates to be transparent about those opinions and values so they can choose wisely on Election Day.

It’s unrealistic to expect that public officials can simply erase their life experiences and their personal values and philosophies when they walk through the council room door. They are who they are, and their decisions and council voting records will reflect that.

But that doesn’t mean that former BC Liberal Party MLA Don McRae checked in with the party executive before taking a position when he served seven years on Courtenay council. Of course not. But his values and political perspective led him on a journey to become the Minister of Education under former premier Christy Clark.

The same would have been true for NDP MLA Ronna-Rae Leonard who also sat on Courtenay Council for many years. And consider that former Comox council member Paul Ives who sought the BC Liberal Party nomination in 2016 while still serving as mayor.

It’s laughable to think that MLA Leonard’s perspectives and approach to local issues didn’t more closely resemble the NDP’s values than the BC Liberal Party’s values. And vice versa for McRae.

The same would be true for Brennan Day. That’s why you will see more Day campaign signs in the conservative Crown Isle subdivision than you will in the more liberal Puntledge Park neighborhood.

What Dr. Kerr tried to do in last year’s by-election was to put his political leanings and values out front for everyone to see. Total transparency. That way, if people shared those values, they could see he might be a good representative for them. And if not, they could vote for someone else.

We wish this year’s candidates and political action groups would be as honest.

WHERE AND WHEN TO VOTE

General Voting Day is Saturday, Oct. 15 for all local government positions.

Comox Valley Regional District

General Voting Day and advance voting take place at the CVRD building in Courtenay from 8 am to 8 pm.

Go to this link for General Voting Day locations in the three Electoral Areas.

Additional voting takes place on Oct. 6 from 9 am to 12 pm on Denman Island and on Oct. 6 from 2 pm to 5 pm on Hornby Island

Courtenay

Advance Voting begins on Wednesday October 5, 2022, 8 am to 8 pm at the Native Sons Hall, and again on Wednesday October 12, 2022, 8 am to 8 pm at the Florence Filberg Centre.

General Voting Day, Saturday, October 15, 2022, 8 am to 8 pm at the Queneesh Elementary School, and at the Florence Filberg Centre.

Comox

Advance voting begins Wednesday, October 5 from 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. at the Comox Community Centre, and on Saturday, October 8 from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. at the Genoa Sail Building at Comox Marina, and again on Monday, October 10 from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. at the Genoa Sail Building at Comox Marina, and on Wednesday, October 12 from 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. at the Comox Community Centre.

General Voting Day runs from 8 am to 8 pm on Oct. 15 at the Comox Community Centre.

Cumberland

All voting in the Village of Cumberland takes place from 8 am to 8 pm at the Cumberland Cultural Centre. Advance voting takes place on Oct. 5 and Oct. 12.

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Let’s put one of the craziest Comox Valley elections into the history book, and then close it

It was weird. But when the sun rose on Oct. 16, Comox Valley voters had made it clear they liked the direction charted by our local governments. In the municipalities, they elected all but two incumbents. In most races, the vote was a definite pat on the back for a job well done.

Here’s the latest Comox Valley local government election results

Mayor Bob Wells and all Courtenay incumbent councillors have been re-elected. Evan Jolicoeur has also been elected. Manno Theos has lost his seat.

Jonathan Kerr, Jenn Meilleur, Steve Blacklock, Chris Haslett, Ken Grant and Maureen Swift have been elected in Comox.

Vickey Brown has been elected mayor in Cumberland, defeating long-time mayor and councillor Leslie Baird.

Voting down -20.6% in Courtenay, -22.3% in Comox and -50.9% in Cumberland.

Full results with Electoral Areas A, B and C, school board and Islands Trust results in the morning.

Daniel Arbour in Area A and Edwin Grieve in Area C won by wide margins. Richard Hardy defeated Arzeena Hamir by 23 votes.

Shannon Aldinger topped the polls in races for SD71 school trustees.

Click the headline on this page for complete results and voter turnout.

A few random items as the 2022 election comes to a close

Long-time public official Bronco Moncrief dies, Manno Theos hangs out in Greece, and Daniel Arbour reacts to lies about his campaign finances

Who’s behind the shadowy Comox Valley political action groups? We shine some light

We dig deeper into what may have driven the darker, angry tone in this year’s municipal elections, and we shine a light on the shadowy political action groups and the Big Money players who have taken an interest in the Comox Valley

Local candidates clam up rather than speak to Comox Valley voters in public

Many Courtenay, Comox and electoral area candidates with similar ideologies have usurped the democratic process this year by declining to attend organized public forums, a huge disservice to voters

Decafnation candidate voting sheet

A list of candidates endorsed by Decafnation

Councillor Melanie McCollum’s mother dies in bicycle-truck accident in Courtenay

Anything a city can do to make our roads safer for drivers, pedestrians, cyclists, children and the mobility impaired should be praised, not criticized. The rest is just nonsense from desperate candidates who run negative campaigns

Decafnation recommends these candidates as District 71 trustees

Decafnation’s panel of education insiders unanimously recommends these candidates for the School District 71 Board of Education

School District 71 candidates respond to our questions

Candidates for the School District 71 Board of Education answer three questions about sexual health education, the role of trustees in relation to climate change and how to address overcapacity

Our recommendations in the 2022 Comox Valley local government elections

Decafnation announces its list of preferred candidates in this year’s local government elections and for the first time we identify candidates that we think show promise and provide our reasons for not endorsing the other candidates. Our endorsements fall on the first day of voting at advance polls

Jonathan Kerr: He’s delivered on housing, environment and recruiting 13 new family doctors since elected

by George Le Masurier | Sep 26, 2022

Elected last year to fill out the term of a councillor who resigned, Dr. Jonathan Kerr is seeking re-election to a full term on Comox Council

Jonathan Kerr: He’s delivered on housing, environment and recruiting 13 new family doctors since elected

Dr. Jonathan Kerr is seeking re-election to a full term on the Comox Town Council. Kerr has been a council member since voters elected him 10 months ago to fill the seat of resigning councillor Pat McKenna.

Kerr earned his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Toronto in 2006 and did Post-Graduate Family Medicine training at Queen’s University. He practiced family medicine in Belleville, Ont. prior to moving to the Comox Valley.

He and his wife and their two children moved to the Valley in late 2014, and he joined the Sea Cove Medical Clinic in 2015, where he is currently the lead physician.

Kerr served as president of the Ontario College of Family Physicians and served on its board for many years, including one year as chair. He has also served on the board of directors for the College of Family Physicians Canada and currently sits on the Advisory Committee for the Comox Valley Division of Family Practice.

He is the founder and chair of the new Comox Valley Family Physician Recruitment and Retention Task Force.

Kerr actively competes in the sport of Biathlon and coaches youth eight to 18 in rifle marksmanship and cross-country skiing with the Vancouver Island Biathlon Club. He’s also a volunteer with the Brooklyn Creek Watershed Society, and previously served on the Coalition to End Homelessness, Dawn to Dawn Action on Homelessness Society and is treasurer of the Navigate School Parent Advisory Council.

Why should voters re-elect you?

Kerr says he has really enjoyed his role on council since last November, especially the opportunity to connect with residents. The constituency work energizes him, he says, making him a bit of an outlier among the many policy wonks who hold public office.

Kerr says being a town councillor is similar to his role as a family doctor.

“You listen to people’s concerns, make a diagnosis and work with them on a plan to fix it,” he said. “It’s a real high, a beautiful moment when I can make a difference in people’s lives.”

In his medical practice and now on council, Kerr operates on the ‘servant leadership model.’ He sees his job as serving people to improve their lives, the community and the environment.

He stresses transparency and accountability as key attributes of a good councillor.

“They are not just buzzwords. I take them seriously. After every meeting, I post my voting record on my website and I link to the time in the council video where I speak on each topic,” he said.

In his nine months on council, Kerr has made sure that he focused on what people told him they wanted during the nine-month public listening campaign he ran last year.

“It’s for the voters to decide if I deserve a full term after winning the byelection last fall,” he told Decafnation.

What are some of your key accomplishments?

During the byelection, Keer made it clear that he would have three priorities based on the extensive public information sessions he did prior to the byelection: affordable housing, climate change and the recruitment of new family doctors.

On affordable housing, Kerr says the town used to negotiate informally with developers for affordable housing units.

“Now, we have put that into a formal policy so everyone knows what it is,” he said.

The new policy requires developers to set aside 1.2 percent of their total rental units and 1.8 percent of condo units for the town. Comox will then partner with local non-profits to rent these out as truly affordable units.

“I had proposed 2.5 percent, which developers objected to, so we collaborated to agree on the new policy rates. I took some heat for this. Developers were not thrilled but it’s important to stand up for what’s best for the community,” he said.

Kerr says he would support a regional housing authority to manage all the affordable housing units in the Comox Valley. Others running in Comox and Courtenay have expressed support for a housing authority.

On climate change, Kerr helped drive passage of the new tree retention bylaw, which passed on a 4-3 vote. The first version of the tree bylaw required 25 percent retention and the new bylaw requires 30 percent.

“Again I proposed in my motion to make it 35 percent and we collaborated,” he said. “It was important to get this done before any development started in the Northeast Comox area.”

The Town Council also approved participation in the Comox Valley Regional District’s regional climate action initiative. Kerr moved that council adopt the Comox staff report on the possibility of adopting some of the Youth Climate Council’s Green New Deal proposals in the short, medium and long-term.

“I am supporting the Youth Council’s efforts to transition to a more climate change-friendly society,” he said.

Kerr has been especially successful in his campaign theme of recruiting more family doctors to the area.

“Immediately after I was elected last November, I called together a Comox Valley Family Physician Recruitment and Retention Task Force that included mayors, councillors, CAOs, representatives from the CV chamber, hospital and other sectors because it has to be a regional-wide effort,” he said. “The goal wasn’t to just bring doctors to Comox. It wouldn’t work if all our jurisdictions competed with each other. New doctors, wherever they live or set up practice in the Valley benefit us all.”

When Kerr started the task force, there were 14,000 Valley residents who didn’t have a family doctor (numbers were culled from the Comox Valley’s clinics’ wait lists and the province’s health registry).

Since Jan. 1, the group has recruited 13 new doctors; seven are already here and practicing and six are arriving this fall. And the Task Force has connected 5,500 people with doctors in the last 12 months.

To accomplish that, Kerr’s Task Force formed a marketing strategy that examined what each community offered. They made videos of current doctors talking about why they love practicing here and posted them on social media.

When doctors come to visit, Kerr says the group has a Roll Out The Red Carpet plan to show the doctors and their families around the whole Comox Valley and try to remove any barriers that exist, such as finding temporary housing.

Staff at the Comox Valley Division of Family Practice coordinates the Task Force’s recruitment efforts, including finding out a doctor’s and their family’s needs and interests before they come to visit in order to tailor the sales pitch.

Goals for the next four years

Kerr says he doesn’t have any personal goals for the next four years, “just the ones Comox residents tell me are their top issues. Housing, climate and doctors are still at the top of the list. But I will be looking at some specific issues.”

One of those other issues would be to protect as much of the Northeast Comox forest land as possible – the area from Highland school down to the roundabout on both sides of Pritchard, mostly on the east side. The area includes 11 different parcels with multiple owners.

“The question here is how best to use this land,” he said.

The area is zoned R1 for residential single-family homes. But Comox already has the highest percentage of single-family homes: 66 percent. The national average is 51 percent.

“We need more rental units and townhouses,” Kerr said. “With the current housing market, single-family homes aren’t affordable housing for many people.”

There’s also the economic piece for taxpayers. It will take more than 30 years to pay back the cost of extending sewer and water infrastructure to the area.

“Why burden the town’s taxpayers with more unfunded liabilities?” he said. “Plus, it’s a beautiful forest and it would be a shame if it all came down. We should be able to find a balance among retaining trees, benefits to taxpayers, affordable housing and a mixture of housing types.”

Right now, Northeast Comox area property owners could build all single-family homes. But Kerr says it would be better to upzone and allow developers higher densities and make a plan for the whole area rather than dealing with each parcel piecemeal.

“We could have a discussion and find a compromise by looking at the whole area through a community benefits lens. I’m optimistic the developers will come to the table,” he said.

Also, the council will be updating the town’s Official Community Plan during the next term. Kerr wants to be a part of that for the inclusion of community-focused visions for social, environmental and reconciliation issues.

Kerr will also be looking at improving activities for teens with “so many new young families moving here,” and making streets safer and working with the BIA for a more vibrant downtown.

What is most misunderstood about the Council Town Council?

Kerr thinks some people believe that the council should limit itself to just dealing with water, sewer and potholes.

“These are all important things, but the role of the town and council is much more,” he said. “It’s not correct that councils are not supposed to do those things.”

The BC Community Charter, which gives municipal governments their authority, states a local government must “foster economic development, social and environmental well-being of its community.”

“Those are the exact lenses that I use in decision-making at council because that’s what Comox residents want and what the people who call me want,” he said.

“It’s the responsibility of elected officials to address the issues that matter while providing excellent core services,” he said. “Our updated Official Community Plan for Comox could look different depending on who Comox people elect. You could have a forward-thinking council or a group of regressive people.”