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

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

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

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That group is no longer active, but what got folks all riled up was the idea that provincial party ideologies might weave their way into municipal government business.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

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

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

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

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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.”
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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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More

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.

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

Jenn Meilleur: Active volunteer and advocate for community, collaboration and climate change

Jenn Meilleur: Active volunteer and advocate for community, collaboration and climate change

Jenn Meilleur has an insider’s view of how the government process works and years of experience in working collaboratively

Jenn Meilleur: Active volunteer and advocate for community, collaboration and climate change

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Jenn Meilleur is seeking a first term on the Comox Town Council. She is a systems change and dialogue facilitator currently working as the Manager of Community Disaster Recovery with Emergency Management BC.

She has worked with and for local governments since 2010. She started as a Program Manager (Policy Analyst) with the City of Vancouver when it adopted The Greenest City Action Plan in 2010 to become the greenest city in the world.

Meilleur moved to Comox Valley with her husband and two children in the spring of 2019. She grew up in Qualicum and graduated from Vancouver Island University when it was still called Malaspina College.

Jenn has two decades of experience leading and supporting initiatives and collaborative networks in the fields of sustainability and climate action, community development, organizational development and systems change. And she is an active volunteer in her community

She is the Board Co-Chair for LUSH Valley Food Action Society, a member of the local Food Policy Council and a member of the Coordinating Circle for the Comox Valley Community Health Network. She helped found a nature-based elementary school program and supported the creation of the Atl’ka7tsem/Howe Sound UNESCO Biosphere Region in the Salish Sea as a board member.

Jenn finds her inspiration in nature with gratitude on the unceded lands and waters of the K’ómoks First Nation in Comox with her husband, two children and many “four-legged friends.” She enjoys trail running, wild swimming, cycling and creative knitting projects. She is devoted to lifelong learning and is also an avid bookworm.

 

Why should voters elect you?

Meilleur is running for council because she has heard our youth’s growing anxiety about climate change and feels accountable as a Gen-X-er to do what she can for future generations. She believes there is a groundswell of worry about climate change.

“I want to take better care of nature through collaboration with others,” she told Decafnation. “It’s about the emergency. Like Greta Thornberg says, ‘we know we have to do better.’ But how do we do that?”

The three pillars of Meilleur’s campaign are community, collaboration and climate change.

She has spent her career on sustainability issues in the co-op sector, within government and for nonprofits. Through social innovation, she says she has brought people together to solve complex issues.

“I have an inside view of how the government process works and a skill of working collaboratively,” she said.

She says that running for office is not about what one person can do, but rather it’s about how this particular group of people can collaborate and what they can accomplish together.

“I have resisted campaigning with promises,” she said. “The public wants politics to be different. Council work should be a relational process, not a linear path. I would stress collaboration within the council and find new ways to bring citizens into the process.”

Meilleur would also like to bring more art into the community. She says studies have shown that road murals calm traffic and reduce accidents.

 

What are some of your key accomplishments?

As the previous regional coordinator for the Comox Valley Farm-to-School program, Meilleur brought together farmers, nonprofits, government staff and elected officials, and did this during the pandemic.

Working as a facilitator with the Community Health Network, Meilleur figured out how to bring all these diverse groups together to influence policy and make change. She organized and facilitated dialogue sessions and then captured stories that people shared.

Her campaign issues are affordable housing, climate change focus, local business, local food, reconciliation and creating equity for all people. And she believes that if people work collaboratively we can restore people’s faith in democracy.

A quote she particularly likes is from Lilla Watson about being interconnected: “If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”

 

Goals for the next four years

Meilleur recognizes the importance of affordable housing to the community and would focus her efforts to continue building momentum for solutions.

“I would take a look at why Comox opted out and chose to not work regionally on this issue,” she said. “I believe affordable housing needs to be both local and regional to be effective.”

She says there is lots of good work being done in this field. She notes that Saanich fast-tracked garden suites and created 800 new housing units in one year and that the CV Seniors Support Society has started a housing program to match students with seniors who want to age in place. There was a plan for a Comox task force, but it was never formed, she said.

“Society has the answers and others are doing it,” she said. “Affordable housing has to go beyond new developments.”

But, Meilleur says, we must recognize that solutions that work in bigger cities don’t always work here. “We have to scale things for our size.”

The important lesson she takes from the council motion to require developers to set aside a percentage of below-market-rate units in all new developments is that government needs to work directly with whoever is impacted most when creating new programs – in this case, the developers.

Also, she says, it’s not always the government’s role to do something and maybe it’s better for the community or other partners to do certain things. Government should discern where to create conditions that encourage affordable housing rather than do it themselves.

“We need to consider co-housing, co-op housing and the whole spectrum of possibilities. It’s a regional issue and a complex problem that needs all parties at the table,” she said.

Climate change is also at the top of Meilleur’s priorities.

“I think of climate action both as reducing greenhouse gases and as protecting and restoring the environment,” she said.

For example, she says the town’s tree canopy bylaw supports biodiversity but that it’s out of date. She would work to carefully incentivize developers to keep trees. Meilleur’s family has turned their boulevard into a pollinator garden with bee turf, wildflowers and perennials.

Meilleur’s current work is mostly with First Nations, helping them to recover from the floods last fall (the atmospheric river event in November). But she says climate change-focused actions are “not a ticky box.”

“Those principles must be integrated into everything. Comox would benefit from this same clarity in its strategic vision. There are lots of best practices out there to draw from. There are not many council decisions that wouldn’t benefit from a climate change lens,” she said.

Meilleur believes that local governments need to talk about making “regenerative” actions and policies.

“Our environment is too degraded now so putting it back the same is no longer good enough. It has to be better than before and I think people are starting to get that now,” she said.

Food security is another of Meilleur’s key issues. She believes that community food security can be improved with urban agriculture bylaws.

“Comox made a start but it needs to be more robust to allow hens and front yard greenhouses. We need to make it easy for people to grow food and share it with neighbors. This builds community resilience,” she said.

Meilleur understands that local governments are just finding their feet in regard to reconciliation efforts and that current systems aren’t designed to support First Nations or other equity deserving groups. She thinks she can contribute by using her collaboration skills.

Government-to-government relations are now a big part of every local government’s planning and that “creates a significant paradigm shift for everyone.”

“What I mean is that we aren’t fighting over pieces of a pie, we’re trying to make the pie bigger for everyone. And when we put Indigenous people and other historically marginalized people at the centre of our work, we all benefit,” she said.

The town will be reviewing its Official Community Plan during the next four years and Meilleur would like to be part of that process. The current OCP was updated in 2011.

“The existing document is not visionary. It needs to be more inspirational and account for climate action as Courtenay has done with their OCP,” she said. “Perhaps we should include a citizens’ assembly in the process to engage as many people as possible.”

And finally, Meilleur would do what she can to support local businesses.

“At any given time, there are only about three days of supplies that people need on Vancouver Island and we have already experienced supply chain disruptions from the pandemic and the atmospheric river in November of last year,” she said. “Any type of natural or climate disaster that cuts off those supplies will be serious. Therefore, we need to shorten the supply chain and make more of what we need on the Island.”

 

The most misunderstood thing about Comox Town Council

In some local governments, Meilleur sees a lack of urgency and clarity of vision. And she doesn’t think the current system and the way local governments often work were designed for the complex problems of today.

“The public sees that it’s not working. They want it to be better,” she said. “We have to learn to disagree better and how to be of service to our community and to these times. I am running to be of service.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER

Enter your email address to subscribe to the Decafnation newsletter.

More

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.

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

Will Cole-Hamilton: Progressives can be strong financial managers

Will Cole-Hamilton: Progressives can be strong financial managers

Will Cole-Hamilton is an advocate for climate action, fiscal responsibility and wide-ranging collaborations who sometimes does stand-up comedy

Will Cole-Hamilton: Progressives can be strong financial managers

By

Will-Cole-Hamilton is seeking a second term on the Courtenay City Council. The graduate of Dalhousie Law School moved to Courtenay in 2012 with his wife and two children from Vancouver. He manages his wife’s family law office and does legal research.

He has 14 years of experience in owning small businesses — a video store and a small grocery that he sold in 2012. He has coached youth sports teams and ran a chess club at Puntledge Elementary. He is a director of the Comox Valley Regional District, chairs the Sewage Commission and sits on other committees.

He currently is on the board of the Comox Valley International Film Festival and as council’s representative to the Downtown Business Improvement Association and from time to time performs stand-up comedy. He says he’s still trying to find the humor in climate change.

 

Why should voters re-elect you?

My background in law and business is sometimes relevant to council work in a very direct way, such as reviewing contracts and other legal documents that come before council.

“For example, I put forward the motion that climate change needed to be considered at every stage of the development of the Official Community Plan update. And it was my motion that Courtenay adopt the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People as its framework for reconciliation and that UNDRIP is a lens that is applied to the development of our OCP,” he told Decafnation.

Cole-Hamilton says his first motion before the council was to adopt an asset management bylaw, which requires the council to consider the full lifecycle of asset costs in its decision-making. Courtenay was the first in BC, and second in Canada to do this.

“It’s a common stereotype that progressives aren’t strong financial managers and I wanted to put that myth to rest right away and this bylaw was a strong way of starting out,” he said.

Cole-Hamilton says the track record confirms that this council has been a wise steward of city finances. At the end of this four-year term, Courtenay has had the lowest average tax increases of any municipality in the Comox Valley (average increase 2019-2022: Comox 3.72%; Courtenay 3.2%; Cumberland 5.42%)

Reflecting back, Cole-Hamilton says it was through his second council resolution that he learned the power of collaboration, working with people outside the community to deliver results for people inside the community

“By nature, I’m a collaborator,” he says. “Early in my first term, I was at my first conference and I heard about a collective of municipalities in Northern BC working together to apply to the province for grants for EV chargers. I called some of the councillors from our region who I had just met and suggested we put together a similar application. Then, I brought a resolution to Council which passed unanimously.”

As a result, nine municipalities and four regional districts and the Wei Wei Kum First Nations collectively applied for grants and the Vancouver Island and Mid-Island EV Charger Network was born.

“I realized the value of working with colleagues outside our community to deliver results for people inside our community,” he said.

Cole-Hamilton is a member of the BC Caucus of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. That allows him to bring the needs and priorities of communities like Courtenay to the table at a national level and provides the opportunity to lobby the federal government directly.

He serves as the chair of both the national Climate Caucus — which has 500-plus mayors and councillors from every province and territory as members — and the province-wide advocacy group called Help Cities Lead. He is also a founder of the national PACE funding program.

“I find that municipalities can benefit from constantly cross-pollinating with ideas for best practices,” he said.

And he says it’s his automatic tendency to collaborate with others that makes him an effective council member.

“I have collaborated with colleagues outside the Valley and also with colleagues around the council table. I co-wrote resolutions with Melanie McCollum and another with Wendy Morin and McCollum on low-income eBike subsidies.

 

What are some of your key accomplishments?

Cole-Hamilton sees his work with council colleagues to support a climate focus in revising the city’s Official Community Plan as a major accomplishment. And he says his work to create the Island-wide Electric Vehicle Charger Network was another key victory.

“I have been influential in the regional district’s pivot from the demolition of buildings to deconstruction, which reduces the amount of construction debris in our landfill for long-term savings and makes reusing good materials possible,” he says.

Deconstructing structures reduces the amount of material going into the regional landfills and provides a second life for the many reusable components of a building. For example, many pre-1960 buildings can yield excellent old-growth lumber.

“And it’s the right thing to do. Ask any parent or grandparent who lived through the Great Depression,” he said.

He is a former director and currently the council’s representative to the Courtenay Business Improvement Area board. In that capacity, he says he has brought resolutions to the council to support a downtown social media campaign during the Fifth Street bridge rehabilitation, and another to improve lighting in downtown alleys. It was his resolution to include locations of private security cameras on the city’s electronic mapping system — to assist in efficient use of the RCMP when conducting investigations — and helped them fastrack a patio program during the challenging couple of pandemic years.

For about 17 years, the Courtenay Community Drug Strategy Committee had been unable to develop a drug strategy. So Cole-Hamilton talked to members about revamping the committee as a regional group with the goal of producing a Substance Use Strategy that addresses the entire region. Now, with new grants, the group has enlarged its scope and just completed an analysis of the situation on the streets.

Cole-Hamilton helped ensure there is an emissions management plan for GHGs from our landfill. He says a report has shown that landfill emissions are roughly 15 times greater than all of the CVRD’s other corporate emissions combined. 

“Given the scale of the methane emissions from our landfill, this is a really significant step forward,” he said. “As I noted, they are enormous — roughly 30,000 tons of GHG equivalent. According to the EPA’s emissions calculator that is equal to 6,464 passenger vehicles driven for a full year — or driving to the moon every 28 hours. A week or so ago, there was no plan to address this, now there is.”

 

Goals for the next four years

The number one goal for the next term is to implement the revised OCP. For example, creating the McPhee Meadows plan for a 4.6-hectare (11-acre) green space along the Puntledge River open to the public, while preserving and restoring its riparian and wildlife habitat features.

“Increased urban density requires larger public spaces and this is a good start,” he said.

He will focus on the many actionable items in the OCP on economic development, land use, food security and housing. 

“This (the OCP) is the largest piece of work for the next council,” he said.

He will support work toward a potential Courtenay Housing Authority that would manage and create more below-market-rate housing units. This would give the city’s affordable housing efforts a champion and a home base, he says.

Cole-Hamilton says it will take a team effort by the council to push the BC provincial government hard for complex-care housing developments to address those now living on our streets. “This is not something the city can do alone,” he says.

He also wants to work on greater collaboration with SD71 during the next term.

“They (the school district) are the single largest landowners in the city and have the single greatest impact on daily traffic flows. Both bridges experience the most congestion before and after the school day. Additionally, new housing projects have a direct impact on school board facility planning.”

 

The most misunderstood thing about Courtenay Council

Cole-Hamilton thinks people believe the city and council have a greater capacity and more resources than they really do. For example, the issues around unhoused people on the street overlap many provincial jurisdictions and “the BC government’s insufficient response means it’s left to the municipality to do what we can to fill the gap.”

“Less than 10 cents of every tax dollar in Canada goes to municipal governments to provide infrastructure, water, sewer, garbage, policing and more, and that leaves nothing for us to build large-scale affordable housing projects,” he said.

The federal CMHC program for building low-cost housing stopped in the mid-1980s and nothing has filled that empty space. The provincial government has not filled the need for housing, mental health or addiction issues and the burden has cascaded onto local governments.

“And, yet, I love this work and wouldn’t spend this much time otherwise. And I have put in so many unpaid hours collaborating with other elected officials across the province and the country to share solutions to the challenges that face us,” he said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WHERE AND WHEN TO VOTE

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

Comox Valley Regional District

General Voting Day (Saturday, Oct. 15) and advance voting (Wednesday Oct. 5 and Wednesday Oct. 12) 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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More

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.

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

Melanie McCollum: Finance background has created savings, new grant revenue for city

Melanie McCollum: Finance background has created savings, new grant revenue for city

Photo Caption

Melanie McCollum: Finance background has created savings, new grant revenue for city

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Melanie McCollum is seeking a second term on Courtenay City Council. She has an undergraduate degree in geography with a focus on urban planning and a post-degree diploma in accounting. She’s worked as a financial analyst for the past 15 years at North Island College.

She represents the city at the regional district where she sits on several committees. Melanie grew up on Gabriola Island and moved to the Comox Valley in 2006.

Why should voters re-elect you?

McCollum is satisfied that things she campaigned on in 2018 were achieved during her first term, somewhat aided by the pandemic. She says addressing the operational challenges of COVID carved out opportunities and extended timelines to get certain things done.

She campaigned on transportation issues and successfully worked on pedestrian and bike safety projects. On affordable housing, she helped make sure that the city didn’t leave anything on the table in creating a number of new units and acquiring funding. In fact, she says, the council offered free land to BC for a housing project and they didn’t take it.

“But I’m working that file all the time and engaging with the province and BC Housing,” she said. “And my priority of densification through smart growth principles led to policy changes and to the initiation of the OCP process.”

She’s contributed to the harmony of the seven people who form the council. She says they all worked together well, listened to each other and were collaborative. To that point, she notes that the last two city budgets passed unanimously.

“Dysfunctional councils get less done,” she said.

 

What are some of your key accomplishments?

McCollum, is proud of the city’s revision of its Official Community Plan and the connections it makes to climate change action. She says the most impactful way for cities to reduce carbon emissions is to keep development compact and neighbourhoods walkable.

“This idea is embedded through the OCP and it was my biggest motivation for running in the last election,” she said. “I wanted to ensure climate change was at the forefront of decision making and we re-evisioned the OCP with a focus on carbon emissions. That’s work I am extremely proud of.”

But leadership on a council can take different forms, such as making a motion or helping to steer or direct a discussion.

“I changed how the work plan in our budgets was done,” she said.

In the past, funding opportunities have come down from senior governments that the city couldn’t take advantage of because it didn’t have any projects ready. So McCollum championed new budgeting methods that include design and other necessary steps to make projects shovel-ready even though full funding hasn’t been secured. This recently resulted in the city receiving $1.7 million in COVID money that it wouldn’t otherwise have got.

“It’s a better way to do business,” she said. “City management is more complex now and there’s more planning required.”

McCollum also spurred a development plan for McPhee Meadows Park. Land had been given to the city in 2010, but had not made any progress to make it accessible to the public. She championed getting that underway. The city has submitted a $2.9 million grant application to fund the development of the recently completed design.

McCollum’s finance background also led to the creation of the city’s investment policy to prioritize responsible investing, that prioritizes fossil fuels free (FFF) and Environmental, Social and Governance (EGS) factors when making investment decisions. That policy was passed at a recent council meeting.

 

Goals for the next four years

In her next term, McCollum wants to explore the establishment of a Housing Corporation for the city or regional district. Vancouver, Victoria, even Whistler, have them.

A housing corporation would manage all the affordable housing units – one list for the whole city or region – and even borrow funding to initiate its own affordable housing projects.

Right now, affordable housing units in the city are managed by a variety of entities, including the developers themselves in some cases, who could turn that over to someone else. She says a proposal for the empty lot next to Superstore will provide an additional 20 units rented at below market rate and would be a good start for a Housing Corp.

“I believe it’s better to blend in affordable units with market rate ones, rather than have separate developments for all affordable units,” she said.

Rolling out the OCP will be a primary focus for the whole council in the near future. McCollum is particularly interested in the development of a plan for Harmston Park, which is a potential site for more housing and better use of the public space. The city owns several parcels of land there that she says are underutilized.

And, finally, McCollum wants to find the best use for new-found Municipal and Regional District Tax program money, funds that come from people who rent hotel or AirBnB accommodations. In a change this year, all the MRDT funds from AirBnBs in the city will go directly to the city, about $275,000 annually. Hotels will still get their MRDT tax funds, about $300,000 per year.

“This money will be used for affordable housing and the next Council will decide on how best to do that,” she said.”
.

The most misunderstood thing about the Courtenay Council

McCollum thinks that most people don’t realize that policing eats up such a huge chuck of the city budget. In the last budget there was a $700,000 increase in policing costs, which equates to a 3.5 percent tax increase on its own. But she says that the council doesn’t direct the RCMP or tell them how to organize their time.

“We actually have little control over such a big part of our budget,” she said.

In fact, McCollum says, council has less control than most people think over many of the issues council grapples with, such as affordable housing. That’s because those resources need to come from senior governments and the province is more likely to support projects in Vancouver or Victoria.

She believes that improving street safety with bike lanes and redesigning streets is not a radical idea.

“It’s common in most every city now and it’s not like we’re eliminating driving lanes or parking.”

She says the 17th Street project has been completely misunderstood, perhaps due to a deliberate misinformation campaign.

McCollum wants voters to know that Courtenay property taxes did not fund this project at all.

“While $1.72 million is a high number and looks really good on a certain candidate’s signs, what they’re not telling you is that 100 percent of the project funding was through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program. That means that the cost of making crosswalks safer, separating cyclists from traffic, creating cycling connections to the Rotary Trail, the Fitzgerald bike lanes, and the School district’s “Best Routes” to school was a grand total of $0.00 of Courtenay property taxes,” she said.

McCollum supported the 17th Street project because the improvements provide a safe way for children to travel to school and they separate bikes from traffic and make road crossings shorter and more visible. The street is recognized by the School District 71’s Hub for Active School Travel program.

Finally, she said, the new car lanes exceed the provincial standard width by 0.6m on each side. And no parking has been removed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WHERE AND WHEN TO VOTE

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

Comox Valley Regional District

General Voting Day (Saturday, Oct. 15) and advance voting (Wednesday Oct. 5 and Wednesday Oct. 12) 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.

 

 

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER

Enter your email address to subscribe to the Decafnation newsletter.

More

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.

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

Doug Hillian: A balanced view between big picture issues and those that affect daily lives

Doug Hillian: A balanced view between big picture issues and those that affect daily lives

Four-term council member Doug Hillian says 90 percent of a councillor’s work is spent on roads, water, sewer and parks and recreation

Doug Hillian: A balanced view between big picture issues and those that affect daily lives

By

Doug Hillian is seeking a fifth term on the Courtenay City Council. He recently retired from a 45-year career as a probation officer and community justice/social services manager. He has a Master’s degree in Human and Social Development and has twice been awarded the Governor General’s Exemplary Service Medal.

Hillian co-founded the Transition and Social Planning Societies and has served on several other nonprofits, including the Community Justice Centre where he continues to volunteer as a facilitator.

He has spent 12 years coaching youth soccer teams, plays competitive soccer himself, sings in a community choir and has called Courtenay home for 43 years.

 

Why should voters re-elect you?

Hillian says he offers a balanced perspective between big picture issues like climate change, housing and reconciliation and those issues that affect his constituents’ daily lives, such as the provision of core services, public safety, bylaw issues and keeping taxes affordable.

He prides himself on answering email and phone calls promptly and often meets with people in their neighbourhoods, something he’s been able to do more of since retiring in 2017. And he says the people he meets have encouraged him to run again.

“My experience and leadership skills have made a difference,” he told Decafnation.

 

What are some of your key accomplishments?

Hillian believes that a councillor’s work is collaborative and that Courtenay currently has a strong team on the council. He says that ability to collaborate helped them get through the recent difficult COVID period.

“We shouldn’t minimize the challenges of getting through the pandemic. Everyone had personal challenges and for a city government those were multiplied,” he said. “It was a fractious time, but we followed the advice of our health professionals, held firm on the restrictions and acted out of the best interests of the larger community.”

During that time, the council had to manage a significant turnover of senior staff, some of which he says was related to the pandemic. Council was able to recruit new staff despite the difficulty of digital meetings and interviews.

“It took a massive amount of work to maintain core services and keep people safe during the pandemic, but we were also able to accomplish a lot,” he said. “For example, we have a new Official Community Plan focussed on reconciliation, community well-being, equity and climate action.”

He believes Courtenay Council has built stronger relationships with KFN, the arts and culture community and downtown businesses.

It may not satisfy some people, but he says the council addressed street disorder by providing a building for the Connect Center.

“Some people don’t want to see the congregation of people there, it makes them uncomfortable, but we can either deal with it or ignore it and watch it get worse,” he said.

He says the city has worked collaboratively with regional social agencies while simultaneously pushing the province to do more to help the city address housing and community safety.

Hillian has played lead roles in getting more affordable housing units built, such as the rezoning of land on Lerwick for market housing and transitional housing for women and children survivors of domestic violence. Hillian led the council to delay a decision until the city had further meetings with neighbours who resisted that development.

“I wanted the development to proceed with the support of the neighbourhood, for people to feel that their voices had been heard, rather than feel railroaded,” he said. “The delay resulted in a potential for the transitional housing being lost, but council intervened with the Housing Minister and the project was restored.”

Hillian recognizes that some people are making an issue of bike lanes and criticizing the city’s efforts, particularly the current redevelopment of 17th Street. But he said the council is simply following best practices.

“The majority of people will still be driving cars. But bike lanes are not a radical idea,” he said. “Cities everywhere are adding bike lanes and for good reason: it makes the roadways safer.”

And for Hillian, traffic safety is a top priority. Separating cars and bicycles with narrower lanes slows cars down and makes the route safer for everyone, including pedestrians at crosswalks and kids going to school. It makes the roads safer for car drivers and cyclists, too, he says.

“I appreciate that traffic changes can be confusing, at least at first, but it’s part of a nationwide trend to promote multi-modal transportation, address climate change and make streets safer for all users.”

 

Goals for the next four years

Hillian says implementing the updated OCP will be his top priority if he’s elected to another term. But he also wants to create more below-market housing units and lobby the provincial government for support.

He promises to represent the city on big regional issues, such as the new sewage conveyance routes. He chairs the Courtenay-Comox Valley Sewage Commission. He’d like to see this project through to completion in the next two to three years.

He’ll keep working on the province to improve traffic flow on Ryan Road, the bypass and 17th Street bridge.

He would also like to continue his work on the ground-breaking KFN treaty. “The level of working together with KFN is higher than ever,” he said.

Hillian is the Comox Valley representative at the Main Treaty Table that meets monthly. This fall, KFN will receive a land and cash offer from senior governments, which will make KFN a major land owner in the Valley.

 

The most misunderstood thing about the Courtenay Council

Hillian differentiates between misunderstood and “deliberately misunderstood.”

“Some people don’t understand the role of local government, especially the mandate and resources we have available. Some may think we spend too much time on issues not related to basic municipal responsibilities, such as social issues, provincial or global issues,” he said.

“The fact is, 90 percent of what a council member does is related to sewer and water, roads, parks and recreation, and that’s the same for city staff, too. Staff and council worked hard during the pandemic to keep the city functioning, and to maintain core services. These are not always the headline-gripping issues but you realize how important they are to people and you work through long meetings to assure good city governance.”

He wants people to know that the level of regional cooperation is unprecedented on issues like flood mitigation and climate change-related issues, and he wants that to continue.

“I hope the days of backroom wheeling and dealing are over and that greater levels of transparency will endure,” he said.

Doug made the motion to include individual voting records in official council minutes that passed in 2010. But to get even more transparency, he says we need more people interested and paying attention to what the council does.

“I’m exploring the idea of holding council meetings outside of city hall, in neighbourhoods, and whether the effort and cost to do that is feasible. But my focus will remain on public service, a balanced approach and being accessible and responsive to citizens.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WHERE AND WHEN TO VOTE

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

Comox Valley Regional District

General Voting Day (Saturday, Oct. 15) and advance voting (Wednesday Oct. 5 and Wednesday Oct. 12) 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.

 

 

 

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER

Enter your email address to subscribe to the Decafnation newsletter.

More

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.

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