Municipal election signage from the 2018 vote (Image Credit: Mel Rothenburger)

By Doug Collins

One Man's Opinion

COLLINS: Election fever starting to heat up

Jul 1, 2022 | 6:54 AM

NOTWITHSTANDING THE MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT this week that Premier John Horgan will not seek re-election, local campaign races around the province are starting to heat up with three-and-a-half months to go before the vote on October 15.

The biggest interest right now is the mayoralty race, with five candidates who have indicated they want to replace Ken Christian as king or queen of the hill. Long-time councillor Arjun Singh has been rumoured as wanting the post for quite some time, and I suspected he would not have been challenged by other councillors, but we have two others from around the table who are taking a shot. Dieter Dudy, who almost toppled Peter Milobar a few years back, and Sadie Hunter, who gave Milobar a good run in the last provincial election, are now in the race.

They are all great candidates and would make good mayors. The saddest part is that two, or maybe all three of them, could be gone, leaving us without their experiences going forward.

Former councillor Ray Dhaliwal and businessman Reid Hamer-Jackson, have also declared themselves in the running. We don’t know much about their platforms. Hopefully, we’ll hear more in the next month or so.

Incumbent Councillors Mike O’Reilly, Dale Bass and Bill Sarai will run again; Denis Walsh has not committed.

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Sadly, Kathy Sinclair is not running, but three highly committed women have announced this week they are running. All three have a track record of service to the community and I certainly think Katie Neustaeter, Daphane Nelson and Margot Middleton would be great additions.

A couple of other candidates have indicated they’ll be running but we know little about their platforms. If you’re someone thinking of running, now is the time to get moving. Even for those with face and name recognition, you still have to get out in the public eye. It’s far more than just filling out the paperwork. There are few opportunities in a municipal election to get the public’s attention. Forums are few and far between and are largely a waste of time.

Especially this year, with more strong candidates than we’ve had in a long time, most of the focus will be on the mayor’s race. If you haven’t already got your team and strategies in place, you could well be on the outside looking in. Three-and-a-half months will go by in the blink of an eye.

I’m Doug Collins and that’s One Man’s Opinion.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.