2022 Municipal Election Outcomes Summary
2022 Municipal Elections – Sweeping changes across the province
British Columbians voted for change in the October 15th municipal elections. Despite overall voter turnout dropping slightly to around 37%, many communities saw notable changes in both mayors and councillors.
Several mayors chose not to pursue another term leading to inherent change in communities like Victoria, Abbotsford, Langley Township, Port Moody, New Westminster, and the District of Squamish. Several other incumbent mayors were defeated, often by familiar faces: current and former councillors, and candidates who had been elected to another level of government across the Lower Mainland. This was the case in West Vancouver, White Rock, Maple Ridge and the City of Langley, and will mean a shake-up on regional boards and committees at Metro Vancouver and TransLink.
On Vancouver Island, Langford voted for change, replacing their long-time Mayor who had served for nearly three decades with a political newcomer. Meanwhile in the Okanagan, Kelowna’s incumbent Mayor was also defeated.
B.C.’s largest municipalities were not immune to the changes sweeping across the province. Both Vancouver and Surrey saw prominent incumbent mayors defeated* and new council majorities under the leadership of the newly elected mayors.
Broadly, campaigns focused on collaboration, public safety and taking an active role on housing and growth-related issues, which emerged as a key theme amongst many successful candidates. Voters resoundingly returned councils where there was majority alignment on key issues, a signal that divisions that have mired some councils over the past term did not go unnoticed.
UDI looks forward to working with all newly elected mayors and councillors to support vibrant, growing communities and address our housing supply challenges across the province.
Full local election results by region are available from CivicInfoBC.
*After the election in Port Moody, incumbent candidate Amy Lubik finished two votes behind candidate David Stuart for the last Council seat. A BC Provincial Court Judge later oversaw a partial recount of the election, resulting in a tie between the candidates. Under BC’s Local Government Act, electoral ties are settled with a draw by lot. The result was Amy Lubik’s name being drawn for the sixth Council seat in Port Moody.
ABCity of Vancouver
Ken Sim and the “ABC Party” swept into power in Vancouver on Saturday, with the new Mayor-elect winning over 50% of the vote, and the Party winning majorities on Council, the School Board and the Park Board. The details of platform priorities can be read here.
Moving forward, the development industry can expect to see Council take steps to speed up the delivery of new housing supply through initiatives to reduce permitting timelines, streamline redundancies and conflicts in various City policies, and create a predictable and transparent development fees payment process. The ABC Party has identified the delivery of purpose-built rental and affordable housing as a priority through partnerships with senior levels of government, reviewing locations in the City where density bonuses can be given, and prioritizing wood construction.
Pre-existing Council initiatives like the Empty Homes Tax and “missing middle” housing strategy will also come under review to ensure City programming and policies are not in conflict with the delivery of affordable housing supply.
A shift in Surrey
In Surrey, Brenda Locke is poised to defeat incumbent Mayor Doug McCallum in a close race. However, after initially conceding the race, Doug McCallum and the “Safe Surrey Coalition” has since reversed course and is no longer accepting defeat. The party is currently reviewing the Local Government Act regarding judicial a recount.
If the unofficial results stand, Brenda Locke’s party, “Surrey Connect,” will have taken four of the Council seats, resulting in a majority for this coming term. Surrey Connect is committed to reducing construction permit delays to address affordability as well as allowing higher densities near SkyTrain (with lower densities further away from stations). The new Mayor-elect also favours increasing bus services in the City. Surrey Connect will review Surrey’s Climate Preparedness Plan to address future impacts of climate change. They will also advocate that Federal farmland in Campbell Heights be added to the ALR, and “… investigate the possibility to protect more of the Little Campbell River Watershed.” To address industrial land shortages, Brenda Locke has advocated that “Surrey has large tracks of underutilized Industrial Land that still needs to be developed to its full potential. Surrey’s industrial land strategy must focus on these underdeveloped lands and maximizing their use.”
New mayors with familiar faces
Across the Lower Mainland voters widely showed an appetite for change, unseating several incumbent mayors in favour of new leadership. In West Vancouver, Mark Sager defeated Mary-Ann Booth to regain the Mayor’s chair, which he previously held from 1990-1996. Mayor-elect Sager campaigned on several key issues, such as expediting the Ambleside Local Area Plan, fighting the Provincial Additional School Tax (AST), addressing the municipal permitting backlog, and supporting, “thoughtful planning to build the right kind of housing solutions.” This includes encouraging rent-to-own homes in projects, lower density forms of development, and opposing any move by the Provincial government to limit zoning powers held by the municipality. Mayor-elect Sager is joined on Council by incumbents Peter Lambur, Sharon Thompson and Gambioli Nora, as well as new comers Linda Watt, Scott Snider and Christine Cassidy who previously served on Council from 2014 to 2018.
In White Rock, incumbent Mayor Daryl Walker, was defeated by former Councillor Megan Knight, who previously sat on Council from 2014-2018. Megan Knight’s campaign highlighted the need to rebuild relationships between staff and Council in the City, create efficiencies in White Rock’s permitting process, and better utilize CAC funds for city initiatives like affordable housing. White Rock voters returned councillors Christopher Trevelyan and David Chesney to City Hall along with newcomers Ernie Klassen, Elaine Cheung and Michele Partridge. Bill Lawrence was re-elected to Council, after serving previously with Megan Knight until 2018.
Maple Ridge also saw change as incumbent Mayor, Michael Morden lost to former Member of Parliament for Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge, Dan Ruimy. Four of Mayor-elect Ruimy’s “A Better Maple Ridge” team will join him on Council – after a campaign whose priorities included support for affordable housing and community amenities as well as collaboration with other levels of government to secure funding opportunities. The remaining three seats on Maple Ridge’s Council will be occupied by returning councillors – independent candidate Ahmed Yousef and Judy Dueck, who ran as part of former Mayor Mike Morden’s “Maple Ridge First” team.
The City of Langley also saw change as incumbent Mayor Val van den Broek was defeated by Councillor Nathan Pachal who received 64% of the vote. Pachal was first elected in a 2016 by-election and campaigned on increasing rental and affordable housing options in the City, improving walkability infrastructure, and working with the Province and TransLink to prepare for the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension. The new Mayor-elect provides regular updates on a progress towards campaign promises made over his time in office through a “Solutions Tracker” that he publishes online. Council will be made up of three returning councillors: Paul Albrecht, Rosemary Wallace and Teri James, along with three newcomers: Mike Solyom, Leith White and Delaney Mack.
In the City of Abbotsford, two-term Councillor Ross Siemens won his bid to become Mayor with over 60% of the votes, replacing outgoing Mayor Henry Braun. Council remains largely unchanged with a few newcomers that include Patricia Driessen, Simon Gibson (former Councillor and two-term BC Liberal MLA), and Mark Warkentin (who ran on the Abbotsford First Electors Society slate).
The District of Squamish also saw current Councillor Armand Hurford take over the Mayor’s Chair, after current Mayor, Karen Elliott, elected not to run again. Mayor-elect Hurford ran on increasing the supply of rental housing and transit access for the District and investing in infrastructure to help Squamish continue to grow. He will be joined at Municipal Hall by returning councillors Jenna Stoner, Eric Anderson, Chris Pettingill and John French, along with newly elected councillors Lauren Greenlaw and Andrew Hamilton.
Sweeping council majorities
In New Westminster, the Township of Langley, and Port Moody, new mayors will be accompanied at City Hall by a majority of their candidate teams, or in the case of Port Moody, a group of independents generally aligned around “moderate growth”. Common housing platform priorities across these councils include delivering affordable housing, speeding up permitting timelines, and ensuring delivery of appropriate transportation and community infrastructure to support growth.
In New Westminster, Patrick Johnstone was elected as Mayor alongside four other Community First New West (CFNW) councillors, creating a 5/7 majority on Council. The CFNW housing platform focused on increasing affordable housing for new multi-family developments in transit-focused areas, acting on the City’s Housing Needs Report to drive investment towards underserved communities and populations, streamlining permitting processes to accelerate construction of “missing middle” housing, and exploring the impact of ground-level retail space as amenity contributions.
In the Township of Langley, Eric Woodward was elected alongside five other Contract with Langley (CFL) councillors, creating a 6/9 majority on Council. The CFL housing platform emphasized a new Housing Action Plan focused on providing new rental housing, and redefining affordable housing. CFL is looking to eliminate technical requirements for development applications that are not necessary for Council in order to speed up construction, as well as creating a better plan for rapid transit.
While no slate was elected to form a Council majority in Port Moody, former Councillor Meghan Lahti was elected as Mayor, and is accompanied by an entirely new set of councillors (with the exception of one incumbent) – many indicating general support for “moderate growth,” in-line with Meghan Lahti’s platform. Common housing priorities include additional affordable housing supply in a variety of low-rise forms, transit-oriented development to make use of SkyTrain stations, density along transit corridors, and appropriate investment in infrastructure and community amenities to ensure growth pays for growth.
*After the election in Port Moody, incumbent candidate Amy Lubik finished two votes behind candidate David Stuart for the last Council seat. A BC Provincial Court Judge later oversaw a partial recount of the election, resulting in a tie between the candidates. Under BC’s Local Government Act, electoral ties are settled with a draw by lot. The result was Amy Lubik’s name being drawn for the sixth Council seat in Port Moody.
Notable Capital Region outcomes
The Capital Region saw a few notable changes as well. In the City of Victoria, current Mayor Lisa Helps did not run for re-election, setting up a race between two sitting councillors, Marianne Alto and Stephen Andrew, which Marianne Alto won with 56% of the vote. Ben Isitt, was the only incumbent running for a Council seat, but he was not re-elected. Mayor-elect Alto will lead a brand-new Council with new members: Jeremy Caradonna, Susan Kim, Matt Dell, Krista Loughton, Dave Thompson, Christopher Coleman, Stephen Hammond and Marg Gardiner. The housing crisis will be one of the top issues that this new Council will tackle, as Victoria and the Capital Region have been one of the hardest hit areas in the province. This Council is also expected to reconsider the Missing Middle Housing Policy, a key campaign promise from Mayor-elect Alto, which was held-over from the previous term.
In Saanich, Dean Murdoch, a former three-term Councillor, won a very narrow victory over incumbent Fred Haynes. Throughout Dean Murdoch’s campaign, housing affordability was an issue on the top of his list to tackle. On Council, incumbents Colin Plant, Susan Brice, Zac de Vries, Judy Brownoff, Nathalie Chambers and Karen Harper will be joined by newcomers Mena Westhaver and Teale Phelps Bondaroff.
The most unexpected win in the Capital Region was in Langford where newcomer Scott Goodmanson beat-out longstanding (seven-term, nearly 30-year) Mayor Stew Young – with 53% of the vote. Mayor-elect Goodmanson will be joined on Council by “Langford Now” slate members Kimberley Guiry, Colby Harder, Mark Morley, Mary Wagner and Keith Yacucha. Lillian Szpak, who ran as an independent, was the only incumbent to keep her seat. This new Mayor and Council is expected to have a more measured approach to development than their predecessors.
Kelowna votes-in new leadership
Kelowna has a new Mayor as challenger Tom Dyas has unseated two-term incumbent Colin Basran, with 61% of the vote. Tom Dyas represented change that voters were looking for in the City, pledging to take action on public safety, housing and traffic. For Council, 32 people ran for eight seats, with incumbents Maxine DeHart, Charlie Hodge, Mohini Singh, Luke Stack and Loyal Wooldridge being re-elected. Rick Webber, Gord Lovegrove and Ron Cannan took the remaining three seats.
Business as usual
Not all municipalities saw the same seismic shifts at City Hall. For some municipalities, there was little change resulting from this election. In the Fraser Valley region, Mission and Chilliwack each welcomed one new councillor, with the rest of these councils comprised of incumbents. In both municipalities, voters re-affirmed their support of the current leadership with each mayor receiving at least two-thirds of their respective votes.
In Delta, the full “Achieving for Delta” slate under the leadership of Mayor George Harvie was elected. This included incumbent councillors Dylan Kruger and Alicia Guichon, as well as four newcomers. Achieving for Delta’s housing priorities are focused on increasing housing by promoting “smart downtown centres”, prioritizing the delivery of below-market rental and rental suites, and addressing missing middle housing options including coach houses and duplexes.
In the inner Metro Vancouver region, a handful of municipalities also remained relatively unchanged. Acclaimed Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley, will be joined by “One Burnaby” candidate, Richard Lee and incumbent Councillor Joe Keithly of the “Burnaby Green Party,” both of whom endorsed Mayor Hurley. The remaining six seats will be held by councillors representing the “Burnaby Citizens Association,” including four incumbents and two new members, Maita Santiago and Daniel Tetrault to form a 6/9 majority.
Port Coquitlam voters also had one less choice to make, as incumbent Brad West will return for another term after being acclaimed as Mayor. All five incumbent councillors seeking re-election will also return to City Hall and the remaining seat was won by Paige Petriw, a new addition to Council.
Although she was not acclaimed, Linda Buchanan also secured another term as Mayor in City of North Vancouver, and will be joined by five incumbent councillors. The addition of newcomer, Shervin Shahriari was the lone change to Council.
In the neighbouring District of North Vancouver, incumbent Mike Little held-on to the Mayor’s Chair, despite a close race with former Councillor Mathew Bond. Catherine Pope and Herman Mah will be the only new faces at District Hall after the election.
In Richmond, Mayor Malcolm Brodie handily won a seventh term in office, making him the longest serving mayor in the City’s history. Mayor Brodie will lead a Council largely made up of returning members representing five different slates along with Laura Gillanders (RITE Richmond) and former B.C. solicitor-general, Kash Heed (Richmond RISE) who were elected for the first time.
Coquitlam also followed this trend of council continuity, where Richard Stewart will return as Mayor after receiving nearly 70% of the vote. The Council will be comprised of six incumbents and new councillors, Matt Djonlic and Robert Mazzarolo.
With few changes for these municipalities, it is expected that there will be a continuation of the directions from the previous term, with councils expected to pick up where they left off on November 7.
