By Steve Hubrecht
Preliminary results are in and suddenly the Columbia Valley is the site of perhaps the most intriguing municipal election in British Columbia.
Change was always in the cards, with several longtime local politicians opting not to seek re-election (see story on page 5), but few observers would have predicted the dramatic outcome of the vote in Canal Flats. The two mayoral candidates are locked in a dead-even heat, each with 158 votes, and with the matter likely to be settled by drawing a name out of hat.
Outgoing Canal Flats mayor, Karl Sterzer announced several weeks ago that he would not be seeking re-election in the Saturday, October 15 municipal elections. Councillor Doug McCutcheon stepped forward to replace him, as did longtime local resident, Mark Doherty. When the votes were tallied up in the Canal Flats village office at the end of election, both McCutcheon and Doherty stood at 158 votes. Village staff did a careful recount, with the same result: both candidates were tied.
“There is going to be a judicial recount,” Canal Flats corporate officer, Sylvie Hoobanoff, told the Pioneer. “If it’s still tied after that, then we will draw the name out of a hat, as per the Canal Flats election bylaw.”
The judicial recount will be conducted by the B.C. provincial court and will likely involve the B.C. Office of the Inspector of Municipalities. Hoobanoff wasn’t precisely sure when that recount would happen, but pointed out that legislation requires it be finished before the 13th day after the elections, “so it will be very soon”.
“It is what it is. Life comes at you in all sorts of ways and if you sit back and think about it, you just might learn something from it,” McCutcheon told the Pioneer. He noted Doherty’s family has deep roots in the village, and so “I looked at it (the mayoral race) as an uphill climb for me. I feel pretty good that I did the best I could getting my message out. I’m at half and half (in terms of votes) and I’m somewhat pleased with that.”
McCutcheon said he suspects the draw-a-name-from-a-hat part of Canal Flats’s election bylaw probably was created long ago because Canal Flats is a small community, and because drawing a name from a hat means the village taxpayers are spared the costs associated with a second run-off election. “Canal Flats is a laid-back community,” he pointed out.
He added that although he was running for mayor, he can also live with not winning the election.
“One of my main aims is to improve life for seniors in the village, help them living in place longer. If I don’t become mayor, I will focus on other ways I can help with that,” said McCutcheon.
Doherty preferred to hold off on giving a comment, telling the Pioneer “I’ll wait until we know who wins to comment.”
In the race for Canal Flats councillor seats, Justin Stanbury, Anora Kobza, Jennifer Noble and Patricia Reed were elected, while Denis Babin, Bill Lake and Cody McKersie missed out.
Stanbury got 244 votes (76 per cent of voters who cast ballots chose him), Kobza got 241 votes (75 per cent of voters chose her), Noble got 212 votes (66 per cent of voters chose her), Reed got 192 votes (60 per cent of voters chose her), Babin got 137 votes (43 per cent of voters chose him), Lake got 112 (35 per cent of voters chose him), and McKersie got 55 votes (17 per cent of voters chose him).
In Radium Hot Springs, new village mayor Mike Gray had a doubly exciting day as village voters elected him to office on his wedding day. Gray, who has been a Radium councillor for one and half terms, got 246 votes (59 per cent) while challenger Brad Lawrence got 171 votes (41 per cent).
“It feels fantastic. That is an experience I will never be able to duplicate,” Gray told the Pioneer, adding guests at his wedding got the results online and his new husband, Patrick, got up on stage to announce the news.
Gray said a Radium official community plan (OCP) refresh, which he had vowed as a candidate, will be coming, but that there will be a period of several months to let the new council get its feet wet first.
“There are three new people on council now. We need to figure each other out and get in a groove and make sure we are all knowledgeable about the issues at hand before starting on any big projects. We also need to identify the priorities of council as a whole, not just the mayor. We need to have all our voices included,” said Gray.
Lawrence told the Pioneer that he feels 41 per cent of the vote is “not bad for the new kid on the block. Radium has been incorporated for 32 years, and the mayor has almost always been acclaimed. I figure it was good to stir things up a bit this time, and make Mike go out and earn it. And he did go out and earn it, so kudos to him. I’m sure he’s going to do a great job.”
In the Radium councillor election, Erin Palashniuk, Christi Ferguson-Huston, Carey Collin and incumbent Dale Shudra all were voted in as councillors, while Bob Campbell missed the cut, but only by 20 votes.
Palashniuk was voters’ top choice, collecting 312 votes (75 per cent of voters chose her), Ferguson-Huston got 304 votes (73 per cent of voters chose her), Collin got 304 votes (73 per cent of voters chose him), Shudra got 269 votes (64.5 per cent of voters chose him), and Campbell got 249 votes (59.7 per cent of voters chose him).
In Invermere, the only election race was for the school board trustee position (the mayor and councillor positions had already been decided by acclamation), which resulted in a staggeringly small voter turnout of just 89 people. Incumbent trustee Ryan Stimming held on to his seat, earning 63 votes (70 per cent), while challenger Matt Chapman got 26 votes (30 per cent).
“I was actually out of town camping over the weekend, so I didn’t find out right away. As soon as I got back within cell service I got a call from my mom saying ‘Congratulations’,” Stimming told the Pioneer. “I’m thrilled to be back in for another four years. There’s always meaningful work that needs to be done between the board of education and the upper administrative staff of school district six (SD6). There’s a lot of projects in the last few years that never really got rolling, because of the way the COVID-19 pandemic put a wrench in things. Now that things seem to have finally relaxed, we can move forward with those.”
Stimming was disappointed with the very low voter turnout, but said he had an inkling that might happen, given that a candidates forum arranged by the Columbia Valley Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, Oct. 4 attracted just one member of the public (the four people — the two candidates, the moderator and the member of the public — ended up sitting in circle having an extensive discussion).
Chapman expressed thanks to the 25 other people who voted for him, telling the Pioneer “I will definitely run again in the future. I learned a lot and I feel I was able to bring forward ideas that need to be looked at.”
Chief among these ideas is creating a student trustee position. “That is the main thing I want to see happen,” said Chapman. “I’ve been doing a lot of research on it, and I will work with Ryan to help make it a reality.”
In Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK) Area G, Roberta Schnider will be the new director. Schnider got 202 votes (68.5 per cent), while challenger Stephanie Stevens got 93 (31.5 per cent).
“It feels amazing,” said Schnider. “Right now it’s a case of a few weeks of settling in, until I am sworn in (in early November).” Schnider said she will be getting together with outgoing Area G director, Gerry Wilkie, in the coming weeks to learn as much as she can about the job. She added she found the process of going house-to-house during the campaign was very informative.
“It was good to get out and hear what people are concerned about: housing, the highway, water, growth,” she told the Pioneer. She plans to hold meetings every second month in each of the communities of Area G.
Stevens was gracious in defeat, telling the Pioneer, “I am sure Roberta will do a great job. I wish her the best. I have to say I am disappointed with voter turnout; hopefully that’s something Roberta can change in Area G, with her engagement of the communities.”
Several jurisdictions did not have elections, as there were only enough candidates to fill the positions, so everybody who put their names forward was in by acclamation. These include RDEK Area F director Susan Clovechok, Canal Flats and Area F school board trustee Amber Byklum, Radium and Area G school board trustee Jane Thurgood Sagal, Invermere mayor Al Miller, and Invermere councillors Kayja Becker, Gerry Taft, Mark Topliff and Theresa Wood.
Of the 20 elected official positions in the Columbia Valley (school board trustees, RDEK rural area directors, mayors, and councillors) 11 are now filled by women and nine by men. This is the first time in the past decade, if not the first time ever, that women have outnumbered men.
