British Columbia Municipal Elections 2014

[Foucaulf]

It looks like Malcolm Brodie is going to easily be re-election in Richmond? His main opponent appears to be Richard Lee who is running a (right wing) populist campaign, but his party has no seats on council and is only running one candidate.

There are several parties running four council, two of which have seats. Do you know anything about Richmond Community Coalition and Richmond First? I suppose they both support the mayor.

As someone who grew up in Richmond, I can say a little about this (if not too late already)

It's weird to see actual councillor slates this election. Historically turnover for Richmond city council has been very low - turnout is also abysmal, at around 20%. I know no one around my family paid attention to the elections.

As far as major issues go, council isn't that strictly divided. The only contentious issue, most of the time, is zoning and development stuff stirred by the housing boom. Whereas a wave of detached homes were developed in the 90s as part of the Terra Nova neighbourhood, now the focus is more on high-rise condos and developing the waterfront.

The Mandarin signs issue is pretty recent and probably matters because it reflects a latent dissatisfaction with the flow of Chinese immigrants into the neighbourhood. But the actual divide between the lists is still about disputes over how to tax property and approve zoning, and it seems the RCC is a ragtag group of pro-developer candidates. No list will go against Brodie, since he's been the face of this development boom and clearly did not expect to have to run any campaign arguing over cultural issues.

[Hatman 🍁]

I don't expect Richmond to be very exciting, obviously, but the language debate is fascinating. We're well accustomed to it in Eastern Canada.

[Hatman 🍁]

Long lines in Vancouver causing some polling stations to stay open until 8:30 and 8:45

[Hatman 🍁]

Linda Hepner elected in Surrey. Turns out it wasn't close at all.

[Hatman 🍁]

Close-ish in Vancouver. Robertson leading by 1400 votes with 52 of 129 polls.

Council is really weird. Vision leading, but shutout of the top 3 spots.

[MaxQue]

With 52/129, Robertson leads by 3000 votes (30400 to 26545), with 6051 votes for COPE.

Council is (with 52/129) NPA (Vision Vancouver) 6, NPA 3, Green 1. The Green candidate is topping the vote by 1500 votes, followed by Affleck and Ball from NPA, 3 Vision, 1 NPA, 3 Vision. The fight for the 10th place is between a Vision and a NPA candidate (20698 to 20041), so roughly 650 votes.

[MaxQue]

Robertson wins by a 10084 votes majority. I would call it a relative success for Vision. They won the important races, but not the school board nor the park commission. 83529 for Vision, 73443 for NPA, 16791 for COPE.

Council: Vision 6, NPA 3, Green 1. Ironically, the Vision candidates are ranked 5th to 10th, NPA 2nd to 4th and the Green topped the poll by 6000 votes.

Park Commission: NPA 4, Green 2, Vision 1. Vision topped the poll (not than it helped them)
School board: Vision 4, NPA 4, Green 1. Vision was less than 200 votes away from outright majority.

[andrew_c]

Two major upsets on Southern Vancouver Island.

Victoria
Incumbent Dean Fortin has lost to challenger Rebecca Helps by 89 votes.

Saanich
Incumbent Frank Leonard will not get a 7th term. He lost by 1026 votes to newcomer Richard Atwell.

[Hatman 🍁]

Amalgamation referendums in the Victoria area passed in every municipality that had ballot questions, except Oak Bay (of course!).

I generally oppose amalgamations, but it if it's the most conservative part of the area that's against it, it can't all be that bad.

[Hatman 🍁]

Unfortunately, Vancouver adopted "vote wherever you want" like they do in Australia, making mapping this election difficult.

In terms of general neighbourhoods though, it looks like the NPA picked up just one neighbourhood, West Point Grey (definitely a swing area, if you payed attention the provincial election).

[DC Al Fine]

Amalgamation referendums in the Victoria area passed in every municipality that had ballot questions, except Oak Bay (of course!).

I generally oppose amalgamations, but it if it's the most conservative part of the area that's against it, it can't all be that bad.

Didn't Oak Bay elect a Green last time?

[Hatman 🍁]

Amalgamation referendums in the Victoria area passed in every municipality that had ballot questions, except Oak Bay (of course!).

I generally oppose amalgamations, but it if it's the most conservative part of the area that's against it, it can't all be that bad.

Didn't Oak Bay elect a Green last time?

Indeed. Being conservative in the Victoria area means voting Green