Voters in Sechelt decided not to keep the change they made in 2014 and opted for a completely different change in Saturday’s municipal election.
Incumbent mayor Bruce Milne was soundly defeated by Darnelda Siegers, who has been effectively in the race to succeed Milne since late 2016 when she announced she would be running for mayor, after abandoning an effort to get nominated as the BC Liberal candidate in the 2017 provincial election.
Saturday’s preliminary vote count put Siegers at 2,513 to Milne’s 1,111. Al Holt finished with 487 votes.
There was also a complete turnover on council with Alice Lutes, Mike Shanks, Doug Wright and Darren Inkster all being rejected by voters in favour of Janice Kuester (2,513 votes), Brenda Rowe (2,295 votes), Eric Scott (2,042 votes), Alton Toth (1,989 votes), Matt McLean (1,773 votes), and Tom Lamb (1,622 votes).
Lamb served on council with Siegers from 2011 to 2014 under then-mayor John Henderson.
Voter turnout was down, dropping to 48.7 per cent from 58 per cent in 2014.
Both Milne and Siegers said they were surprised at the vote margin and were expecting a much closer contest, as were many of the supporters at both candidates’ election-night gatherings.
In speaking to his supporters before going to meet Siegers and offer congratulations, Milne also suggested organization and groundwork may have been the difference.
“This is quite surprising. I really didn’t feel this coming… They were working really hard to get their vote out,” Milne said.
Later, offering a brief concession speech at Buccaneers Restaurant where Siegers and her supporters were gathered for the evening, Milne said, “There’s a lot ahead of you now, and Darnelda knows that and she’ll work hard to make sure Sechelt’s on the path that it needs to be… This election is over and [it was] very clearly an indication from the community on what direction they wanted to go.”
Siegers’ campaign theme was “Courage to Lead” – she said under Milne, Sechelt was missing opportunities, like federal funding for airport expansion and the Trellis long-term care project.
“We’ve done a lot of work to identify and mobilize who my supporters were,” said Siegers, crediting groundwork and getting out the vote.
In her victory speech, Siegers pledged to follow through on promises to “be a strong, determined voice at the SCRD table to ensure we have a reliable water supply, to address and ensure the establishment of affordable housing, to create a vibrant downtown … to be an ambassador for our community to attract and expand our commercial and industrial sector, [and] to collaborate with and create synergy with our shíshálh neighbours and all our neighbours up and down the Coast.”
She also reached out to those on the opposite side of what had been a very polarizing campaign and one Milne said included “a lot of innuendo, smears and misinformation.”
“The race is over, and now we draw a line in the sand,” Siegers said. “To those who voted for my opponents, please know that as your mayor I’m committed to listening to you and to working for you in the years ahead as well. I’m here for every single resident of Sechelt … In light of this win, and the team of councillors that you the community have assembled tonight, I’m confident this signals a new era of collaboration.”
The inaugural meeting of the new Sechelt council will be Nov. 7. Once sworn in, Siegers and the council will hold a brief meeting to choose Sechelt’s two representatives to the SCRD.
