It’s hard to say if four-year terms for local governments are changing how candidates approach elections, but here on the Sunshine Coast the election cycle leading up to Oct. 20, 2018 definitely got off to an early start.
We marked the start date on Oct. 5, 2016, when Sechelt councillor Darnelda Siegers announced she’d run for mayor.
Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) director Mark Lebbell of Roberts Creek confirmed earlier this year he will not seek re-election, and doubtless more people will be throwing their hats into, or pulling them out of, the ring soon.
As well as getting off to an early start, election season on the Sunshine Coast has gotten interesting.
Last week we covered School District No. 46 (SD46) chair Lori Pratt’s intention to run for SCRD director in Halfmoon Bay, hoping to replace the retiring Garry Nohr.
Pratt said she’s also ready to run for both school board and the SCRD, if no one else comes forward as a school trustee candidate in her area.
This week we learned Nohr may not be ready to retire after all (see our front page story).
One of the reasons he gave for keeping the door open to running for one more term was, “I would hate to see somebody get in by acclamation and not have to do the work and go around and talk to the people.”
Acclamations are a well-established part of our local politics.
At least one SCRD director has been acclaimed in each of the three local government elections since 2008, including Nohr in 2014. Four of seven SD46 school trustees were acclaimed in the 2014 vote. Pratt was acclaimed in both 2014 and 2011.
At the Sechelt Indian Government District Advisory Council – the Sunshine Coast’s least well-known and most unique local government body, which represents people living on shíshálh Nation lease lands – acclamations have been the rule rather than the exception. Not one of the seats has been contested since 2008.
The Sunshine Coast’s numbers aren’t unusual for regional districts or school boards in the province. Acclamations at the municipal level are more rare, in part because of the at-large system used to elect councillors.
Our view is that acclamations aren’t especially troubling and are often a sign, especially in rural areas, of a community consensus that the candidate in question is the right one for the job or, if they’re an incumbent, has done the job well.
Nohr’s concern with the possibility of an acclamation in Halfmoon Bay raises an interesting point, though.
He said he’s worried a candidate heading for acclamation wouldn’t go out and do the work of talking to the people they’ll represent.
The flip-side of that, however, is the candidate who runs “just to make it a race” or on the principle that nobody should be acclaimed. That’s not good enough.
To be clear, we don’t believe that’s Garry Nohr’s motivation for keeping his options open, but with the campaign season drawing closer, it’s something for other potential candidates to keep in mind.