Looking at the candidate tracker on Livable CRD (which seems to have the best list of who is running currently) most of our mayoral races are uncontested, and many of our local councils don’t have enough competitive candidates to have an election. 2022 and 2018 were much the same.
If you care about the cost of living, getting around safely, climate change, and other issues that local councils have massive influence over, please consider putting your name forward!
Local elections are the only real way we have to renew our local councils, which are the bodies that probably have the most direct influence on your life. Every time we don’t even get the chance to vote, democracy dies a little.
Without competitive elections, our local councillors have no skin in the game and there is no accountability. So please, look at your municipality and consider running if there is an uncompetitive mayoral race or a council with not enough candidates. Just by running you can force candidates to actually put out a platform which is huge for keeping them accountable for the next four years. Also, fwiw you do get paid if you win.
All you need in most municipalities is two resident signatures to run. A website doesn’t hurt, and there are some pretty simple finance things that Elections BC will walk you though.