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COLUMN: Delta is still a great place to live – and that should be good news for incumbents

October’s municipal election will likely produce few surprises in Delta
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In Delta, three candidates are running for mayor, 14 candidates are vying for the six councillor seats and 16 candidates are running for the seven seats on the Delta Board of Education. (James Smith photo)

The nomination papers are in, and Delta voters will be asked to choose from three mayoralty candidates, 14 candidates for the six councillor seats and 16 candidates for the seven seats on the Delta Board of Education. Voting day is less than a month away - Saturday, Oct. 15.

Delta elections have historically fallen into one of two categories. One sees voters hungry for change - usually due to a specific council or school board action, but sometimes as part of a wider trend that goes beyond Delta. The most dramatic election of this nature was in 1990, when anger over proposed rezoning of the Spetifore farm property in South Delta saw the mayor and all but two councillors turfed.

The other is when voters show an indifference that borders on apathy. This usually means a low voter turnout and a small number of candidates. Occasionally, this even leads to acclamation (where there are only enough candidates to fill the vacant positions).

It appears that this year’s election falls into the latter category. While there are four vacant council seats (with only two incumbent councillors running again), few are stepping up to the plate to replace them.

There is only one slate putting forward a full contingent of candidates - Achieving For Delta. The slate is headed by incumbent Mayor George Harvie, who is completing his first term as mayor. It is running six candidates for councillor, including the two incumbents seeking re-election - Couns. Dylan Kruger and Alicia Guichon. Two incumbent school trustees are also running for council with the slate - Daniel Boisvert and Jessie Dosanjh. The other two AFD candidates are newcomers Rod Binder and Jennifer Johal.

The other eight candidates for councillor are all independents, as are Harvie’s two challengers for the mayor’s chair. None have council experience, and at this point in time, it seems that they will all have an uphill battle to win election.

Running for councillor are Maha Balakumar and Brian Read, who are campaigning as a team, and Duncan Callander, Matt Graves, Julien Jacques, Moneca Kolvyn, Stephen Sun and Pamela Swanigan. Running for mayor are Joginder Randhawa and Peter van der Velden.

Three slates are contesting seats on the school board. Achieving For Delta is running seven candidates - two of them incumbents. Current board chair Val Windsor, who ran last time as an independent, has joined the slate. Also seeking re-election is Trustee Erica Beard. The other AFD candidates are Nimmi Daula, Ammen Dhillon, Masako Gooch, Maury Kask and Joe Muego.

Two other incumbents, Trustees Nick Kanakos and Bruce Reid, have joined forced as Independents Working For You. Four other candidates, Nuno Antunes, Carmen Halpenny, Alisa Horth and Daniel Tonn, are seeking election with the Parents Voice BC organization. Three other candidates are running as independents. They are Andrea DeWoff, Joseph Kurdziel and Whitney Saip Dyck

SEE ALSO: Affordable housing a top priority for voters in municipal election in Metro Vancouver

Parents Voice BC is an unusual slate. It is a “school district elector organization dedicated to electing independent candidates for school trustee that will put the needs of students and families first,” according to its website. It is also endorsing candidates who are seeking office in nine other school districts. PVBC candidates are also seeking election in Surrey, Chilliwack. Coquitlam, Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows and Mission school districts on the Lower Mainland, as well as four other Interior districts.

There have been many slates contesting Delta elections over the years - Delta Electors Committee, Delta Voters Association, Citadel (Citizens Association of Delta), IDEA (Independent Delta Electors Association), Achieving For Delta and several others. Slates allow individual candidates to pool resources for campaigns, which is very helpful in a far-flung municipality with three distinct communities.

Membership in slates is very fluid, with candidates often jumping from one slate to another. IDEA, which was far and away the most successful slate of the 1990s, was partially made up of former Citadel members.

It is problematic to compare Delta elections to Surrey elections, as sometimes happens – particularly in North Delta, which shares a border with Surrey and is influenced by the much larger city to the east. For one thing, growth in Delta is happening at a much slower pace and thus is less of a driving force in elections. Fewer than 34,000 people have moved to Delta in the past 40 years – a rate of growth of fewer than 1,000 people per year.

For another, there are only rare occasions when issues move to the top of the agenda and influence election outcomes. In Surrey, that is a regular occurrence.

This year’s election will likely produce few surprises. There are no dominant issues in the campaign thus far. Voters seem satisfied with the stewardship of Harvie and his slate.

Delta does have issues of course. Among them are the continuing daily congestion at the Alex Fraser Bridge and the George Massey Tunnel, and the very slow pace of the tunnel replacement project.

The expansion of the port at Roberts Bank is also an issue. Some Delta residents are concerned about the environmental impact of expansion, and the project has undergone a lengthy environmental review.

Affordability of housing is also an important issue, although the municipality can only do so much to reduce costs. Most notably, it can approve projects quickly and look carefully at the fees it charges. But the challenges will remain, because housing affordability is a national problem.

Overall, Delta remains a good place to live, and most residents are happy to live there. That level of contentment is usually good news for incumbents.

Frank Bucholtz is a former long-time editor with Black Press Media.