British Columbia’s municipal elections take place on October 15. Across the province, eligible voters (Canadian citizens over the age of 18) will have the opportunity to vote for their local mayor, councillors, and school boards.
Municipal politics can appear boring. By their nature, local elections don’t have the same widespread coverage and political theatre as federal or even provincial politics. The audience is much smaller, and so is the media coverage. In a lot of ways, however, they’re the most important elections that we have a chance to vote in.
Canada.ca explains that the municipal government oversees local services like parks, libraries, roadways, local police, fire protection, and public transportation, while the school boards oversee our local school districts. Many of these are services that we interact with every day, but voter turnout in municipal elections is typically low: according to CivicInfo BC, in 2018, 35.86 per cent of eligible voters in Abbotsford cast a vote. In Chilliwack it was 38.95 per cent; Mission was 31.71 per cent, and Langley Township only saw 30.42 per cent of voters participate.
Those numbers look low, but they are actually even worse than they sound; it’s important to consider a key word: eligible. In Abbotsford, 33,182 eligible voters cast a vote. CivicInfo BC lists the city as having 92,529 eligible voters. Statistics Canada’s population count for Abbotsford two years prior, in 2016, was 141,397, with the population growing to 153,524 in 2021. Even using 2016’s population, that means approximately 42,869 people living in Abbotsford weren’t eligible to vote, either because they were too young to vote or they were not Canadian citizens.
What all that math means is that 33,182 voters decided on how Abbotsford would be led for four years, impacting the lives of over 100,000 other people in the city. In smaller municipalities, an even smaller number of voters chose the course of their communities.
Why is turnout for municipal elections so low? It comes back to the lack of coverage and awareness, I think. It’s hard to find information on potentially dozens of candidates for a wide range of roles. Local media can help. In this issue, Marie-Ange Routier writes about key points from recent public events, and outlets like the Fraser Valley Current, who have compiled a detailed Municipal Election Hub with links to candidate websites, social media, and interviews. Some organizations also endorse candidates, like the B.C. General Employees Union (BCGEU) who have recommended several candidates in most ridings across B.C. Word of mouth is also powerful in local elections: speaking from personal experience, one like-minded friend sharing their opinion on social media can have a huge impact on my vote.
This month, many of you reading will have the chance to vote in your first municipal election. Take half an hour out of your day to research the candidates so that you can help steer your community in a direction that aligns with your values. Your vote counts more than ever in local elections.
Jeff was The Cascade's Editor in Chief for the latter half of 2022, having previously served as Digital Media Manager, Culture & Events Editor, and Opinion Editor. One time he held all three of those positions for a month, and he's not sure how he survived that. He started at The Cascade in 2016.
