If you live in one of the cities of British Columbia, you may have had to place your vote in this year’s civic election. It’s that time every three years where the B.C. Cities head out to decide their mayor, their school trustees, and their city councilors. Nevertheless it’s always the mayoral election that catches the most attention, especially for the mayor of the City of Vancouver. Whatever the situation, most major cities had very little change in terms of the mayor elected. The biggest changes happened in the smaller cities on the outskirts of Greater Vancouver or in the smaller towns. Here’s a brief wrap-up of which mayors are staying and which are leaving:

RE-ELECTED

VANCOUVER – Gregor Robertson

HIs three-year term of mayor has received huge publicity. It came as he was mayor while Vancouver was the Olympic City and mayor during the time of the Stanley Cup finals. His three-year term as mayor has come with many ups and downs. He sponsored HEAT (Homeless Emergency Action Team) to aid the homeless problem and provide shelters. It has helped the problem to an extent but has faced its own funding issues. He praised the opening of the Canada Line but criticized the construction process. He has mandated for Vancouver to become the “Greenest City on Earth’ but has been criticized for approving the construction of bike lanes down Dunsmuir from Beatty to Hornby. He has headed an amendment for borrowing almost half a billion to fund the 2010 Olympic Village without taxpayers input. He has also made some unguarded comments about Premier Gordon Campbell at a public introduction and profanity-laden comments about the rival civic party NPA which were broadcast on Youtube. He has even admitted partial responsibility for the 2011 Vancouver Riots.

In the 2011, he and his Vision Vancouver party faced stiff rivalry from councilor Suzanne Anton and rival party NPA and Ellen Woodworth and COPE. On election night, Robertson was re-elected mayor with all but two of the council seats won by Vision. The other two seats were won by the NPA party. Vision also kept the control of the Park Board and the School Board. Robertson promises in his term an aggressive agenda to try to end homelessness, raise the profile of green issues and tackle housing affordability.

BURNABY – Derek Corrigan

The election was known more for the forming of a new civic party than of the party that was expected to win. When Burnaby school board passed an anti-homophobia policy, many Burnaby parents were unhappy and formed the Burnaby Parents Voice party with five school board candidates in an attempt to strike down the policy. In the end, it was the left-leaning Burnaby Citizens Association headed by Mayor Derek Corrigan that swept everything, and for the second election in a row. Despite the lack of opposition, Corrigan says he and his Citizens Association will be open, transparent and anything but complacent about ideas and issues.

NEW WESTMINSTER – Wayne Wright

Being a resident of New Westminster, this was one election that was able to distract me from that of the City of Vancouver. Wayne Wright won for the fourth straight time and his win was double the number of votes of his closest rival James Crosty. The downside of the election was that there was only 24% voter turnout. Shame. Wright has been known to push for development in the city, especially after the loss of three pulp mills and the Labatt’s Brewery in the past decade. The last three years have seen a lot of development completed or taking shape like the completed shopping area and the business sector under construction at the Brewery District, the New Westminster Station shopping center which is to be opened next month, the New Westminster Civic Centre which has just started construction and a Pier Park project in the works.

SURREY – Dianne Watts

Her re-election to the mayor’s office was not a surprise. She had already won twice before. What was a surprise was that her Surrey First party swept all the councilor seats and won 81% of the vote. She plans to develop its City Centre into a ‘Second Downtown’ for Greater Vancouver with a new library and City Hall. She also plans to add more police presence and firefighter presence in the city and well as services for at-risk youth and a child advocacy center. She also plans for more seniors services and for more transit access in the city.

RICHMOND – Malcolm Brodie

It was Brodie again for the fourth straight election. His win may not have been the most decisive of the night but it was the quickest of the night. The biggest civic issue he plans to tackle is growth, especially around the Canada Line. He plans on working out an aggressive affordable housing strategy along with ensuring the number of green spaces and recreational facilities.

COQUITLAM – Richard Stewart

Richard Stewart’s biggest pre-election headlines weren’t about the campaign or his issues but about being hit by a car a week ago while campaigning. Despite an aggressive rivalry from Barrie Lynch, Stewart won the election.

NANAIMO – John Ruttan was re-elected mayor of Nanaimo with a convincing win. The council has a mix of some familiar faces and some new faces. This was another city with another low voter percentage: 26%.

VICTORIA – Dean Fortin

Fortin was re-elected for a second term. The capital region saw very little change in the leadership. There were some changes of councilors but most of the original councilors as well as the city’s mayors remained the same.

NEWLY ELECTED

WHISTLER – Nancy Wilhelm-Morden

Wilhelm-Morden won the mayor’s seat beating out incumbent mayor Ken Melamed: 2636 votes to 610. The city’s biggest issues were the transit problems, assisting business, trust between the community and city hall and the unpopular implementation of pay parking.

SQUAMISH – Rob Kirkham

Kirkham was elected Squamish’s new mayor in a close race: 2283 votes to 2104 to incumbent mayor Auli Parvainen. His biggest goal is the town’s oceanfront plan which he sees it key to the town’s prosperity.

LANGLEY – Jack Froese

Mayor Rick Green was often criticized for leading a dysfunctional council. In the end, he lost to newcomer Jack Froese. Froese plans to bring a better future to the community and tackle the town’s urbanization whom many residents feel is growing too fast.

PITT MEADOWS – Deb Walters

Don MacLean was stepping down as mayor of the town. That led to three rivals for the mayor’s seat. In the end, the winner was Deb Walters with 55% of the votes. In the process, she became Pitt Meadows’ first femal mayor.

KELOWNA – Walter Gray

Possible the biggest city to have a change of mayor. Walter Gray has been mayor before but lost to Sharon Shepherd back in 2005. After a six-year absence, Gray was elected back in to the mayor’s seat by a close margin: 47.1% compared to Shepherd’s 45.7%. His goals are to attract investors to Kelowna and create more jobs for the city.

There are more elections that happened in BC but those were the one that received the biggest notice for which seats changed and which remained the same. For most BC residents, there were two elections to pay close attention to: the City of Vancouver and their own city. Every city’s residents have a lot of expectations from their mayor and the councilors over the next three years. Whether they carry them out, and if the outcome is good or bad, is something only the next three years can tell.

WORK CITED:

VANCOUVER SUN: Vancouver Sun, 2011. Canada.com. Postmedia Network Inc. <http://www.vancouversun.com&gt;