 A chart-based look at how city halls across B.C. changed this election | | |  | | | Sometimes, narratives and reality can contrast.
Consider much of the conversation since last week’s elections across British Columbia: a blowout win for ABC Vancouver, a massive decline in turnout and a wave of change across the province.
But when you zoom out and crunch the numbers — and provide some charts — a slightly different picture emerges in all three areas.
First, the Vancouver mayoral race: Ken Sim’s 51 per cent of the vote was certainly much larger than Kennedy Stewart’s 29 per cent in 2018. But historically speaking, it marked a return to how Vancouver elections have usually happened: of Vancouver’s 20 general elections between 1968 and 2014, the winning candidate received an average of 54 per cent of the vote, often with similar margins of victory to Sim.
A big mandate, yes, but not a historically significant one.
|  | Second, turnout: it was certainly down from four years ago, even in some places with very competitive elections, and that’s nothing to be thrilled about.
But it was higher than in 2008, similar to 2011, and within the “normal” range of what we’ve seen in many municipalities over the decades, including Vancouver. |  |  | And as for that “wave of change” at city halls?
The truth is there will be less turnover in B.C. municipal government this election compared to 2018. More incumbents were re-elected, and the number of new mayors will be smaller. |  |  | You can certainly focus on the changes in Vancouver and Kamloops, and there are individual stories there worth considering and lessons to be learned from the losing candidates.
But there was one change at city halls that is historically different — one of demographic diversity. |  | The number of BIPOC candidates elected was a record high in Metro Vancouver. They now make up nearly 19 per cent of mayors and councillors in the region, a nearly 60 per cent increase from four years ago. Burnaby now has a city hall where a majority of councillors are people of colour — reflecting the city’s census data, and the first time it’s ever happened in a major B.C. municipality.
And a record number of women were elected as mayors or councillors as well — 38 per cent across the province, all told. |  | Those changes weren’t the ones that made the biggest headlines in the days after the election.
But they’re the ones that might have the longest impact. | | | | |  | | | If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the map of where Sim (in blue) and Stewart (in yellow) won polling stations on Saturday night, which you can look at in a more interactive version in the Vancouver Sun.
It shows the broad coalition Sim was able to produce, but it’s also worth noting that most of the areas Sim turned from 2018 were diverse communities on the city’s eastside, from Renfrew-Collingwood to Champlain Heights.
And should you be interested, you can see similar breakdowns for Surrey, Prince George, and Kamloops. | | |  | | | 3. Close races | But there were places with much closer races than Surrey, including Castlegar (five votes for mayor), Alberni Valley (four votes for school trustee) and West Kelowna (one vote for council). And there was even a tie — Canal Flats, where election night showed a tie, and a judicial recount will now go ahead. And if that results in a tie? It’s a random draw out of a box — something we saw in Peachland four years ago. Read more in Castanet | | | | | |  | | | 4. Port Moody/North Van | Another close race happened in Port Moody, where Coun. Amy Lubik finished two spots out of the final spot to David Stuart, who is the chief administrative officer for North Vancouver District. Stuart lives in Port Moody and has said he won’t be sitting on any regional committees to avoid a conflict of interest — but the arrangement is definitely unusual.
Read more in the North Shore News | | | |  | | | 5. Squamish | The election is over, but the questions around an anonymous group in Squamish that poured tens of thousands of dollars into attacking several politicians continues. Incoming mayor Armand Hurford has asked the B.C. Supreme Court to force Go Daddy to disclose the name and mailing address of whomever created the Squamish Voices website. Read more in Business in Vancouver | | | | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
forwarded to you. | | | | That's it for this week! In the meantime, check out the latest headlines at cbc.ca/bc and follow our municipal affairs reporter Justin McElroy on Twitter. And if you have any questions you might want answered in a future mailbag, drop Justin a line at metromatters@cbc.ca. | | | |
