Pettingill to seek third term on Squamish council

Squamish councillor Chris Pettingill says he will run for another term on District of Squamish council in the October 17 municipal election, and that he will again campaign without accepting any donations.

Pettingill announced his candidacy in a press release on September 10. According to the release, he was first elected in 2018, won a second term in 2022, and paid for both campaigns himself. He said he is doing the same this year.

The release said Pettingill serves as a director of the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District and the Squamish-Lillooet Regional Hospital District, and as First Vice President of the Lower Mainland Local Government Association, a body he said represents local governments covering roughly 70 percent of British Columbia’s population.

Pettingill said the decision to run a third time was not easy.

“It wasn’t an easy decision to run again. Serving on Council has not been ideal for my career, income, free time with family, or stress levels. But I’m still incredibly grateful to live in Squamish, and I can’t accept the gift of living here without giving something back. The work of a community is never done, and I’m here to keep doing that critical work,” he said in the release.

On his decision not to take donations, Pettingill said the aim is to ensure the people elected are those best able to do the job rather than those with the most money to spend. He acknowledged in the release that a campaign without donations is not within every candidate’s means, and said his own has been kept modest and planned for in advance. He said residents who want to volunteer can reach him by email.

The release lists several council decisions Pettingill points to from his two terms. They include a $37.8 million public works facility, more than $19.5 million in diking upgrades, $21 million in wastewater treatment plant upgrades, two new fire halls, and approval of a 60 unit BC Housing supportive housing project on Government Road.

He also cited the creation of the arm’s-length Squamish Housing Society, the waiving of development cost charges and fees for affordable housing developments, and 153 newly zoned or permitted rental units, 22 percent of them below market.

Other items in the release include the district’s acceptance into the province’s Heart and Hearth program for encampments and homelessness, the MÉN̓ MENS TA SMÁNIT childcare facility, and Cheekye debris flow protection. Pettingill said that as a hospital district director, he helped secure most of the funding for a new CT scanner at Squamish General Hospital.

Pettingill said he is campaigning on the same three themes he ran on in 2022, housing and affordability, livability, and safety and security, with reconciliation, equity and climate action shaping how council approaches them.

“These words don’t describe tasks that will ever be finished. They reflect a focus and work that needs to adapt and be pursued on an ongoing basis, adjusting as the world around us evolves,” he said.

On affordability, which he called an especially difficult challenge, Pettingill pointed to global price pressures and the continued demand to live in the area.

“On top of wars, trade wars, supply chain disruptions, and natural disasters that have been pushing up prices globally, Squamish and the Sea-to-Sky Corridor continue to be incredibly desirable places to live. In Canada’s free-market economy, that means we face high upward pressure on our cost of living. But we are working hard at tackling these challenges with every tool available to us, from creating and funding the Squamish Housing Society, to keeping transit fares low, to making land-use decisions that minimize per-capita infrastructure costs,” he said.

Priorities he identified for the next term include infrastructure, self-sufficiency for the Squamish Housing Society, the district’s memorandum of understanding with the Squamish Nation, emergency readiness, community engagement, and meeting provincial housing targets in ways that limit the effects of new growth.

Pettingill said many of the district’s challenges stem from decisions made by the provincial government.

“Many of Squamish’s challenges are shared by communities across B.C., and many of them result from provincial decisions. We have to keep demanding that the Province step up to its responsibilities on housing, homelessness, addictions, mental health, health services, seniors’ care, infrastructure and transit,” he said.

If returned to office, he said, he will join the rest of the LMLGA executive on an advocacy trip to Victoria to raise those issues with provincial ministers.

Pettingill moved to Squamish from Hamilton, Ontario in 2009. A software developer, the release said he has served on the boards of Squamish Arts, Tourism Squamish, the Squamish Chamber of Commerce and Inside Edge, and previously chaired the BC Green Party.

The municipal election takes place on Saturday, October 17.