Several current councillors are running again, including Jenna Stoner for mayor, and John French, Andrew Hamilton and Chris Pettingill for Council. Unlike first-time candidates, incumbents offer voters more than promises. They have a record.
Stoner, French and Pettingill have served two terms on Council. Hamilton has served one. That’s enough time for voters to look at what they said they would do, what they actually did and what they’re promising now. For context, I ran for Council in 2018 and for mayor in 2022, unsuccessfully both times.
I also know firsthand how personal and negative municipal politics can become. My family, particularly my kids, still feels the effects of some of the negativity surrounding those campaigns. I have no interest in participating in that or attacking anyone personally.
But asking elected officials to account for their records isn’t personal. It’s part of the job.
Infrastructure and recreation
Stoner’s campaign points to two new fire halls, an expanded wastewater treatment plant and a new Public Works facility among the accomplishments of her eight years on Council.
Those are important projects. But planning for the fire halls and Public Works facility started before Stoner, French and Pettingill were elected. The need for wastewater treatment plant upgrades was also identified years before they were elected.
Brennan Park has received significant investment too. The two current retrofit projects have combined budgets of more than $35 million. They’re important upgrades, but they still don’t give Squamish a second ice sheet or a second pool.
The District discussed the need for more ice in its 2002 Parks and Recreation Master Plan. By 2018, it had a detailed concept for a second rink estimated at roughly $23 million, before soft costs and equipment.
Eight years later, we still don’t have a funded second sheet. Another Recreation Centre Task Force is now looking at what we need, what it might cost and how we’re going to pay for it. We’ve known for more than 20 years that we needed more recreation capacity. Since then, Squamish has grown dramatically, and construction costs have kept rising. Waiting hasn’t made the need or the eventual price tag any smaller.
At some point, we need to figure out how we’ll pay for it and get on with it.
Spending
In 2018, French campaigned on pushing for a budget that would produce a maximum 1.5% tax increase for the average Squamish residential property owner. A lot has changed since then. Squamish isn’t immune to inflation, and taxes sometimes need to go up, too. My issue isn’t simply that taxes went up. It’s whether we’re getting value for what we’re paying.
Now both Stoner and French are talking about zero-based budgeting. It may be worth looking at. But zero-based budgeting is a budgeting approach, not a solution. It doesn’t tell voters what either candidate would actually cut, change or prioritize differently.
They’ve both been through eight municipal budgets. What significant spending did they propose cutting, changing or deferring? If departments should now have to justify their spending from the ground up, why weren’t those questions being asked before?
Zero-based budgeting may be a useful tool, but it shouldn’t just become another campaign buzzword. Tell us what you would actually change.
Parking
In 2022, Hamilton called parking one of the most common frustrations residents shared. He said he struggled to see how a Squamish resident could manage without a car and supported a downtown parkade. Now he’s talking about removing off-street parking requirements and charging the “right prices” for street parking, which he explains with an extended ice cream analogy.
Those ideas may have good economic arguments. But that doesn’t necessarily solve the parking problems people deal with every day.
Hamilton is allowed to change his mind. Does he still support the downtown parkade he campaigned on? If so, where does it fit now? If not, what changed?
Housing
Stoner’s campaign says 446 “below-market homes” were built during her eight years on Council, with another 300-plus on the way.
That’s a big number. But “below-market” doesn’t necessarily mean affordable. How are the rents set? How many units are income-tested or rent-geared-to-income? Affordable to whom?
The number also includes Centrepoint, completed before Stoner was elected, and major projects such as Westwinds, Spirit Creek and Under One Roof that were already being planned or advanced before Stoner, French and Pettingill were elected.
Council deserves credit for helping move projects forward and securing below-market units through development. But that’s different from taking credit for every unit completed while you’re on Council.
So, break the 446 down. What did this Council initiate? What did it fund or secure through development? And if another 300-plus are “on the way,” how many are funded, approved or actually under construction?
French is also campaigning on housing affordability. He says long waits for permits add to the final cost of housing and that managing those wait times requires constant monitoring.
After eight years on Council, have permitting times improved? If not, what’s going to change in the next four years that couldn’t be changed in the last eight?
Woodfibre LNG
Whatever your opinion of the project, the District doesn’t have approval authority over WLNG itself. It does control certain municipal permits connected to it.
Chris Pettingill’s opposition to WLNG isn’t new. Before being elected, he was involved with an organization that had spent years actively campaigning against the project. In 2022, he stated that he opposed both WLNG and the proposed floatel. He’s entitled to those positions.
But in 2024, Pettingill, Stoner, Hamilton and Greenlaw voted against authorizing a temporary-use permit for the floatel proposed to house project workers. If Council couldn’t stop the project itself, what was the goal of refusing the workforce accommodation?
The Province later intervened, WLNG withdrew that application, and Council ultimately approved a new floatel permit in 2025.
Today, WLNG has three legal proceedings against the District. In one, the company alleges that the District and members of Council improperly used municipal powers to delay or obstruct the project, citing the 2024 floatel decision among its allegations. Those allegations haven’t been proven in court.
Given Pettingill’s long-standing opposition to WLNG, I think it’s fair to ask whether the floatel decision was about the accommodation proposal itself or became another way to oppose the project. What was Council trying to accomplish, and did it get the best result for Squamish
Engagement
Stoner is now campaigning on earning residents’ trust through better communication and engagement. French’s current platform says, “I’ll listen,” and promises residents he’ll do everything he can to make sure they feel they were authentically heard.
After eight years on Council, I think it’s fair to look at their records on that too. I’ve personally written to members of Council about difficult issues, including encampments and concerns about heavy construction use on environmentally sensitive lands at Garibaldi Springs.
Most of the time, I get no response. When I do, it often doesn’t answer the questions I’ve asked. Disagreement doesn’t bother me. People aren’t always going to agree. But listening means more than asking people for their input. It means responding, answering reasonable questions and explaining your decisions.
None of this means Council has accomplished nothing. It has. And no councillor controls every decision. They’re one vote at a table of seven. But incumbents can’t have it both ways. They can’t take personal credit for the successes of the last four or eight years while campaigning to fix the shortcomings of those same years.
Priorities change. Circumstances change. People change their minds. That’s normal. But after one or two terms in office, voters should expect more than another list of promises. Ask yourself a simple question: Is Squamish a better place to live and raise a family than it was four or eight years ago?
Then, before asking incumbents what they’re going to do, ask them what they did. Campaign season shouldn’t reset the clock.
Mike Young ran for mayor in the 2022 Squamish municipal election. The views expressed in this column are his own.
