Election Season

Municipal election season kicked off today with the official start of nominations being filed and signs going up (although in fewer places than in the past).

On day one in Prince George, there seems to be room for everyone to be acclaimed– two councillors (Jillian Merrick and Albert Koehler) have opted not to run again, and two incumbents have announced their campaigns.

Of the remaining incumbents, we have:

Murry Krause, seeking his seventh term on council

Brian Skakun seeking his sixth

Garth Frizzell seeking his fourth

Frank Everitt seeking his third

Terri McConnachie and Suasn Scott seeking their second

Kyle Sampson and Cori Ramsay are the two newcomers– interestingly, both under 35.

For mayor, so far only incumbent Lyn Hall is in the race.

If that remains the case, it will be the first time since I started covering city politics that there hasn’t been a mayor’s race (and if he wins, it will be the first time in a decade that we haven’t had a new name in the mayor’s position– Colin Kinsley retired in 2008, replaced by former councillor Dan Rogers, who lost to Shari Green in 2011 who herself opted not to run in 2014, the year Hall was elected, defeating past councillor Don Zurowski).

As far as I know, none of the cities in northern B.C. have a mayor’s race set up so far– the incumbents for Quesnel, Terrace, Prince Rupert, Fort St. John and Dawson Creek have all said they will run again, but I’ve yet to see any sign of a challenger. I’m not sure what, if anything, that says about the state of municipal politics in the north.

But we still have ten days left…