Elected office, and particularly the Mayor, requires individuals with the ability to understand the problem, see a solution, and pursue it. It's not ribbon cuttings and photo ops. It's not a job one can do off the side of their desk. Communities do not fail for a lack of good ideas; they fail because of a lack of political will to act on them. Every community has seen both kinds of leadership: Leaders who gather information, discuss, debate, and decide vs leaders who dither, defer, and avoid making hard decisions because someone might disagree with them. Having political will is not stubbornness or arrogance. It is the discipline to serve the long-term best interest of the community, even when the short-term political cost is real.
How long has Fernie been waiting for a new, purpose-built fire hall? How much might it have cost to maintain the Community Center, instead of having to rebuild it? You’ve heard it around this council table: “We need to hear more from the community.” “Now is not the right time. We have other priorities.” These questions are the art form of avoiding difficult choices. They are shields against accountability. Inaction on decisions compounds the cost of the eventual decision and foists the weight of the eventual decision onto future councils. Our current infrastructure funding gap didn’t occur because of a lack of information, it grew because of a lack of political will to set taxes at a responsible level to cover the cost of maintenance and eventual replacement. This Political Won’t rarely makes headlines. It accumulates invisibly, in the form of projects that never start, decisions that don’t get made, and problems that fester and arrive on a future council’s agenda, larger than they needed to be. The irony is, avoiding controversy in the short term just generates far greater controversy down the road, when the consequences of that inaction rear their ugly head.
Political Will is not about steamrolling process nor ignoring community input. Once elected, Council must consider ALL of the community and everyone’s perspective, not just those people who voted for them. Political will requires the courage to follow the prescribed process and proceed even when votes don’t always go your way. There is a difference between consultation and analysis paralysis. Good leaders listen deeply and decide clearly. Poor leaders continue to seek consultation as a means of avoiding exercising their judgement. The best example I can offer, is one I’ve lived through, our firehall siting decision. The City went through a robust consultation process, solicited expressions of interest from private land owners who may wish to sell their property for the purpose of building a firehall, and extensive land inventory assessment of feasible sites already owned by the City, and a robust community engagement. Many members of the community came out to share their thoughts and feelings around 902 as the location, as well as Prentice Park Field.
After listening to all concerns, and distilling the pros and cons of both sites, I voted against choosing Prentice Park. I was in the losing minority. The vote passed 4-3 to proceed with Prentice Park as the location. The process was fair, open, and consultative. The decision was made. From that point forward, I voted in support of moving the project forward. Our process and procedure were challenged to the Supreme Court, but the verdict was clear. The process was fair, and as the Justice wrote: “ The City is tasked with making difficult decisions including, in this case, where to locate public emergency facilities. I am satisfied that it took reasonable steps to assess the lands as a location for the firehall and engaged in a comprehensive consultation process to that end. While not every member of the community supports the Council’s decision, there is no requirement for a plebiscite or agreement of the whole of the community. The Council must make the decision affecting the community. As long as the process was fair and reasonable, and I find that it was, it is not open to this Court to override the Council’s decision: Tantalus at Paradise Valley Inc. v. Squamish (District), 2025 BCSC 1599 at para. 65; Onni Wyndansea Holdings Ltd. v. Ucluelet (District), 2023 BCCA 342 at para. 72.”
Elected officials must govern through consultation, deliberation, and judgement. Vocal opposition is not the same as a majority opposition, and Council cannot govern based on who shows up the angriest. Political will is sustainable when the reasoning is based on public transparency, shared data, and the community trusts that decisions were made in accordance with established procedure.
Right now, the community needs Political Will. We have a number of issues facing our community, many of which will require tax dollars to be spent to support the community. Whether it is increased density to increase net value per acre, and disperse tax revenue into smaller portions for the same sized pie, or increasing tax revenue to start building a reserve balance that supports the replacement costs of aging infrastructure, we need Political Will to make these difficult decisions. We will need Political Will to ensure that DCCs cover the true costs of growth, and Political Will to ensure this fiscal discipline continues beyond the next 4 years.
Communities get the leadership they elect. These next 4 years are about whether we want to elect a leader who is willing to continue the work the last two Councils have implemented, or choose a leadership style that doesn’t. Many of the decisions that our next council will face will have stiff opposition. Voters can choose a council that will choose to wait, or a council that will choose to act. My commitment is that every decision made will be explained in a clear fashion so that the long term impacts of it are understood.
If we want a community that includes teachers, nurses, tradespeople, and young families, then we need to recognize the need to make tough decisions, today. If we want to grow old here, and ensure this is a community our children can live in, then we need a council that has the Political Will to move forward on rebuilding reserves, implement tax rates that responsibly cover the true cost of asset use, and not shy away from investing in necessary infrastructure.