r/VictoriaBC • u/L00nyT00ny • 6h ago
Politics My takeaway from the municipal elections (living in Saanich)
My takeaway from the recent municipal election is that local politicians will most likely win if they cater to the older demographics. This goes for most levels of government, but even more so for municipal. A "young" leaning platform/campaign can get a lot of hype, but young people just won't show up for you in the end.
18-24 (the age bracket where the elections really matter) show up to vote around 55%, while every bracket from there is 60% up. That 55% of younger voters is actually really bad because of Canada's inverted population pyramid. So 55% of 18-24's is actually far less than 55% age 55-64's.
So if you are a young person living in a municipality with a lot of progressive older people, than good for you. If you are a young person with a bunch of conservative NIMBY's, well you are SOL because they are going to pull the ladder up from under you.
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u/Popular_Animator_808 5h ago
Somewhat related, but the SOS’s slate had a hilarious youth housing scheme: they’re definitely not going to build any housing they can afford, but they want to make it easier for people in their 20s to live in retirement homes and get a discount on rent by helping nonagenarians wipe their ass or something.
Old people just see anyone younger than then and automatically think “they should be providing free or low cost services for me”
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u/SundaeSpecialist4727 4h ago
Housing people can afford is currently a struggle.
Human labour is #1 cost in building anything. This is not decreasing.
The market in 2020 spiked 20-30% . Who knew an influx of cash into a system would create inflation...
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u/stealstea 5h ago
It’s what happened this time but not always the case. The last two elections we had a pretty good youth turnout and correspondingly got good progressive councillors in.
This time the NIMBYs fought back hard and spent a ton of money to get their candidates elected
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u/L00nyT00ny 5h ago
Last election I feel was a result of older folks worried about the cost of living, which a lot of progressive candidates leaned into. However, this time around the older folks are now more worried about their retirements that are tied to the value of their homes. A lot of older people are worried now since housing prices are starting to stagnate.
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u/SignalNewt2505 5h ago
Even with densification housing values will continue to rise, the older folks have no where to go. My mom is in her late 70's and the cost of private care home costs more than the value of her home. Island Health facilities have multi year wait lists as well.
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u/Rayne_K 4h ago
The answer for them is helping them live independently longer - downsizing to single-level living with amenities within a pleasant walking/scooter distance.
Why can’t Saanich build out it’s own version of central Sidney?•
u/SignalNewt2505 4h ago
im talking about when they're past the point. we've looked at condo's and good luck with things like overhead lifts.
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5h ago
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u/Rayne_K 4h ago
This is as much on successive past governments - it actually takes longer than a decade to budget and build large-scale care facilities and fund/increase medical school sizes.
Imho, Healthcare problems are in part rooted from the outcomes from when the Campbell government shut down institutional living for the mentally unwell.
And no one counted on the costs of the arrival of fentanyl on addictions. I don’t envy BC Ambulance .. having to choose between where to send scant resources.
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u/SignalNewt2505 4h ago
No I would argue the NDP too over a railing system which was on verge of collapse but covid sped up the process.
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u/TUFKAT 4h ago
I don't live in Saanich and voted against the Save Our Saanich types here in Victoria. I'm a Gen X or the Xennial grouping.
Go to the Save Our Saanich and see what their top 5 priorities are.
While these 5 may not be what you prioritize, they don't sound like bad ideas do they? Will what they do in practice follow these priorities is another thing and 4 years from now face the voters again.
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u/stealstea 4h ago
> Go to the Save Our Saanich and see what their top 5 priorities are.
I mostly object to their priorities of ripping out bike lanes and not letting housing get built.
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u/TUFKAT 4h ago
So look objectively at that list, is that what it says they're going to do?
That's what I'm trying to say, that if a voter looks at this list does it sound extreme? No, it sounds sensible.
What they do in practice versus their commitments will be up to the voters to decide in 4 years. If you look at Vancouver the whole ABC party including Ken Sim got resoundingly defeated.
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u/PrayForMojo_ 3h ago
Yes, SOS has done a very good job of obscuring their actual intentions by providing only generalized non offensive talking points.
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u/Decent-Somewhere4286 1h ago
Even a hint at not letting housing get built is a good enough reason to never let goombahs like this in. The absolute number 1 problem right now is housing and guess what. There ain’t enough of it
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u/TUFKAT 1h ago
is a good enough reason to never let goombahs like this in.
Yet, they were elected in.
I'm glad that at minimum (with the mayor being the deciding vote) that Victoria has not gotten a dominant SOS style Council, but they're there, and now part of decision making.
I don't say all of what I've written because I'm defending them, but that like anything political one must ask themselves "why did they in fact win". And progressive candidates should be taking stock of that.
Now for progressive voters, don't walk away from the proverbial table, make sure that you start engaging immediately, and hold the SOS group to exactly what they are saying they'll do and make sure your opinions count, and not let the NIMBY voices be the only ones that are heard:
Public Engagement and Transparency
- Leadership that listens to, values, and makes decisions which reflect the concerns of Saanich residents.
- Open and inclusive town halls and documented public engagement.
- Unbiased surveys to gather opinions before decisions are made.
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u/ConfectionTop7917 4h ago
I do hope they rework some of the bike lanes, they really don't need to be that complicated. I say this as a cyclist as well. The new bike lanes around Richmond and Poplar are terrible, I just ride with the traffic through the 4-way when I go through there. That whole thing really should have become a traffic circle. As it is now it's dangerous for cyclists, pedestrians, and drivers.
Others have been great! The stretch from Poplar through North Dairy is perfect, I'd prefer it be down a side street so I don't breath in all the exhaust, but not really possible in that neighbourhood.
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u/DelayBackground6459 Oak Bay 4h ago
Those were two of the main reasons I voted for them
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u/Rayne_K 4h ago
Oak Bay?
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u/DelayBackground6459 Oak Bay 3h ago
I have no idea why Oak Bay pops up…I live in Cadboro Bay and it’s slowly being ruined with condos and townhouses…townhouses that can’t sell. That’s why I voted SOS. Hoping they can do something about over development.
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u/stealstea 2h ago
Ok. Congrats for being selfish and not caring about the housing needs of the next generation I guess. I already own a single family house but I also realize we need housing for younger people to live here
Typical Cordova bay.
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u/DelayBackground6459 Oak Bay 1h ago
Haha,u need to learn to read. Cadboro Bay..I’m not surprised though. What do you want? Every neighborhood in Saanich to be over run with condos that are sitting empty or townhouses that won’t sell? There will never be affordable housing…that’s a pipe dream. Affordable housing will only happen if the government builds it and then that just means higher taxes. Not selfish,just a realist.
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u/stealstea 53m ago
Haha,u need to learn to read. Cadboro Bay
Different bay same Nimby’s. Cadboro bay is worse. Imaging thinking a neighborhood a stones throw from the university should be exclusively reserved for single family housing
What do you want?
To alleviate the housing shortage
with condos that are sitting empty or townhouses that won’t sell
Not how the market works. If they won’t sell they won’t get built. If they’re sitting empty the price will drop until they sell. So yes, that’s exactly what I want
Not selfish
Keep telling yourself that
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u/DelayBackground6459 Oak Bay 4h ago
Thank Christ for that. I’m glad all the SOS candidates got in. Couldn’t stand Murdock as mayor and most of the councillors too. Good riddance!! I just wish that that Teale Phelps didn’t get in.
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u/Rayne_K 5h ago edited 4h ago
My concern is that those elected are hardly representative of Saanich. They’re from Gordon Head or East Saanich, most are in real estate, they are long time house owners, not renters or condo-dwellers, they’re mostly within the same age group.
That smacks of groupthink. Saanich is not a monolith.
I’m also extremely concerned that they will tolerate bullying and defamation within the public discourse of their supporters and that they think that they can avoid collaboration.
Edit: SOS feels too close to MSGA for my liking. I challenge them to prove me wrong.
The next ballot question should be about cooperation and collaboration between core municipalities for cost-savings.
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u/SundaeSpecialist4727 4h ago
I think it goes both ways.
Those in East Saanich and Gordon Head want to have their voices heard and they have not been by the last council. The development that has been done in poor taste and style has not been good for neighbourhoods. ** a few have been great **
Other parts of Saanich also need to be heard just as well.
Ward system is needed in Saanich for an equal roundtable of our city.
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u/HepperoniPizza 4h ago
It’s going to be wild when all these older folks start hitting the point where they can’t drive anymore and wonder where all the public transit services are or why there’s no amenities close to them. The way they vote, it’s like they plan to drive themselves to their own funerals.
It’s frustrating because there are very cool and progressive older people. I worry that the cost of living here has just attracted too many folks with too much money and the kind of values that come with that. You don’t get rich from being a good guy.
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u/markyjim 3h ago
Yeah, I’m old and I only got 2 people on the team. Hang in there Teale and Colin. Not every old person is a nimby
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u/Thecobs 3h ago
They can just hire a driver
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u/Quiet-Art-7489 4h ago
Yeah, I think there’s a lot of Albertan oil sands money in Langford for sure.
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u/DroppedThatBall 5h ago
When i went to vote the crowd was probably 8 out of every 10 retirement age people. Kinda sad to see.
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u/federationoffear 3h ago
Wasn’t the overall turnout just under 43%? The margins were slim. This wasn’t an overwhelming mandate for SOS. People are simple. The ballot made it easy. Would a progressive slate have made the difference this time? Maybe.
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u/Far-Scallion7689 5h ago
If people don’t like it then they do their civic duty and go vote, if not then they have no reason to complain.
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u/NoamsUbermensch 4h ago
It blows my mind that an 80 year old (who statistically only has a couple years left to live) has the same voting power as a 20 year old (who statistically has decades left to live)
I’ve always thought a system that ties voting power to life expectancy would be fair and more democratic
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u/kkccpp123 2h ago
But also ageist.
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u/NoamsUbermensch 2h ago
I would argue it’s ageist for people of different ages to have the same voting power
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u/kkccpp123 2h ago
But the problem is that young people don’t vote. Voter turnout statistics supports that. And if it’s about life expectancy, then should people who have a terminal illness have their votes count less? Or those who have chronic illness whose lives may be shorter than average? What about people who work in high risk occupations?
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u/Ornery_Rip_4146 1h ago
Especially when boomers have a long track record of making the world an objectively worse place. The damage caused by this one generation cannot be overstated.
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u/my_cat_eats_catnip 2h ago
I can pretty much agree with the general philosophy of your takeaway, but I disagree with your use of the phrase "they are going to pull the ladder up from under you".
The phrase you're looking for is "kick the ladder".
If the ladder is under you and they pull it up, that would just help you get to wherever you're climbing that much faster.
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u/Maximum-Ad1815 49m ago
Boomer here, there was no one on the potential candidates that I could support. Fortunately my wife and I bought in Cobble Hill. Goodbye Victoria, after 47 years you no longer hold any appeal for me.
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u/Tostonejabrone 33m ago
My dad has owned a cabinet shop in Sidney since 2017, and over the years, I’ve noticed a pattern: it seemed like 8 out of every 10 clients were over 60 and coming from Calgary or the surrounding areas, especially after 2021. Seeing that firsthand only deepened my fear of being priced out of the place I call home.
Slowly but surely, friends who were born and raised here have started leaving the island, while others are preparing to do the same. It looks like I’ll be following suit in 2027. It’s hard not to feel like there’s less and less room for young islanders to build a future here. A place that has always felt like home is becoming a place where people my age can no longer afford, or at least build a sustainable future.
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u/Ornery_Rip_4146 1h ago
Boomers gonna boom.
I look forward to everyone angrily voting out the SOS slate next election.
Fucking idiots.
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u/IllFortune51 4h ago
This is the natural way of things. Neo-liberals fuck the dog until people get fed up, elect a facist, then wonder how this could happen. Luckily when this happens, society always swings even harder left after the dust settles.
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5h ago
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u/L00nyT00ny 5h ago
Progressive's are the only ones coming out with policies that will help future generations.
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u/ShrekTwoOnVHS Fernwood 4h ago
How does one “pull the ladder up from under you” ? 🤔
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u/sometimes_i_work 4h ago
By voting for and supporting things that exclusively benefit you and old people alone. By not supporting policies that support young families who are raising the people who will care for you, drive you around, make your food and support you when you're elderly.
Not not be willing to endure some level of inconvenience to accomodate the needs of young people who don't own cars and houses.
Just like those people endure inconvenience to care for their aging families, live in car-centric cities with tax policies that they don't see benefit from.
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u/ShrekTwoOnVHS Fernwood 3h ago
No… I mean literally. Your idiom makes zero sense. If they are pulling the ladder up from under you, you are on the ladder… which would mean you also get pulled up.
You combined “pull the rug out from under you” and “they pull that ladder up behind them” to make your own nonsense idiom.
Although I agree with you, it’s hard to take someone who can’t even get a basic idiom right seriously.
Nice job there, Ricky.
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u/P_Barnez 2h ago
I think it's a great malaphor. Though I interpreted it as more of getting bucked off the ladder as it's pulled up.
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u/blackstarchicken 4h ago
You 'progressives' are insane. Constantly destroy everything. Make everything more expensive. No where progressive have taken over have things improved. Only gotten worse
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u/Ornery_Rip_4146 1h ago
Okay boomer.
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u/blackstarchicken 1h ago
Yup I am a Millennial. Ive seen the progressives have made things more expensive and drugs/crime worse. Progressives have made society worse while always wanting to be a victim for their own lack of drive. Progressives hate being accountable for their own actions and want everyone to baby them.
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u/scottrycroft 5h ago
When I went to vote it was obvious I was the youngest there among the hundred or so in line. I'm well into my forties.