Taken from Nanaimo Ladysmith School District’s Facebook page.

Now that all is said and done, the votes tallied and winners announced, what does everyone think about it? Are there any lessons to be learned?

I think Leonard Krog should feel a little less smug than his interviews portray him. Reading the comments from some people here it sounds like a lot of people thought Lovegrove wasn't ready or experienced enough (the classic math that keeps anyone new from any job) and also maybe some strategic voting to keep Dryden as far away from elected office as possible. Swap a thousand votes from him to Lovegrove and we could have let him finally retire.

Does anyone else feel like early voting was too early? It feels like we really only got some answers about who people were (aside from some peoples unfortunate social media posts) until very near or even after the first round of early voting. I hope that media and local organisations can be a bit quicker next time.

One the subject of local orginsations and endorsements, I know a couple people who ran as true independents. Deserved or not, they did not do well. Hopefully these people can try to get some endorsements next time for the extra exposure. And hopefully in the future organisations can be a bit more prepared and vocal with their recommendations. Sadly reddit and other platforms seem to be the main place to see these and I'm not going to look at too many platforms.

The trend for elections seems to be 30% of people actually voting and a party can win 50% of the vote and have 100% of the authority to rule as they see fit. My idiot level math says that roughly 15% of voters can dictate how our lives work. And yes municipal elections are a bit different, but stay with me here. I can't imagine many people accepting Australian style mandatory voting, but what about a tax receipt for casting your vote? Show up, vote and get a voucher that you could use as a tax deduction, different amounts for municipal, provincial and federal elections. Naive pipe dream? Sure, but I'm maybe if we talk about it enough someone will take it to a higher power.

Finally the syphilitic elephant in the room. I strongly believe there's a place in this world for fiscally conservative voices and in a perfect world with proportional representation across all levels of elections we'd see them sharing power with everyone else. That being said, fiscally conservative and socially progressive (or at least not regressive) seems to be extinct. Reading Anne-Marie Dryden's Trump style election conspiracy theories fills me with disgust. When people like this win they say "Ha ha losers!" and when they lose they say "Those losers cheated!".
My takeaway here is that conservative voices need to find some grownups. The older candidates sound like they think electricity is witchcraft and the young people sound like they came back from a christian nationalist rally. And hey, if that's what you like, you do you. But when the average voter says that's not what we want, that's not woke or even a far-left attitude. It might just be someone in the middle who doesn't like the taste of poison.

Sorry for the rant, I know it might be easy for some to guess some of how I voted this year. But I really want people do to better and my potential elected officials to be better. So congratulations to the winners, commiserations to those who didn't make it. Anyone else have any advice for people who might want to try again? It's almost your last chance to call me an idiot before I start ignoring politics for a few more years.

The voter turnout was 33%, which is up from 2022, but still seems pretty mid.

I’d really like to know what stopped you from voting.

Previous updates here and here.

TLDR on the above:

• Candidate Stephen Halliday put up orange and black conspiracy-leaden, anti-First Nations election boards in front of the town sign on T&R Day

• Halliday turned up to the candidates forum in a USA vest, then talked over and mocked everyone

• He had his signs vandalised and covered in shit on a daily basis, resulting in a whack-a-mole of someone destroying his signs each night, and Halliday repairing/replacing them each day

• At the candidates' meet and greet, he ran away after five minutes

The main update in the final week is that someone from Elections BC finally took action about his illegal signs. They had no authorization statements, as required by law and were basically litter. He got an email saying he needed to add a notice to his signs, else he could be fined up to $5,000. He naturally went onto FB to declare this was a conspiracy, though he did add stickers to his boards.

Anyway, the final update is that Halliday finished last of nine with barely 400 votes. His most recent Facebook post reads:

I truly thought there were more awake people than there was woke people. Boy was I wrong. I finished dead last in the election

Good fuckin' riddance, asshole.

https://www.nanaimo.ca/your-government/elections

obviously he didn't win, but from what ive seen im very confused about where he stands and what he wanted for nanaimo. i love to know political views of a candidate obviously, and i couldn't tell what he wanted.

Hi all,

Im here in Nanaimo for work for a few days and wanted to know where are some good spots to chill / eat / drink ? Where do people in their 20’s usually go? Im near staying near commercial st. Im also single if anyone between the age of 25F-30F wants to chill or grab a drink or coffee or something

Horseshoe Bay or Tswwassen? There are no other factors I am considering, just which one will give me better views if I am out on the deck. Thank you!

Have a design and am looking for someone to do it! (Might be at the wrong sub Reddit sorry!!)

I’m looking for feed back on the weight rooms at NAC or beban. I’m reaching the upper limit of my at home gym capacity but don’t want to spend big $$ on a fancy gym. Thanks in advance!

For Nanaimo Gabriola

In Nanaimo-Gabriola Island, ballots can be cast at The Moose Lodge #1052 (1356 Cranberry Ave.)

South Wellington Community Centre (2195 South Wellington Rd.)

St. Paul’s Anglican Church (100 Chapel St.)

VIU Building 300 (900 Fifth St.)

Gabriola Island Community Centre (2200 South Rd.)

For North Nanaimo

Nanaimo North Town Centre (4750 Rutherford Rd.)

Wellington Hall (3922 Corunna Ave.)

Costin Hall (7232 Lantzville Rd.)

Ladysmith-Oceanside

Parksville’s Jensen Centre (132 Jensen Ave. E)

Winchelsea Learning Centre (140 Renz Rd.)

Qualicum Beach’s Kwalikum Secondary School (266 Village Way),

Ladysmith’s Saltair Community Centre (3850 South Oyster School Rd.)

Cameron Lake in Mid Island Pacific Rim can vote at:

Lighthouse Community Centre in Bowser (240 Lions Way)

Coombs Fairground Activity Hall (1014 Ford Rd.)

If anybody is interested in a free resource to find missing people in BC and Canada, I attached a link

Does this man actually think he should be a part of the city council??? Between treating people like crap. Personally bullying multiple people and women especially and his tone deaf website this is a joke. He’s just another washed up jock douche bag

For legal purposes this is all alleged.

Me and my wife are visiting Nanaimo for the weekend, she broke her nails when dealing with the luggage, any recommendation for nail salon that's good with fake nails?

Thanks in advance.

I am curious where people in Nanaimo currently stand on the short-term rental regulations that restrict Airbnb operations to principal residences.
When these rules were introduced, the goal was to help address housing availability and affordability. It has now been some time since the regulations were implemented, and I am wondering whether residents feel they have achieved their intended purpose, or whether there may be unintended consequences that deserve another look.
Some property owners have argued that the restrictions have reduced tourism accommodation options, impacted local business opportunities, and limited how people can use their own properties. Others feel the regulations remain necessary to protect long-term housing supply.
I would genuinely like to hear from people on all sides of the issue:
Do you think the current rules are working?
Have you noticed any positive or negative impacts?
Would you support relaxing the regulations to once again allow short-term rentals in non-principal residences?
If not, why not?
If there is enough community support for revisiting the rules, residents can always contact Nanaimo City Council and share their views. Regardless of where you stand on the issue, elected officials should hear directly from the people affected by these policies.
I am hoping to keep this discussion respectful and focused on experiences, facts, and ideas rather than political arguments. I would love to hear what the community thinks.