What happened in Peachland this week was as lawful as it was ludicrous. Deadlocked at the ballot box, Peachland’s two mayoralty candidates could only gape while democracy was reduced to a game of chance.
Ultimately, incumbent Cindy Fortin was elected to the office of mayor on the basis that her name was picked out of a box. But as disheartening as the lotto-ocracy was, we were encouraged by the character of the two politicians.
Fortin, recognizing the ridiculousness of the situation, was magnanimous in victory. Harry Gough, unelected because he was unlucky, was classy in defeat. Gough opted not to pursue a timely and costly legal appeal. And so, for the residents of Peachland, the election is over.
We envy them.
In West Vancouver, the 2018 municipal election has come back from the dead like a zombie lurching from its crypt.
Currently, Mary-Ann Booth is West Van’s mayor-elect, having edged Mark Sager by 21 votes. But on Halloween morning, a B.C. provincial court judge is set to hear an application for a judicial recount. The application was brought forward by outgoing Mayor Michael Smith, who endorsed Sager, and council candidate Jim Finkbeiner, who fell just 21 votes shy of a council seat. It’s a plot twist worthy of a Hitchcock thriller.
It is not our place to evaluate the merits of their 11th hour application – that will be up to the judge.
But whatever the finding of the court, we ask that everyone involved show some character and consider the future of West Vancouver. We don’t want the ghost of this election haunting us for four more years.
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