Duncan city councillor Michelle Staples has won a promotion to mayor, garnering 494 votes compared to 468 for fellow councillor Martin Barker, according to unofficial results from CivicInfo BC. Staples replaced outgoing mayor Phil Kent, who announced in August that he wouldn’t be running again. He had been mayor since 2005.
Only one incumbent councillor, Tom Duncan, won another term. He will be joined by five first-time councillors: Jenni Capps, Stacy Middlemiss, Garry Bruce, Robert Brooke and Carol Newington.
Below is the full list of the candidates for mayor and council.
Candidates
Mayor
Martin L Barker
Daniel R Helmer
Sharon E Jackson
Michelle P Staples
Council
Mark C Anderson
Robert J Brooke
Tom M Duncan (incumbent)
Lura A McCallum
Garry F Bruce
Roger Bruce (incumbent)
Jenni Capps
Gordon F Heppell
Stacy L Middlemiss
Carol Newington
George Nielsen
Glen E Santics
Boundary
Duncan — at 2.07 square kilometres, it’s Canada’s smallest city. You’ll find it on Vancouver Island’s east side, in the Cowichan Valley between Nanaimo and Victoria.
Population (2016)
4,944
History
The Cowichan and Coast Salish peoples were first to inhabit the Duncan area, spending at least 6,000 years there.
Then Spanish and English explorers arrived in the 1790s.
Then, in 1862, William Chalmers Duncan landed at Cowichan Bay, and he and his men set up cabins, cleared land and grew food to feed both themselves and cattle.
The area’s population grew with the construction of the Esquimalt and Nanaimo railway in the 1880s.
An economy consisting of forestry and agriculture grew there. It also had mining for a time.
The Cowichan Creamery also set up in the area, producing widely-heralded butter. The valley’s grass and climate were credited for helping to produce milk that was so desired, it was sent to Nanaimo and Victoria.
Median total income of couple economic families with children (2015)/B.C. median
$79,232/$111,736
Crime Severity Index (CSI) — 2016
RCMP – rural/B.C.
177.99 (+22.68)/93.63 (-0.71)
Violent Crime Severity Index (VCSI) — 2016
RCMP – rural/B.C.
103.03 (-7.62)/75.86 (-9.81)
Political representation
Federal
Alistair MacGregor (NDP)
Provincial
Sonia Furstenau (Green)
Doug Routley (B.C. NDP)
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