With less than a month to go before British Columbians vote in municipal elections, races are heating up across the province.
The official campaign period kicked off last Saturday, meaning advertising and spending limits have now kicked in.
However, controversy continues to swirl around billboards for Vancouver mayoral candidate Hector Bremner, which popped up before those limits applied.
Last week it was revealed that developer Peter Wall paid for the ads.
But in an about-face, Wall withdrew his support of Bremner this week.
Vancouver’s firefighters’ union is also wading into the election, calling on whoever is elected to the next council to hire more firefighters.
Surrey held its first mayoral debate this week, where Light Rail Transit (LRT), legal pot and public safety were all hot topics.
Two frontrunners in the campaign now oppose LRT. Bruce Hayne has joined Doug McCallum in saying it’s time to “press pause” on the project.
With some candidates calling for a new Surrey municipal police force, Surrey RCMP has also entered the election fray, “to ensure the public has the correct information about who we are and how we police the city.”
A controversial social housing project for the city was also scrapped in the wake of opposition from the business community and one candidate.
The election campaign in Port Moody has been heating up, with an old video surfacing of mayoral candidate Rob Vagramov in a compromising position. The NDP MP for Port Moody, Rick Glumack, has since pulled his endorsement of Vagramov as a result.
A controversial proposal to build a road through Port Moody’s Bert Flinn Park has also become an election issue, with David Suzuki writing an open letter to the city opposing it.
Last week, Global News launched its new Focus BC program, with an eye on the civic election. In this installment, Sonia Deol interviewed six Vancouver mayoral candidates about the issue of affordable housing.
You can tune in for the next installment of Focus BC on Friday at 3 p.m. on BC1 or live on Global BC’s Facebook page.
Global News has complete coverage of the 2018 B.C. municipal election, including a look at all the municipalities and candidates in B.C.
Here you will find the full lists of candidates for mayor and council in your riding.
This week, we’re featuring races in these select communities: