It’s almost the end of a four-year term, and Greater Victoria residents are starting to think about who will get their precious municipal vote.
Come judgment day next fall, trying to figure out who to run your community can be a daunting task. Most people will vote on past performance and if a mayor or councillor helps to make their lives better. Since councils are elected to pass bylaws, provide good governance and value for the tax dollar, one important measure to consider is whether the mayor or councillor has actually been showing up for votes.
If you are a Victoria or Saanich resident, it’s fairly easy to find out.
A ‘council meeting dashboard’ in Victoria has been operational during this term, which makes it easy to track how your favourite council member voted or whether they declared a conflict of interest. Of the 675 votes cast since November 2022, Coun. Susan Kim missed 54, Krista Loughton, 50 and Chris Coleman, 36. Everyone else was usually present for votes. Some, but not all, council meetings were missed due to illness. Other absences can be attributed to attending a conference or meeting on behalf of the city.
In Saanich, a new ‘council voting dashboard tool' was started this spring to improve public transparency and accessibility. The tool also provides a visual and user-friendly way for residents to track how councillors vote on specific issues at council meetings. It tabulates all council, committee of the whole, as well as public hearings.
Importantly, the dashboard registers only 794 vote results in the last year. As agendas were solely paper-based and not digital, there are no plans to extend records to the start of the term in 2022, the District of Saanich told Grumpy Taxpayer$.
Until Aug. 24, for a variety of reasons, four councillors were absent during a significant number of votes: Judy Brownoff missed 125, Nathalie Chambers missed 85, and Karen Harper, 51. Colin Plant, who took a leave of absence from May 2024 to April 2025, was absent for 208 votes. During the last federal election, he ran unsuccessfully for the NDP in the Saanich-Gulf Islands riding.
In both Victoria and Saanich, voters can determine if their local politician showed up for a vote that’s dear to their heart and learn how they voted on the matter. But unfortunately, no other municipalities in the region offer this service to help improve transparency and provide better governance. So residents in these jurisdictions will need to roll up their sleeves to do their own detective work.
The attendance records of all South Island politicians can be found through the video recordings or minutes of council meetings.
Stan Bartlett, vice-chair
Grumpy Taxpayer$ of Greater Victoria
