131: Stephen Johnston | Incoming Mayor of West Kelowna

00:00:00 Matt Glen
Welcome back to the Kelowna Real Estate Podcast. I'm your mortgage broker host, Taylor Atkinson. And I'm your commercial agent host, Matt Glenn. What's happening, Taylor? We're in the studio today. Studio for an intro.


00:00:08 Taylor Atkinson
Have we done this? I don't think we've done this in a long time. It's been a while. You know, hey, we had, I'm going to be, you know, friendly with how I address this person right now. And I'll get more formal as the show goes on. But we had my good buddy, Stevie J on. That's what I call him. So Steve Johnson, new mayor elect. Coming in for West Kelowna, you know, round of applause. Absolutely love Steve. I've known him for, geez, over 30 years. Like one of the most, if not the most genuine, transparent, down to earth, salt of the earth. Like just, you know, he is who he is. And he's such a great human being. And like, just like. Yeah. I would aspire to even be like half as good of a person as he am. So not only in like, you know, I'm very happy for his position, but I just, I love being friends with Steve also wicked softball player, but yeah, really excited to have him in the studio today. So, you know, when we do these in -person conversations, especially somebody that we're friends with and close with, yeah, we love having them. In the home.


00:01:07 Matt Glen
It's a funny situation for him because nobody ran against him in the election. So he's like the shoe -in, like the acclaimed mayor, whatever he was calling himself, or whatever he's supposed to be called. But it's an exciting situation for him because he gets such a long runway between knowing he's the mayor and being the mayor. Normally, I think it's a couple of weeks he gets, but he's on six weeks, two months of this. And he has such a great relationship with the current mayor and the rest of the council that he's just setting himself up to be hot under the cannon here.


00:01:34 Taylor Atkinson
Yeah. And nobody ran against him because I feel everyone knew he was the right person. And he ran for mayor previously. He ran for MLA, which... It was a very disorganized campaign because of the party dissolved and basically folded. So he's just paid his dues and he's earned this position. And I'm super excited for West Kelowna. The previous mayor was also an incredible mayor. It was just his time to move on kind of into retirement. Like he just said, hey, I took it to where I needed to and I'm going to hang out with the family. So Steve's taken over and yeah, we're just... And, you know, Matt and I have had kind of a bad track record of politicians that we've had on the show generally don't win anything. So we're super stoked to break that curse. The secret was for him not to have any competition. Yeah. So, yeah, awesome show. We talked, obviously, you know, we spent a good portion of it about the city of West Kelowna, infrastructure changes, how he's going to deal with the province. And then we did kind of pivot and talk a little bit about provincial election. Obviously, that's kind of causing some turbulence. as we're having now like two elections, municipality and provincial. So if you don't know what's going on on either of those levels, give the show a listen to because Steve's a great resource that I use.


00:02:48 Matt Glen
It's just a fun show. No, that's his third time on the show, and it's been awesome every time. Yeah.


00:02:53 Taylor Atkinson
And again, Matt and I are moderating a UDI event. So this show is being released this week. UDI event is shortly after that. The event itself is sold out, but the after party kind of where people get together and mingle is still available. So if you want to come to that, reach out to us. We can get you some tickets. We have slightly discounted tickets, a code for that, right? We do, yeah. I think they want... 250 guests at Earls after? Yeah. And these are like awesome people to connect with in the industry. And again, there'll be, you know, people in the political municipal election campaign there and developers. I think Ron and Tom, Canon and Tom Dyes, both are coming. Both supposed to be there. Yeah. So yeah, we're really excited about that. I mean, that's going to be kind of new territory for us. We have to count how many former podcast guests are there.


00:03:37 Matt Glen
guests are there. Yeah, actually, we're racking up a few now. Especially in that crowd. Yeah. The development political crowd. So it's... That'll be a fun event. And also, yeah, Taylor and I moderating will be an event in itself.


00:03:49 Taylor Atkinson
Yeah, yeah. I was actually on a panel yesterday at a broker panel with a bunch of lenders and the people moderating did such a good job that I actually started to feel stressed of what we're going to do. I wish you didn't tell me that. Yeah, I know. It gave me some good ideas, though. Yeah, it was fun to be on a panel. And yeah, we're excited to do more. in -person events like this yeah we should make an emphasis on doing that so yeah yeah and then just uh yeah carry on like we are excited like the podcast is just gaining momentum. And we have some awesome sponsors coming on. Obviously, Adam from ARG, which we have a podcast being released with him. I think it'll be the one after Steve's here. Home builder in the commercial space, just like a very genuine, transparent guy as well. So yeah, I think everyone will love hearing more from him.


00:04:32 Matt Glen
Yeah, Adam's a great at what he does. Great contractor, great builder, taking on tenant improvements like for commercial build outs. Also, just a very fun podcast guest. Yeah, he's pretty charismatic. Yeah, like Taylor and I were rolling on the floor before we record. to that one. So that's a good episode too.


00:04:43 Taylor Atkinson
Yeah,


00:04:48 Matt Glen
And our other sponsor is Venture Realty Corp, Venture Commercial. Obviously my brokerage where I hang my hat right through there. We're doing obviously commercial sales and leasing. Super busy with leasing right now. Sales too. It's great brokerage with great vibes there. Awesome sponsor of the show. Yeah. You guys have some great people.


00:05:04 Taylor Atkinson
And it reminds me like we've had the Wills brothers on the show previously and we're excited to have them back on because they were also... Super fun guys. And anytime I see them out in the city, like I've ran into them at some lunch spots and stuff, they're just like, again, really cool guys to just hang out with and connect with. So yeah, looking forward to that relationship developing as well. Yeah, me too. That's great. Okay, well, enjoy the show. And again, you know, special congratulations to Steve, a close friend and now a successful, soon to be mayor of City of West Kelowna.


00:05:37 Matt Glen
Yeah,


00:05:38 Taylor Atkinson
enjoy the show you guys.


00:05:42 Taylor Atkinson
Okay. All right. Welcome back to the show. Incoming mayor, mayor -elect, Stephen Johnson. How are you, buddy? Doing well.


00:05:49 Stephen Johnston
Good to be here. Your worship from day one. Oh man. Like you can, if you must just call me Mr. Mayor in the future.


00:05:55 Taylor Atkinson
the future. I've been calling you Mr. Mayor for like 20 years. I knew this day was coming. There's not a lot of things I predict. Right. Yeah. City hall. Do they say that your worship?


00:06:04 Matt Glen
your worship? How does that work?


00:06:05 Stephen Johnston
Like they do like, yeah, I mean, it's either Mr. Mayor or your worship. Your worship is the official title for the mayor, but I'm good with Mr. Mayor. That sounds. More my speed. Yeah.


00:06:13 Matt Glen
Yeah. Congratulations.


00:06:14 Taylor Atkinson
That is super exciting news. Thank you, guys. Yeah. And so we've had you on the show twice now. I believe this is the third time. Yeah. Which is awesome. I always enjoy our conversations, whether it's behind a mic or in the outfield when we're waiting for pop flies to be hit to us. So what's going on in your life now? Obviously, a lot's kind of evolved. You obviously were thinking about campaigning and that. wasn't essentially necessary for this election on West Kelowna. Yeah. When do you step into... Well, just explain to the listener that nobody ran against you.


00:06:40 Matt Glen
Well, just explain to the listener that nobody ran against you. So you are... Can you explain the situation?


00:06:45 Stephen Johnston
Yeah. So yes, nobody challenged me. So what happens then is you get acclaimed as a mayor. So I've been officially declared as the next mayor of West Kelowna. So I won't actually be on the ballot at all. It'll just be councillors and school district trustees names who are on the ballot this time around. And you know what? It's not something you expect when you put your papers in and start preparing your campaign. And in all honesty, it was a strange campaign to... prepare for because behind the scenes ahead of knowing that I would be acclaimed you're obviously putting like all of the wheels are in motion yeah getting the team together getting all the content done like you know getting your signs prepped and ready and the orders in and I had to actually make a decision the week before so the nominations were due September 11th we actually decided to pull the sign order because We still had no competition that had emerged at that point. And I'm like, man, I don't want to commit to thousands of dollars of science because that would be... just wasteful and strange you're not going to put them up right so very grateful honestly i'm so humbled by all of the encouragement that i have received and the support that has come in through this and it's a really unique opportunity this is my fifth campaign never had one like this so it's well i wanted to point something out too like this is deserved like you've ran for mayor previously you've been on council for how many years now eight eight years on council ran for mla obviously that campaign was


00:07:58 Taylor Atkinson
to point something out too like this is deserved like you've ran for mayor previously you've been on council for how many years now eight eight years on council ran for mla obviously that campaign was Yeah, you got Stuart under your control. Like that was just such a mess when, yeah, everything evolved politically on the provincial side there a couple of years ago. So like well -deserved, you've paid your dues, you've been part of the city of West Kelowna, working there, building homes, working at Terra. Like it just, everything has evolved to this point in your career. Kudos to you for pushing on. What's next in terms of West Kelowna? Let's start there. Then I would love to be selfish and maybe touch on what's going on in the province as well at the end of the show. Yeah,


00:08:40 Stephen Johnston
absolutely. So, you know, we've still got a campaign on. So I want to really be clear to the listeners that we really want you to get out to vote. So while I may be acclaimed, there are still 13 people running for council. We have six council seats available. And so I encourage you to do your homework, get to know the candidates. A lot of them have their information out there and please show up to vote. We had a really low voter turnout last election, 19%, one of the lowest in the province, actually. So ideally, you always want to see your turnout around that 30 % or... ideally higher. I think Peachland was over 50 % last election, which is extremely high. We want to see a higher voter turnout. So don't think that there's no election. I mean, it's pretty hard to miss the fact that there's elections going on right now. Yeah. There's two elections going on. Yeah. Originally, I had always planned I'm going to just campaign the same whether I was acclaimed or not. But I've realized though, like I need to keep the airwaves open for the candidates that are trying to get their message out. And with two overlapping elections, there's just so much. going on in so much content. So I am trying to kind of... be respectful of that space and just give them the opportunity. But I'm excited for next term. I know we'll end up with a great council. What I'm thinking about a lot when I go into the next term is kind of three buckets or three words like preserve, enhance and secure. So preserve what we love about West Kelowna, what makes us special, enhance the quality of life and access to opportunity, and then secure what we depend on for the future. So that last bucket is like really advocacy based. And that's a huge part of the mayor's role. is, you know, we advocate as a council, but individually, like it's the mayor that goes and makes those connections and builds those relationships and takes council's will to the province. Yeah,


00:09:23 Taylor Atkinson
going on.


00:10:20 Taylor Atkinson
we kind of talked about this a little bit before you and I. Bill 44, like taking the power out of municipalities. How do we kind of get that back at a local level and start getting more local decisions, like just building those relationships with provincial leaders?


00:10:35 Stephen Johnston
Yeah. You know, Bill 44, I mean, the legislation was put in to try to drive housing and create affordability. And there are elements of it that like, I'm not going to say it's all bad. There's things in there that do work and that. you know, pushed municipalities to be more proactive in their approach to development. And I think we need to learn from that. But I think municipalities across the province are saying, let's get rid of it. Let's take that control back at the local level, because nobody knows how to plan for the community's future better than those that live there. And so I think there's probably going to be a concerted effort to... advocate across the province for that change. You know, the problem with Bill 44, as I see it, is it whitewashes density and it just says put it wherever you want. And that really doesn't work for communities like West Kelowna. We want to see the density targeted. to the areas we need it most. So like our urban centers, neighborhood centers, because when you can create critical mass downtown, then all of a sudden businesses that have been there for a while, like there's more traffic, there's more opportunity. And then new businesses can emerge as well to fill the needs. And we are commercial light in West Kelowna. So we need to see more opportunities, not just for interaction and retail, but just for the economy, for jobs that support families. And we can do that and we can grow. substantially because we have a population that will support a pretty large economic base. And I think it's the right time to expand that. So getting rid of Bill 44 will allow us to target that density.


00:12:02 Taylor Atkinson
Is that kind of a general consensus on municipalities? Like lately, is that some of the... local decision makings kind of being taken away from them? Or is this kind of always how it's been with this provincial municipal relationship?


00:12:15 Stephen Johnston
No, it's definitely more has been taken in the last 10 years than ever before. Even our opportunities to hold public hearings, right? So, and when that first came in, like Bill 44, you know, that legislation kind of came in in stages. And at the beginning, it was, what was the wording that we... may not hold public hearings. So if we didn't want to say something was in line with the OCP already, we had the option to not hold a public hearing. We always opted to hold them in West Kelowna because we believe in the public process. And then it shifted to saying, you shall not hold public hearings. Oh, really? So we're not allowed to hold them. Like for housing developments? Yeah, where it's in line with the OCP, we're not allowed to hold them. So we'd like to have that opportunity back because if we want participation in an election cycle... We want participation throughout the year as well. And so one of the things that I am going to do, like I'm careful never to over promise and under deliver because I am one of seven, right? We make decisions as a whole, but there are certain things that the mayor can do that, you know, some special opportunities you have in that role. And I'm going to bring back town hall meetings. So where we have lost that public participation through the public hearing process, I'm going to host two town halls a year, one in the spring and one in the fall. just to give the opportunity for the public to get in front of council more regularly. Inevitably, those conversations will influence our strategic priorities as we set them annually as a council. So really going to try to make space for public engagement and participation. And I'm very hopeful that the community will rise to the challenge and show up.


00:13:46 Taylor Atkinson
Yeah, because I mean, how else would you know what the general population wants, right? Like you're kind of living in this eco -chamber like we all are that you just... hear what you continuously put out there, but if you're not speaking to the public. Just read the comment section on social media. It's pretty normal and balanced. West Kelowna, you guys have a ton of opportunity there. There's lots of land to be developed still. You have the infrastructure. Filling up buckets economically, like you said, you're light on the industrial side. Where do you want to focus? Industrial, tourism, small business, housing developments? Are there municipal incentive program or how do you structure that moving forward?


00:14:27 Stephen Johnston
Yeah, so that's a great question. So we do have, through the Housing Accelerator Fund, which is federal monies that a lot of the municipalities receive funding through, we have allocated a significant amount of money, $1 .2 million. towards DCC reduction for units that are developing like non -market rentals or subsidized units. And so that is a pool of money available kind of in a first come first serve basis to developers to drive that incentive. We did at a recent council meeting, we adopted that program. And last minute, I threw a little bit of a curveball at council and I said, hey, why don't we, in addition to this, limit where this incentive. can be used. So we've actually targeted it to our urban centers, both West Bank Center and Bushry Urban Center. So that will be largely geared toward housing. But the whole goal of that six -story building model downtown would be that it's mixed use. So we want commercial on the main level. We have a developer right now who's finishing a project on Hoskins, and it is six stories. There's two commercial units in that one, but they're also going to be developing another six -story unit right across the street on Dobbin. which will have, I believe, five or six commercial units in the main level. So really good to see that. Light industry as well. We do have, like Kelowna's running out of room for light industry. We have some capacity to expand that. And I think creating a light industry plan for the West Side is very important because we have some gravel pits in our industrial areas that are coming. to their end of life over the next 10 years, I'll say. And it'd be really great to have an identified plan for how those lands can be used and optimized in the future. And I think the landowners would benefit from engaging in that exercise as well.


00:16:05 Taylor Atkinson
Yeah. So I guess that's how you kind of like not work around, but maybe work with like Bill 44 is allocating funds to certain geographical areas to help like... promote it there a little bit more.


00:16:16 Stephen Johnston
there a little bit more. Exactly. Like, so the thought was, if we target it, maybe we can sort of sidestep sort of the overreach of bill 44 and saying, Hey, you know, if we're going to offer incentive, we're going to say it's only here. Awesome.


00:16:24 Taylor Atkinson
you know,


00:16:28 Taylor Atkinson
I can't remember. We talked about the OCP, I think a couple episodes with you. When was it last kind of rewritten and when is it? projected?


00:16:35 Stephen Johnston
Oh, it's very recent. It would have been 2023 and every five years you'll update with minor updates in between as required. So for example, we had to amend for bill 44 legislation, but yeah, so we're not due for an update for a couple of years. Okay. And any other major infrastructure I know, like was it Rose Valley dam? Yeah, so Rose Valley Water Treatment Plant, it's done, it's commissioned, it's operational, it's working well now. In that commissioning process, once you onboard it, there's a period of a year where it's... a little turbulent because there's a lot of water main flushing and a lot of intermittent water advisories as a result, but it's been functioning very, very well lately. City Hall is done. We built a public works yard on Stevens Road. So that's open and operational now. And over the last eight years, we had to invest significantly in capital infrastructure and core capital infrastructure that communities need. But being such a young municipality, we had a lot to do in a short span of time. And then most recently, we just completed our fire hall 32. So in Lakeview Heights, we've built a new fire hall. It's just such an excellent facility. I was there yesterday. We used to have a community hall on that site, and we've actually replaced that community hall right adjacent to the fire hall. And we're redoing the tennis courts and pickleball courts right now. We have two new pickle courts and a sport court that we've put in there, kids' playground. Honestly, it's a great Lakeview facility. That's such a good neighborhood right now. That neighborhood center is bumping. So cool. I was there for three events yesterday, actually, like back to back to bed. And it was like one was at a community center, one was at the coffee shop, and one was at the brewery. It was, it's just such a cool spot. Yeah,


00:18:14 Matt Glen
yeah. Three events and not one of them was in a winery. That's pretty. And then we did talk about infrastructure for electricity.


00:18:18 Taylor Atkinson
then we did talk about infrastructure for electricity. Was it coming through West Kelowna into Kelowna? Like what's going on there? Because there was just like one single source, right? So yeah,


00:18:28 Stephen Johnston
plan there. There still is just the one source. It comes from Merritt, like the Nicholas substation, and then it lands in West Kelowna at our substation. So we've been pursuing redundant power supply for over 15 years now. And it's been quite a journey. Like when Christy Clark was the premier and our MLA actually on the west side, we had it ready to go. And then it got kind of kiboshed and thrown at the bottom of the pile. But right now the option is coming from a connection under Okanagan Lake through Fortis. The tension we're in right now is BC Hydro wants to deliver that power to the substation. you know, cost effectively as they can, which is in their mind, a hundred foot power lines running down highway 97 and Channel Lake road. And we're not thrilled about that. So, and neither is West Bank First Nation. So we're, we're very much of the same mind that we would like to see that power distributed underground. We're in that negotiation right now. So we'll hope for the best outcome because I'm not. crazy about having the landscape marred with 100 -foot poles. It's just such a beautiful corridor. We don't want to... It's pretty short -sighted. Yeah,


00:19:29 Matt Glen
We don't


00:19:32 Matt Glen
I think it's very short -sighted. Also out of risk for fires.


00:19:35 Stephen Johnston
Well, these will be like along Highway 97, so quite well protected in that sense. But again, nothing's better protected than underground. So that's where we'd like to see them.


00:19:45 Matt Glen
Kind of interesting to think about that, that you have like, let's close the epicenter for a few redundant things, because you have like, obviously there's talk about the second bridge, and then the closure. Summerland, like second way around the lake. And then the power.


00:19:58 Stephen Johnston
Yeah. Yeah. The closure of the bridge last week, it just illuminates sort of the vulnerability.


00:20:03 Taylor Atkinson
Yeah.


00:20:04 Stephen Johnston
And a second crossing is something we need. Like that is the long -term goal. We'll get there, but it's going to take time. I have often advocated for other things when the second crossing conversation comes up, not because I don't support it, but because I don't want us to forget about the interim need, like the immediate needs, like the long view can't be the only solution. So, you know, there's opportunity to six lane. The current bridge, it's built for that. Cantilever, the pedestrian walkway off to the side. And someone has said to me, well, I don't know if the six lane is going to make a difference because once you hit Kelowna, you're backed up with traffic lights. And I said, you're absolutely right. We have to solve the traffic problem on the Kelowna side as well. And one of the things I really want to do is make sure Kelowna and West Kelowna get to the table together a bunch over this next term, because we haven't done that in my time on council. And we've got to start to advocate together because we're way stronger together as a voice, unified voice to the province. But the benefit of six laning in the interim is that you can now move if someone's broken down or if there's an accident, you can still have lanes. passing either way when you add that extra capacity. So it keeps things moving at the very least. But then it's also highlighted the need for healthcare services on the West side. So we're so dependent on... colonna for health care and i would never advocate that we should have another kgh style hospital on the west side but we certainly should have more of a regional style hospital where you can get trauma care like you know if you've got a broken bone or you need dialysis or you know major medical appointment like labs there should be opportunities on the west side does that come From the province? Federally? Where does the budgeting come from? Yeah, so the health care would be through the province. So we've identified a site on the west side that we think would be well -suited for that. It's right downtown, just under 10 -acre parcel. So the municipality allocates the land, province comes in with funding for the infrastructure? You know, in an ideal world, we don't have a lot of land in West Columbus. So Interior Health owns the parcel, I'm thinking. Okay, okay. Yeah, if Sylvia Weir is listening. I'm hoping we can work together on that.


00:21:51 Taylor Atkinson
the municipality


00:22:06 Matt Glen
We need a broker. We certainly need more.


00:22:07 Stephen Johnston
We certainly need more. We have an urgent primary care center now, but it's understaffed and it's light on hours. And it's not as effective as it needs to be for... I mean, it doesn't only make sense just for West Kelowna,


00:22:18 Taylor Atkinson
just for West Kelowna, but it helps then alleviate Kelowna. Because Kelowna is like... It's always Kelowna. Yeah, like it's just, I mean, there's no public service that's really, you know, we can be that proud of right now in terms of like time and service that you're getting there. So like, it would be a huge value add.


00:22:34 Stephen Johnston
Well, and on the West side, do people forget like... We have 40 ,000 people and growing in West Kelowna. West Bank First Nation has over 12 ,000 and then Peachland's around six now. So we're in the neighborhood of 60 ,000 people servicing that exact, like that greater west side metropolitan area. I think that's no short number, like that's a healthy population and it will grow rapidly over the next 20 years. So to begin the advocacy work in a meaningful way now is really important. because these things don't happen overnight. Is there one thing,


00:23:04 Taylor Atkinson
one thing, I mean, I'm kind of putting you on the spot here, but like one thing in your term that you're like, hey, if we could put, you know, some form of hospital or second crossing or like infrastructure housing, like what's kind of one thing you would love feather in the cap to accomplish over the next four years?


00:23:19 Stephen Johnston
You know, I really, really want to improve the efficiency of city hall. So the experience that the residents have, but you know, if you're building or developing, like I want West Colon to be sought after as the place to invest in the problem. And I think we can do that. I really do. Red tape production is something that always comes up every election. But I don't think it'd be surprising to anyone to hear that there are a lot of rules and regulations that exist in the bureaucratic world. And we certainly can do more to streamline efficiency. And time is money. I had a developer tell me recently that some of the incentives that get offered in West Kelowna and other municipalities, like for these non -market rentals, It's nice to have, but he's like, if you could save me two or three months, I'm tripling what that incentive could give me because, you know, the incentive you're offering, I burn that up in one month of the project going, you know, the timeline extending by a month. So there's a lot we can do. If time is money, we need to save it. I think we can do much better.


00:24:20 Taylor Atkinson
And that's something like tangibly you can do, right? Like it's hard to come out with incentives. Like that's, you know, you're printing money to help people, but like if you can streamline the process, that's achievable.


00:24:31 Stephen Johnston
Well, and even like when it comes to staffing, like often we'll look at the way we're like handling a process right now and say, well, we need more people to facilitate this process. And that is one way to look at it. We can throw people at it or we can make the process. clean and a lot simpler and therefore extend the capacity of the staff we have right now so i think it's a win -win you're right it doesn't cost The taxpayer money. But I think in this term, and many candidates for council feel the same, like it's not a term for promising major infrastructure. Probably the one that comes like top of mind is our rec center. Johnson Bentley is aging. And we need to look at having a larger facility for our community. And so that's something I am interested in working on. But I really see that as an opportunity for us to collaborate well with West Bank First Nation to deliver a service for the greater West side together. And so my hope is that we can come up with. some interesting opportunities to collaborate this term.


00:25:24 Taylor Atkinson
Yeah, it's kind of a cool position to be in. Like, I mean, working with West Bank First Nations, because it's not a lot of municipalities that have like that much collaboration with that much landmass. You guys obviously like speak with them regularly.


00:25:35 Stephen Johnston
speak with them regularly. Yeah, we meet council to council annually, sometimes a couple times a year, and we're going to continue that work. We're really unique on the West side, like it's unique amongst the province. So I'm really excited to see what we can come up with together to benefit the community. Cool.


00:25:51 Taylor Atkinson
Is there anything else you want to talk about in terms of like West Kelowna? political municipality before i get selfish and try and like you know suck out knowledge from you on provincial election coming up yeah is there anything you want to leave off on yeah a couple things just so at the risk of having people think i'm not thinking about these things like advocacy is a big part as i had mentioned earlier so we have you know access to water is top of mind for all of us on the west side we're a couple years into some pretty decent droughts and lower water supply than we've historically known so we've got to do a lot more to advocate with the province for


00:26:04 Stephen Johnston
a couple things just so at the risk of having people think i'm not thinking about these things like advocacy is a big part as i had mentioned earlier so we have you know access to water is top of mind for all of us on the west side we're a couple years into some pretty decent droughts and lower water supply than we've historically known so we've got to do a lot more to advocate with the province for watershed management, upland storage and capacity, coming up with creative solutions. I want to work with our ag producers as well to figure out how we can come up with opportunities to save water. I think in a central Okanagan as a whole, we're kind of like water pigs. Like we use a lot of water and I think we can do more to assist, like just neighbor to neighbor. I think we can do more. And then transportation corridor, it's really important. We've talked about the bridge, but we have two intersections on the West side, Bushry and West Lake that are already in preliminary design for full interchanges. And we want to make sure that gets on the capital project list provincially. We really want to see those intersections eliminated and get the design work for Daimler and Bartley done as well. Because Daimler, we have a significant amount of kids crossing. to Constable Neil Bruce and to Mount Bushry on a daily basis. And it's one of our higher impact intersections for accidents as well. And then wildfire mitigation, you know, this is something that we had begun to receive stable funding toward those mitigation efforts. It was taken away this year, but through advocacy and pressure, we were able to reestablish that funding for 2027, but it's not certain for the future. And so that work is really important where we have a lot of wildfire interface zones. We contribute 170 grand a year. of our public money towards mitigation efforts. But I mean, it's going to take us dozens and dozens of years to even keep up at that rate. So we do need more stable provincial funding for that as well. It's funny,


00:26:40 Taylor Atkinson
think we can


00:27:52 Matt Glen
well. It's funny, if West Columbia doesn't qualify for fire mitigation, like what community would? Yeah,


00:27:56 Stephen Johnston
we've been through the ringer for sure. I get a lot of it every year recently. So there's a lot to say, but I just wanted to make sure I put that out there. Yeah.


00:28:06 Taylor Atkinson
Awesome. Now, as some people are aware, provincial election, NDP, EB called an election to, I mean, I'm going to butcher this, but essentially try and take advantage of a bit of a... unorganized conservative party to try and gain majority for another four -year term do you want to maybe shed some light like obviously you were running for mla a couple years ago to me it seems like a bit risky like a bit of roll of the dice when he already has two years majority left and like putting it on top of municipal elections he's just trying to take an opportunity to cause like more confusion in the hopes that they sneak one through? Or what's the strategy here?


00:28:45 Stephen Johnston
You know, I don't know. I was in Vancouver the week of September 14th and it was for the UBCM conference. So municipalities all across the province were there. Sunday and Monday, didn't really hear much about it. And all of a sudden the rumor mill started. churning that there might be this snap election. And I was quite surprised by it, actually. And I do think it's definitely political opportunism. There's strategy involved. I can see the strategy behind it. Do I think it's the right time? Absolutely not. Municipalities across the province, UBCM directly had advocated that they do not call an election to overlap with our municipal elections. So I think it... takes away from the local voice and it just causes a lot of confusion. So I don't love that they chose this moment, but I think, you know, he maybe felt he had to. Kerry Lynn Finley had stepped down as the leader. There was, you know, a lot of confusion in the party at that moment. They had MLAs that had went over a good chunk of them that went over to the center BC. I will say that I'm very impressed with the conservative party. They've rallied very quickly under a new leader. I think seven out of the eight members that were in. Centre BC came back to the Conservative Party. So they have a very strong base. They're putting forward very good candidates. The new leader, Lauren Dirksen, the new leader of the Conservative Party is a very good guy and they have organized very well under him. I'm very impressed. I think David Eby is probably wondering if this was a great decision at this point. And I think when you have a majority... I don't know. It seems a little greedy to me. It seems more in the self -interest of the premier and the party than it does in the interest of British Columbians. So it would have been my hope that they didn't do that.


00:30:23 Taylor Atkinson
Yeah, I'd be curious to see what the answer would be like. How are you justifying this? No general population was hoping for a re -election. Well,


00:30:30 Stephen Johnston
they've justified it a lot on what's happening south of the border. But the interesting thing about that is you've heard Lauren come out and say very... similar and have a very strong stance on dealing with Trump as well. So it kind of has taken the wind out of that sail, I think, for Eby. And really, the way I see it is Eby's going to have to stand on his record right now, which is, I mean, as a... As municipal representative, we are struggling to get much of anything out of the government at this point. It's been a few years now. So when we go down to meetings at UBCM and we meet with cabinet ministers and MLAs, we're just told, great idea, there's no money. It's weird to think about. We just had a budget where they increased taxes, reduced the public service significantly, and then still put forward the highest deficit we've ever seen. I'm not really sure. The math is challenging to understand on that. It should have been the other way. You know, there's levers we can't control at the municipal level that we really need the province to come to the table on. We haven't been getting the traction as municipalities that we need. I think it'd be fair to say that most municipalities across BC would say the same thing. We need more action from our government.


00:31:38 Matt Glen
Yeah. One good thing about this election is the PST expansion was immediately cut. That's true. I was saying it's good. Yeah.


00:31:44 Taylor Atkinson
What an optimistic. Yeah. Yeah.


00:31:48 Matt Glen
They're all like bracing like, how are we going to do this? Yeah.


00:31:51 Stephen Johnston
Yeah. The challenge of that though is like, is that forever or is that like part of a campaign gimmick, right? Yeah.


00:31:58 Taylor Atkinson
And so Lauren is the new conservative leader. He was BC United in the last MLA.


00:32:05 Stephen Johnston
Yeah. He was a BC United MLA. So we were, colleagues together for a short while in that crazy season of life. Yeah. Yeah. So the really neat thing for me is like, you know, that was a crazy time of life. That was a lot of work, a lot of time and energy and resources that went into running that campaign and to have it, you know, evaporate at the last minute. Unfairly, for sure. But like, you know, the one thing I take from that, I'm super grateful. You know, things are meant to be and it wasn't meant to be at that moment for me, but it set me up. for what's next here and to serve my community in this way. And I'm really excited for that opportunity. It feels exactly where I need to be right now. And the relationships I was able to build through that experience are just... priceless. I mean, I'll go down to UBCM and I'll see these MLAs in the hall and, hey, Steve, we have very good friendships that have been built through that process. And it's opened the doors to so many opportunities, which is really good in this role because building relationships and networking is so important. And, you know, we'll see what happens in the provincial election, but there's definitely a lot of people that I've come to know that are really good people that I believe will get elected as MLAs in this next run.


00:33:17 Taylor Atkinson
Yeah. Yeah, you're meant to be where you are, buddy. You're in the right spot. I will say I'm kind of impressed with the Conservative Party to like, like you said, get organized so quickly as a party instead of kind of putting the selfish foot forward and, you know, campaigning for their own seat. Like they're obviously trying to put together a campaign that's going to win it for their party and the direction they want to go instead of just, you know, being a bunch of selfish individuals. Well,


00:33:43 Matt Glen
it's also good for... province to have like a functioning opposition in like two. Yeah. The last election was a disaster for sure. Yeah.


00:33:51 Stephen Johnston
Yeah. And either way, whatever the result is, like it feels to me like there are proper entities. And, and one of the things I thought was encouraging is that the political machine in BC seems to be behind the conservative party. Like I noted that last weekend, Christy Clark was here door knocking with Christina Lowen. And I mean, it's good to see, like we haven't seen. Christie been involved in the last couple of elections. And so to see that support, I think, is really meaningful. And others as well. I saw Ben Stewart. Ben's been out there.


00:34:21 Matt Glen
Yeah. Tracy Gary came back. But still, it kind of shows that the party's not black jobs. It's all great.


00:34:32 Taylor Atkinson
Yeah, I think they've got a real good shot. Yeah. Okay, well, yeah, not to take away from municipal traction. Everyone needs to get out and vote. Obviously we have a vote in Kelowna, West Kelowna, all municipalities going on. So yeah, if one thing we can say for the podcast, like do a bit of research, talk to someone smarter than you, like Steve, that's what I do and balance some ideas around and get out and vote.


00:34:54 Stephen Johnston
Yeah, Kelowna's got, you've got a lot of candidates on the ballot. Yeah. 37, I believe it is. Yeah. The signs are. At least 17 of them are realtors.


00:35:02 Matt Glen
At least 17 of them are realtors. Yeah.


00:35:05 Stephen Johnston
You didn't want to throw your hat in the ring this time?


00:35:06 Taylor Atkinson
time? Yeah. I mean, hey, like more options, the better, I guess. But we've been very blessed as communities like Kelowna, West Kelowna. I would love to say it's like leadership, but we also have just like great communities, great population geographically where we're at. Like we just, we're blessed in like. you know, tourism and ag and housing. Like, yeah, it's a struggle here, but like we are a pretty good community that's evolving and we're lucky to have some people that want to take accountability and leadership roles and move it that direction. So yeah, definitely agree.


00:35:37 Matt Glen
agree.


00:35:37 Taylor Atkinson
agree. Yeah. Well, we're super excited to see what you're going to do in West Kelowna. I appreciate you coming back on the show and yeah, look forward to more of them.


00:35:44 Matt Glen
of them. Yeah. Next time you come on the show, you'll be the mayor, not the mayor elect.


00:35:46 Stephen Johnston
Yeah. Yeah. I love chatting with you guys. Happy to come back anytime.


00:35:50 Matt Glen
Yeah. Thanks a lot, Steve.