City Hall

By Cheryl Jahn

Civic Elections

Conservative Electors Association plans to run local candidates

Feb 9, 2026 | 3:31 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Although the civic election isn’t until October, there have already been rumblings on the political front. Most notably, the Conservative Electors Association is planning to run candidates under the Conservative banner … not to be confused with the Conservative Party of BC. And, therein lies a problem. But some feel it clarifies the picture for voters.

“Local elections are what we typically call low information affairs,” says Dr. Hamish Telford with the University of the Fraser Valley. “Voters don’t know a lot about the candidates, who they are and what they stand for, unless they happen to have been on council for long periods of time. But the media coverage isn’t great. Candidates don’t have a lot of money to spread their word. And so party labels help voters determine, how candidates are going to approach things.”

Don Zurowski was a City Councillor from 1999 to 2008, and dislikes the idea of party politics at the civic level.

“Party politics belongs at the provincial and federal levels. Local government sees community representatives elected to bring their personal judgement, not groupthink. So that’s been my preference. And it was back in 1998, when I was part of a discussion with a group of individuals that were proposing a similar thing.”

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The Association is planning to run Conservative candidates in 15 BC municipalities, including Prince George. The City of Vancouver has run political candidates for years under the banner of the Vancouver Party and others, but could it increase the divisiveness around chambers?

“The way elections work now in BC. given fundraising considerations and relatively new fundraising laws, it almost forces candidates to work in partnership on slates, at least,” says Dr. Telford. “And what we have seen, typically outside of Vancouver, where this has started to emerge, is slates.”

Regardless of whether there is political representation heading into the next civic election, Zurowski says there is also a onus on the voter.

“So if people got more engaged and followed the issues closer and the background of the candidates, people should be qualified. Their track record should be a major qualifier to whether they win a seat in local government.”