Barriere residents have taken part in their first day of advanced voting this weekend in the 2025 local by-election.
The polls opened for 12 hours on Saturday, the first of two days locals are being given to take part in voting ahead of general election day to replace their mayor and a councillor.
The District is reporting 55 people turned out to cast ballots through the day.
That’s roughly 10 percent of the electorate which turned out to vote during the 2022 municipal election in Barriere.
That level of turn out would seem to run counter to trends seen in last year’s provincial election, where over 1-in-4 voters in Barriere and the rest of the Kamloops-North Thompson riding — 25.1% — voted in advance of general voting day, which saw Barriere’s mayor become their next MLA.
However, there could be a number of factors at play through Saturday, not the least of which the fact that advanced voting began on the start of a long weekend.
Another day of advanced voting in the local by-election will take place in Barriere on Wednesday, February 19th.
The vote is being called so residents can vote in a new mayor, as well as a councillor, following the resignation of Ward Stamer.
Now the MLA for Kamloops-North Thompson, Stamer tendered his resignation on October 21st, shortly after his victory in the provincial election.
Two men have entered the race to replace Stamer.
Kamloops-North Thompson BC Conservative MLA Ward Stamer/via Conservative Party of BC
This includes now ex-Councillor Rob Kerslake and former Mayor Bill Humphreys, who served from 2011 to 2014, but did not contest the 2018 election.
That election saw Ward Stamer take over in the mayor’s office from then-mayor Virginia Smith, who decided not to run for another term that year.
Stamer was acclaimed the following election in 2022.
Four people are running to fill the Council seat vacated by Kerslake, who had to resign his position to run for Mayor.
They include Alan Fortin, who spent two terms on Barriere Council before missing out on a 3rd term by just three votes 2022.
Steve Boylan moved to Barriere three years ago from the Lower Mainland and is taking his first crack at Barriere Council.
Brody Mosdell, the youngest of those running at 35, is a first-time candidate.
The other is Robert George, who — at 92-years old — is hoping to get back into local politics after helping establish the Pender Island Conservancy Association in the early 1990’s.
There were 1,528 eligible voters in Barriere during the last municipal election in 2022.
Of them, 557 voted, which is 36.5%.
That was well-above the average of just over 29% turnout province-wide in the last municipal elections.
The main voting day in the District of Barriere is on March 1st.
