Basran the progressive he defeated 4 years ago

Mayor Colin Basran must surely hope all the people who didn’t like him four years ago now regard him as the lesser of two evils. More than 10,500 people voted against Basran in 2014, casting their ballot instead for Sharon Shepherd.

Then, Shepherd was seen by many as the progressive choice, the one not beholden to business interests. Why, she was so principled and pure, she wouldn’t even take a penny from developers for her campaign!

Basran happily scooped up money for all who offered, and was even proud of collecting almost $75,000 in contributions. But he didn’t win because he outspent Shepherd almost three to one; plenty of people have spent small fortunes on council runs and not even come close to getting elected.

Basran fairly easily won the 2014 election, with 57 per cent of the vote overall, because he presented a youthful, dynamic and, yes, pro-business image.

Centre and right-leaning voters associated Shepherd with a time of stagnation and silliness at City Hall. (Remember the long and earnest discussions about allowing people to keep chickens in their backyard?)

The big question for Basran heading into tomorrow’s civic election is how many of the nearly 17,000 voters who backed him four years he can hold on to in the face of a strong right-wing challenge from Tom Dyas.

Dyas has been energetically thumping the lawand-order drumbeat, practically portraying downtown as a crime-ridden, no-go zone. It’s hyperbole for sure, but the city’s own most recent survey showed 20 per cent of Kelowna residents thought the downtown was unsafe.

That startlingly high percentage was always going to be fertile ground for anyone to come at Basran from his right flank. He just never thought it would be one of his former best friends.

If Basran loses a big chunk of his 2014 supporters, and not enough of those who voted for Shepherd come over to his side — or, even worse, they take a pass on voting altogether — he could be in trouble.

Which is why he’s been portraying himself as the balanced, sensible, progressive option to Dyas. But it’s not just electioneering. It’s also the truth.

Like any smallish but growing city, Kelowna is one of contrasts. There’s great wealth alongside homelessness, and annoying levels of property crime in a community we are still proud to show our visitors.

While Dyas has been making hay about public disorder, which is reasonable for a candidate to do, the solutions he offers are thin and unpersuasive. The city under Basran has already added significant numbers of police, bylaw officers and private security guards, and he can’t fairly be accused of being soft on crime.

It’s unreasonable to expect a municipality to solve issues like poverty, mental-health challenges and homelessness on its own. But the city is doing what it can, by working with the province, to provide affordable and low-barrier housing and to give people the support that might turn their lives around.

At the same time, building permits are running at record levels, so it’s not like city hall is not welcoming to investment. Despite its challenges, Kelowna is still seen as a good place to live, work and invest.

A 16 per cent municipal tax increase since 2014 is unfortunate, but blame for the outsize increase hangs as much on other current council members as it does on Basran. Though they will never admit it publicly, councillors simply calculate that people are OK with tax hikes roughly double the inflation rate.

If Basran’s political career survives a near-death experience tomorrow, perhaps on the taxation issue, at least, he’ll be scared straight in his future thinking.

On more than one occasion during the past four years, Basran has remarked in council deliberations that he knows a decision he’s about to make will disappoint some of his friends. Most famously, perhaps, it was voting with the majority of council to turn down developer Rene Wasylyk’s ambitious plans for a huge new neighbourhood on hills south of the city dump.

But he would have been as bad a mayor as his critics suggest if he’d just rolled over for his friends and those who made substantial donations to his campaign back in 2014.

Instead, he seems to genuinely consider the bigger picture and cast a vote for what he believes to be the greater good. If that’s sown some ill will and cost him a few relationships, those numbers should be easily offset by those who regard Kelowna as a safe, inclusive and forward-thinking city.

Ron Seymour is a Daily Courier reporter. Telephone: 250-470-0750. Email: ron.seymour@ok.bc.ca.