FWIW, a few thoughts for progressive voters on results in the civic election yesterday.

I was glad that participation was up, way up... a 29% increase since 2022! Increased participation is happening in other communities too. As we are seeing in the US, democracy is like a muscle that atrophies if we don’t use it (because apathy leaves space for extremists to take over and corrupt it).

But it’s still only about 30% of eligible voters, and from what I could see when I voted, no where near enough young people! I think this is partly because of the ‘entrance price’ (a lot of research!) of figuring out who these candidates really are on issues important to us. I see the same thing in other FV subreddits, like Chilliwack. Democracies can’t work without lots of fact-based conversation, and I think we had some good discussions going here. Without a robust local press, we all have to share ‘intelligence’ better and Reddit’s one place we can do that.

So Ross Siemens got back in as mayor and trounced his competitors. To me, he was the obvious best pick of the options. He’s had enough experience on Council to at least know how local government works. He was credible because he wasn’t promising the moon, rule waivers, and goodies that seem way beyond the range of local government, like the other two candidates who showed up to debate (Dhami, Mahil). Siemens didn’t sound like he wants to ditch long-range planning to favour business buddies. He is not xenophobic. (For me, Pellikaan was not even a contender, thanks to his YouTube rants.)

Thanks to all of us showing up to vote, we’ve increased gender balance on City Council... We’ll now have four men and four women (not including mayor -- there were no female candidates). This includes three younger ‘Abbotsford Voice’ women (Carmen Fast Hollet, Kristy Mills, and incumbent Patricia Driessen) as (one of my picks) Patricia Ross. I would’ve liked to have seen more political and cultural/ethnic diversity on Council, but the elected council members at least show evidence of financial literacy, long records of community service, and some respect for process and civic dialogue.

As a result of our voting, school trustees seem to have shifted towards greater inclusivity. It’s really good to see Arsh Kaler, Rhonda Pauls, and Freddy Latham (all among my and others’ progressive picks) get in. Hopefully they can counter and/or work with some of the anti-LGBTQ voices like Nyvall, Rauch (and possibly Coghill?) to help ensure that schools (at the very least) don’t marginalize or demonize LGBTQ people. It’s also great that a majority -- 4 out of 7 elected school trustees -- are women now, which I don’t think has happened since 2014. Obviously that’s no guarantee of better decisions, but it at least brings perspectives of the 50% of humans who have been under-represented in politics historically.

Maybe MORE important right now is who didn’t get in... By voting progressive, we helped keep out:

• a candidate who’s been in local politics for 50+ years (time to hand over the reins!)
• a Council candidate who reportedly has a Trump doll
• an ‘Abbotsford Conservatives’ mayoral candidate that supported the Freedumb convoy in Ottawa, sounds like an anti-vaxxer
• a close assistant to our Conservative (do-nothing-but-fear-mongering, voter- and press-avoiding, trump-admiring, nepo-hire) Conservative MP Sukhman Gill... some background: https://www.reddit.com/r/abbotsford/comments/1k7cko4/mike_de_jong_issues_public_challenge_to_sukhman/
• a climate/racism-illiterate MAGA-lover Council candidate who refers on Facebook to his married friends’ “shitty wives”
• some members of religions that are actively preaching anti-LGBT messages
• some candidates who showed contempt for voters by not showing up to debates or barely campaigning at all
• some candidates who seemed to bring extremely thin or non-existent records of community service
• a candidate with a published obituary

So, in a very conservative-leaning city, I think we did good. Wins are often made in increments rather than high-profile battles, before snowballing into something bigger. So I think we gotta stay tuned and get involved where possible.

Anyway, I’d love to read others’ takes on the results of this election.

Hi guys!

I’ve seen discussion in this sub Reddit regarding the best late night study spots in Abby. I’ve seen alot of people comment that they like studying at Denny’s because it’s 24 hours, which sounds great to me with midterms coming up but I have a random question. Does anyone ever find it too dark to study at either Abby Denny’s location at night? I’m someone who really needs decently bright lights to focus, and I don’t want to go to Denny’s if it’s too dark in there once the sun goes down. Sorry for the random and super specific question hahaha, just gauging my options!

Bought two tickets for today at 7pm for the Maan Farm Halloween night. Caught a bad flu and can’t go.

Don’t want them going to waste. I paid $240, selling $100 for the pair.

Thanks!

I know its early, but does anyone know of any maps or routes for holiday light displays in Abbotsford, Aldergrove, Langley or Chilliwack? My family loves lights so looking to plan out a few evenings to go and enjoy the lights

FV Insider presented itself as an unbiased, non-partisan Instagram page covering the election. The results were announced last night, and as of this morning, still no results post.

How does a page dedicated to election coverage leave out the actual outcome?

Looking at which candidates were reposted most often, it’s fair to ask who runs the account and whether they have any campaign connections. That doesn’t prove who’s behind it, but transparency matters when you’re presenting yourself as an impartial news source.

The results deserve the same attention as the campaign, regardless of who won.

Average age at the polling station just now was 65-80. Please please please, if you want things to start moving in our favour we HAVE to take the vote out of the hands of boomers.

Mayor: Ross Siemens

Council:

Dave Sidhu

Patricia Driessen

Les Barkman

Kristy Mills

Patricia Ross

Carmen Hollett

Amrik Narang

Rick Thiessen

School Trustee:

Arsh Kaler

Tanya Coghill

Eric Nyvall

Shannon Rose

Rhonda Pauls

Mike Rauch

Freddy Latham

Get out and vote. You can do municipal and provincial in one day!

Hi folks,

I have a 22 year-old cat who needs a spa day. Until recently she'd been fine with cleaning herself, but her arthritis is getting to the point where she can't bend like she used to.

She does not bite or scratch, but she is really wiggly and I don't want to hurt her.

Also she's not afraid of water per say, but she's definitely not used to it. (unless she wants to drink some from the tap, then she won't shut up)

Does anyone have any recommendations for groomers who are good with cats? Preferably that don't cost an arm and a leg?

Thanks!

just saw the city has a map that shows locations and approximate times, not sure how accurate it is.

https://abbotsford.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/interactivelegend/index.html?appid=eb72f9b022ef4cf8ba0021d0b8d1f3e2

Hello, I was wondering if anyone could recommend a good seamstress. I have a boxing gloves on one of which the Velcro is failing. I was hoping to get that fixed instead of having to buy a new pair of gloves.

Here is my full center-to-liberal strategic ballot for the Abbotsford Municipal Election today. Thoughts?

Mayor (Vote for 1)

Ross Siemens (Incumbent)

City Councillors (Vote for up to 8)

1. Patricia Ross (Incumbent) - Heavy focus on environmental protection and green infrastructure.

2. Jeremy Klix - Strong champion for green spaces and active transit.

3. Rupi Kanda-Rajwan - Focused on diversity, community social equity, and inclusion.

4. Dao Tran - Balanced, community-first moderate independent.

5. Joel Madsen - Focuses on local community infrastructure and public services.

6. Dave Sidhu (Incumbent) - Practical, community-focused moderate independent.

7. Jasmit Phulka - Independent community candidate focusing on recreation and youth safety.

8. Thomas Votik - Grassroots independent blocking out the hyper-conservative slates.

School Board Trustees (Vote for up to 7)

*Full clean sweep of the labor-backed, pro-inclusion, public education ticket to completely block the conservative slates:*

1. Graeme Hutchison (Progressive / Former BC NDP Candidate)

2. Shannon Rose (Labor Endorsed / Former DPAC Chair)

3. Peggy Antifaeff (Pro-Inclusion / Public Education Expert)

4. Raj Patara (Labor Endorsed / Pro-Public Infrastructure)

5. Freddy Latham (Inclusive Schools / Arts & Culture Advocate)

6. Benjamin Mehrer (Youth Mental Health & Social Work Background)

7. Rhonda Pauls (Labor Endorsed / Ethical Public Education)

Who are you voting for council and trustee? There’s soooooo many having a hard time wading through them all.

Hey Yall I’m a registered nurse and I will be voting BC Greens in the upcoming election for a variety of reasons and I suggest others to consider their campaign. They are the least corrupt and you cannot expect an unethical or corrupt party to care about the working class when it really matters and uphold the values they claim. Furthermore, they will not privatize healthcare and support BC nurses in their ratios and funding. They will also not raise taxes of individuals who are still part of the working class who are already being taxed significantly (I make 100K on paper but 53K after taxes and deductions a year;2.2K biweekly) They will create long term sustainable solutions instead of short term bandaid solutions that cost more money in the long term. Ebys government created a deficit and now wants our taxes to pay for it. The conservatives are corrupt and will throw the working class people under the bus for their own benefit.

Who’s door dashing? Who’s making money?
I’ve heard in large cities people quit their jobs to deliver full time bur we aren’t a large condensed city.