The election of Debra Toporowski as MLA will force a byelection on North Cowichan council, with the winner playing a pivotal role in the future of the municipality.

Toporowski won the provincial riding of Cowichan Valley for the NDP on Saturday night in a close race with Conservative John Koury.

Preliminary results from Elections BC put Toporowski at 11,423 votes compared with 10,699 for Koury.

Green candidate Cammy Lockwood took 5,599 votes compared with 335 for independent socialist Eden Haythornthwaite and 256 for unaffiliated Jon Coleman (formerly of BC United).

Toporowski was first elected to North Cowichan council in 2018 and re-elected in 2022. As deputy mayor, she formed a voting block with Mayor Rob Douglas and councillor Christopher Justice.

Chris Istace — a former provincial Green candidate, elected to council in 2022 — typically sides with that three-person voting block to carry a slim majority on council.

On the other side of the ledger, councillors Bruce Findlay and Tek Manhas consistently support development applications, including those that do not conform with the new Official Community Plan. Councillor Mike Caljouw often, but not always, votes with them.

All three have also expressed support for continued logging of the Municipal Forest Reserve despite the fact that 76-per-cent of the public voiced support last year for a conservation vision for the reserve. A parallel consultation with First Nations continues.

Douglas said in an interview Sunday that a byelection would likely be held in early 2025. “There will be a period of time where the six of us will have to make decisions as a group.”

He agreed it will be a pivotal byelection, with the future of the Official Community Plan, approved in 2022, at stake.

“It will definitely be critical,” Douglas said. “We’ve put a lot of work in the last term into developing the Official Community Plan and mapping out our priorities as a municipality.

“Whoever wins the seat in that byelection could support continuing on in that direction or move in an entirely new direction.

“I certainly don’t want to spend the rest of my term here as mayor…re-doing the work of the previous council.

“A 4-3 majority could definitely do away with the document or change it in such a way that it becomes so watered down it loses any real meaning.”

Douglas added: “Whoever wins the seat, it’s also important to have a person who can work together as a group, regardless of our different individual beliefs.”

Koury’s loss to Toporowski on Saturday represents his sixth election defeat over the past 20 years, including:

— Two defeats as a federal Conservative candidate, in 2004 and 2011.

— Three defeats at North Cowichan council, including two for the mayoralty, in 2014 and 2022, and one for councillor, in 2018.

Koury was elected to council twice, in 2008 and 2011.

Subscribe free to sixmountains.ca. More than 57,000 unique visitors.

— Larry Pynn, Oct 20, 2024