At the all-candidates meeting Sunday at Duncan United Church, North Cowichan candidates were asked the following question: "Do you consider yourself running on a slate?"

The candidates raised their paddles to indicate NO as their answer — which immediately prompted chuckles from the audience and some candidates.

True, there are no formal slates on council.

But incumbent councillors Tek Manhas, Bruce Findlay, Mike Caljouw and Becky Hogg have aligned themselves on many major issues.

The four have voted time and again to amend the Official Community Plan and expand the Urban Containment Boundary to accommodate developments over the strong warnings of professional staff.

They voted to make renewed logging of the Municipal Forest Reserve a strategic priority in 2026, but later backed off after Hogg changed her mind in response to the concerns of Halalt Chief James Thomas.

They voted to proceed with processing an application for a rural Hidden Hills residential development despite the deputy fire chief warning that the project posed a “grave” fire risk to the forest reserve.

Which brings us to the municipal election and whether another alliance is in the works.

At an earlier all-candidates meeting in Chemainus, incumbent councillor Christopher Justice used his last minute at the microphone to recognize four new and lesser-known council candidates — Valerie Russell, Krystal Adams, Derek Masselink and Don Allingham.

“I know Don and Derek through their excellent contributions to our new agriculture and food security strategic plan. I’ve gotten to know Valerie and Krystal through this campaign and I’ve been so impressed by these two strong and very bright women.

“All four bring very different ideas and perspectives to the table.”

Manhas replied to Justice's remarks by saying: "I'm not part of a slate. As I think we just heard, there's a slate happening...."

Russell told the Duncan audience: "There's been a lot of comments made on-line about us being part of a slate. But we're not a slate. We're a bunch of strangers who share a concern for our community and our environment. Sharing values is not a conspiracy. It's a movement."

Elections BC has told Six Mountains: “The term ‘slate’ is not defined by the Local Elections Campaign Financing Act. It can be used to refer to a group of independent candidates that share election expenses together, or a group of candidates endorsed by an elector organization (civic political party). There are campaign financing requirements in both circumstances. Candidates must report shared election expenses in their campaign financing report. Elector organizations share an expense limit with their endorsed candidates and file their own campaign financing report as well. Candidates may share some, none or all of their expense limit with their elector organization.”

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The next North Cowichan all-candidates meeting is October 7 at Crofton Community Centre, starting at 7 pm, sponsored by the Crofton Community Centre Society.

Links to videos of previous all-candidates meetings:

— September 19: Quamichan Lake Neighbourhood Association, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeCmNuvOIv8

— September 22: Maple Bay Community Association, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQRzOx0AChA

— October 1: Chemainus Residents Association, https://chemainusresidents.ca/news/

— October 4: COAP, https://www.facebook.com/groups/1178291022238186/posts/28571922435781675/

North Cowichan will hold advance polls from 8 am to 8 pm on October 7 and October 13 at Municipal Hall, 7030 Trans-Canada Highway.

Election day is October 17.

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— Larry Pynn, Oct. 6, 2026