A sizeable majority of voters agreed with us, and Positively Forward’s preferred candidates — Gary Holman and Robin Jenkinson for Islands Trust, and Brian Webster for CRD Director — each won their seats by an impressive margin. We are delighted and relieved that the results are what we believe to be in the best interests of our fair island.

Many thanks to all our supporters and friends for your help in reaching out to your networks, writing letters about these candidates, and defending us on social media. All these things were essential (more on that below). To our joy, word of mouth is still very effective.

For the record, the vote count, from the October 21st Driftwood was as follows:

Islands Trust Local Trust Committee (LTC)

  • Robin Jenkinson 1,978 (a vote on 49.2% of ballots)
  • Gary Holman 1,881 (46.8%)
  • Bryan Young 1,543 votes (38.4%)
  • Ethan Wilding 1,294 (32.2 %)
  • Eric March 827 (20.6%)

Capital Regional District (CRD) Director

  • Brian Webster 2,227 (a vote on 55.4% of ballots)
  • Jennifer Lannan 827 (20.6%)
  • Jesse Jule 790 (19.7%)

A total of 4,034 ballots were cast. With 10,372 registered voters, Salt Spring’s voter turnout rate was 38.9%.

Who will be joining Robin and Gary at Trust Council? An important question, given the impasse of the previous Council and the requests already going to the new provincial Conservative government to eliminate the Islands Trust.

From the Islands Trust website (* indicates new Trustees who have never held an elected office):

Gabriola: Bob Andrew; Tobi Elliott
Mayne: Janine Dodds; David Maude
Saturna: Paul Brent; Lee Middleton
Galiano: Lisa Gauvreau; Ben Mabberley
North Pender: Brenna Mongeon*; Niall Parker*
Denman: Sam Borthwick; Noah Ross*
Hornby: April Lewis*; Jeffrey Rabena*
Thetis: Ken Hunter; David Reay*
Lasqueti: Timothy Peterson; JS McIntosh-Fash*
Gambier: Drew Roots*; Joe Bernardo
South Pender: Benjamin McConchie; John Kuharchuk*
Bowen Island: Andrew Leonard; Judith Gedye

Mud-Slinging and The Trolls

Despite repeated social media claims to the contrary, Positively Forward is a respected organisation with a ten-year track record of providing accurate information about local government issues. Our website contains a wealth of information about how our local government works and how it can be improved. It also lists the names of our core group of organizers and how to contact us.

For the 2026 Local Elections, Positively Forward registered with Elections BC as a Third Party Election Advertiser. The rules for Third Party Advertisers are clearly defined. We were not permitted to collaborate with, or provide financial support to, candidates. Elections BC also imposed a spending limit of $924.28, thus limiting our purchase of paid advertising. We are pleased to report that our Treasurer has already filed our final accounting Disclosure Statement with Elections BC, and it has been accepted.

Looking forward, we expect to see persistent and stronger existential attacks on the Trust. We count on your ongoing support in our defence of the integrity of the Trust governance.

To end on a happy note, we continue to be inspired by Robin’s archipelager Substack articles, especially the observation that 75% of Canadians want to protect nature.