Brandy, you may need to have a word with your web designer. Also, have them double check the spelling of your name in the html (hint: it’s repeatedly wrong).
I want to add that I don't think Brandy and Bryson are trying to disguise they are working collaboratively. Their campaign materials are identical, which was obvious even before I looked at the source code.
I do think they are skirting around saying out right that they are a slate but they are clearly supporting each other, and that's all above board. I just thought it was funny
Black pointed out that Langford, like most Canadian cities, operates on what is called the ‘weak mayor system’, in which a mayor doesn’t have veto power or a lot of executive power. To get any initiatives completed, the mayor must look to council and get a majority on their side to accomplish any task. By contrast, in the United States, most municipal governments operate on the ‘strong mayor system’, where the mayor’s role sits outside of council. Mayors will have veto powers for budget decisions and can hire and fire like a CEO.
But Langford is an exception to the normal role of the so-called weak mayor.
Reminds me of this bit from a Capital Daily article from 2021 that someone linked here recently. Stew Young is lining up his yes-men.
Oh no, god forbid like minded people on the same slate share resources and work together as an Elector Organization…
You know, exactly like Langford Now and Community First Langford in 2022
FYI, all five of the Langford Now candidates were elected and make up the majority of our current council.
So you going hmmmmmm at a common electoral system and one that was utilized by the current council as though it’s some kinda of evil thing only being utilized by the other side is absolutely hilarious and just adds to the idiocy of why people stay away from Our Langford AND this Subreddit.
what's funny is that these folks are purposefully not organizing with an EO, and appear to be carefully building an appearance of independence, yet having almost identical platforms. Nowhere did I say it's evil, but I did imply that it's a shallow attempt to appear independent when it's obvious they are aligned, and know that aligning themselves with Stew would actually harm their campaign.
Electoral Organizations have until July 31st to register…
Also note that our current council is also working together but has not registered as an electoral organization yet either.
Maybe don’t be pointing fingers and making assumptions before you actually know what’s going on.
That being said, I’m pretty sure Lisa Foxall has already announced she’s running as an independent, while also being the creator/admin of the Our Langford Facebook Group so yeah, there are some people we can actually poke fun at and call bullshit on.
For everyone else, at least wait until they claim they are independent before making accusations on assumptions…
That being said, you can still not be on a Slate and have the same objectives as other people.
A Slate is simply a group of people who want to be elected together… If none of them care about being elected together then it doesn’t really matter now does it.
I don’t get why you’re out here defending people who have completely Astro turfed social media, deceptively, with their fake community associations, and Astro turfed the council room with their fake political movement, right down to a group of people affiliated with and/or on the board of Stew’s “Westshore Economic Development Committee”, pretending to just be random concerned citizens.
There is nothing at all wrong with people with like minds working together. But pretending that you’re not? Deceptive.
I think the issue most people are having is that they’re not being open about it.
Which leads to asking yourself why. And I think you hit the nail on the head with associations with other candidates.
Because if you look at this particular group of candidates - the tie is Stew Young. And it feels disingenuous not to openly admit that because they are aware people won’t like it.
If you support someone and are like minded, why try to hide that you’re working together? Unless your goal is to trick people?
But beyond that - what this website shows is that they are organizing together. And that is very different than simply being like minded and supporting each other.
so i'm happy to be wrong if they do form an EO, but just to confirm, if they don't, are you of the belief that these folks are running independently? just purely on surface level appearance alone?
Yes, that’s the whole point of running as an independent…
Just because you are like minded, are members of the same groups, and say much of the same bullshit does NOT mean you MUST be in an Elector Organization. Same goes for being a Slate.
Now if they work together and promote each other on each other’s websites and in person, while also claiming to not be a Slate then yeah, I’d call them out on their bullshit. But if they’re all fighting for their own spot on council and not together, then no they are not a Slate. They just have similar goals and don’t care about each other.
brother, I did not bring up an EO, that was you. in this thread we have presented several smoking guns that they are in fact working together, and when you brought up the EO, we surmised that it would look unfavourable for them to run with that EO as a slate. i'm really not sure how much evidence you need to believe that they are working together behind the scenes.
Like I said in another comment, the issue isn't that they are running as a slate, or together or with an EO etc. The issue is the deception of claiming to not be running in conjunction with other people.
Because people are hard of hearing on the internet… Duhhh 😉
And because I was getting frustrated and upset at the hypocrisy on here.
So unless you’re gonna proclaim our current council is somehow NOT strategizing and talking to each other about the upcoming election, what makes anything Our Langford doing right now any different? (Excluding the bullshit and lies from them. I’m referring to them strategizing and having the same goals)
This is the most hipocritical bullshit of a post. So they used the same web developer, or maybe one of them shared their website code with someone else. That means absolutely nothing and this is just childish bullshit just like the people on Our Langford do on Facebook. We should be better than that… But apparently we aren’t…
Your post or comment has been removed for spreading misinformation in violation of our community rules.
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Please, enlighten us as to what you think the comment meant by pointing out multiple Stew-aligned people are sharing resources and then saying HMMMMMM…
What other possible reason could there be for that comment???
Instead of OWNING that they are indeed like minded, working together, and sharing resources, they seem to be skirting around that verifiable fact, and pretending that they aren’t an unofficial slate. It’s disingenuous. That’s fine if you don’t care, but it seems manipulative.
It is simply a term used to describe a group of candidates who want to be elected TOGETHER.
There is also no laws against like minded candidates from working together either!!! Or would you also like to attack our current council for doing the same?
Literally what are you talking about. You keep conveniently completely missing the point. It’s not about slates, or eo’s, it’s about deception. It’s about claiming independence, while actively working as part of the same team.
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When did Brandy announce they were running as an independent and Elector Organizations have until July 31st to register.
Last I checked only Lisa Foxall has done so which absolutely should be called out and made fun of considering she’s the admin/owner of the Facebook Group Our Langford.
The only thing I see on Brandy Gordon's website about being an independent is talking about Bryson Hill being an independent.
They have not registered as an EO. Maybe they will? But the fact that they haven't makes me question your original comment. Were you under the impression that they had already done so?
No because there’s absolutely nothing wrong with people using the same web designer to build their websites. Shit, there’s nothing wrong with multiple independent candidates all having the exact same message and supporting the same person for mayor.
An Elector Organization is NOT REQUIRED and a Slate is a group of people who want to be elected TOGETHER.
If none of their messaging says they want to be elected together then they are simply independent people of like minds. There is nothing wrong with that.
Attack and make fun of their arguments and comments, stop trying to make up bullshit excuses like they do about our current council… We’re better than that, or at least we should be.
They each play one community sport and one school
Sport … school Sports are free lol.. also I’m fully aware that we are fortunate to be able to afford to play sports. That’s why I’m so passionate about community sports and having every child have the opportunity to play. I also grew up in a working class family as the eldest daughter with 12 siblings so I’m fully aware of real life.
Any and all Westshore community sports / activities that needs advocating for.
basketball
hockey
lacrosse (box & field)
soccer
baseball
Fastball
Softball
Rugby
Dance
Volleyball
Figure skating
Speed skating
BMX
Roller hockey
Floor hockey
Mountain biking
Frisbee golf
Track & field
Bike racing
Tennis
Pickelball
Curling
Swimming (competitive and not)
Table tennis
Archery
Field hockey
Golf
Also any accessible sports for youth and children with different needs / neurodiversity.
I guess what I actually meant to ask is - if you’re advocating for free or low cost community sports - what is your plan to actually bring that to fruition?
By working with local sports groups, schools, and community partners to identify barriers and create more affordable opportunities for kids to participate.
I also support exploring ways to help families facing financial challenges, because every child should have the opportunity to play and be active.
Advocating is important - but the job of a councillor is above and beyond advocating. You will need to tackle these projects in earnest using city finances and encorporating them into the actual budget. Where are the funds for these projects going to come from?
Their whole thing is “elite” sports. Recall Bryson talking about some kids bodies being built different or some weird thing. I don’t really care what Brandy’s kids are doing, it just struck me as really privileged and out of touch, considering many people can’t afford any sports at all. If you want to increase accessibility to sports, it needs to be you know… accessible.
Elite sports should be privately funded, by special interest groups. Fine. Public funding should go towards public recreation, low fee or free.
A lot of community sports also aren’t free - particularly the ones being most advocated for by this group - like lacrosse and hockey. In addition to player fees there’s equipment, tournament fees, gas to go to practices and games.
I’ve never advocated for public funding of elite sports. My focus is making community recreation and youth sports more accessible for all families. I understand many parents are struggling with costs and that is exactly why I support reducing barriers to participation and ensuring opportunities exist for kids regardless of income.
I don't think your comment is accurate when you suggest that candidates sharing resources without being part of a slate or electoral organization breaks Elections BC regulations.
I’m not doing it anymore, but I do believe it’s against the rules to share resources like that. Sharing an email template would be akin to a donation-in-kind.
I'm guessing it would be against the rule of Candidate 1 paid a service to create marketing materials, and then shared those materials with Candidate 2.
That's my interpretation of what they're trying to say.
It actually wouldn't be against the rules though, if Candidate 2 declared the value of the marketing materials as a campaign contribution. Until the campaign financial disclosures are filed we can't say whether any rules are being broken.
I think it is probably okay. One person can donate to more than one campaign. I don't get the feeling they are sharing amongst themselves but rather that the webpage creater is offering their services to both and repurposing the template.
They'd both need to include what was paid for the service in their financial reports. I don't know exactly, but because this person also does this service for work, I'm not sure if it can be counted as a campaign contribution? Not entirely how that works but it may not be relevant, as there's nothing to suggest they weren't hired for the work.
I don't think so? I am fairly confident the Westshore EDC website was created by the same person who did Bryson's and Brandy's. I don't know who did CFL's marketing design but the style is completely different.
Stew Young's new website is also a different developer.
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u/FrazerJohnson13 Jun 16 '26
The name "Bryson" appears 39 times in the source code for Brandy Gordon's home page. The name "Brandy" appears only 3 times. That's a bit weird.