Mike Cave seeking to serve on Quesnel Council again

 

Mike Cave, who previously served on Quesnel City Council from December 2008-November 2014, is looking to get back on Quesnel City Council this October...

He goes over what he hopes to accomplish, if elected, with My Cariboo Now -- click here

Mr. Cave is the first councillor candidate, either incumbent or challenger, to announce their intentions to run for Quesnel City Council for this October's local election in Quesnel.  Meanwhile -- no mayoral challengers to incumbent Quesnel Mayor Ron Paull so far for Quesnel's Mayor Chair... 

The formal candidate nomination period gets underway from September 1-11, 2026 with General Voting Day to elect a new Quesnel Mayor + 6 City Councillors to occur on Saturday, October 17, 2026 

60 Days to 2026 Cariboo-Chilcotin Local Government or Board of Education Elections

Today marks 60 days until the voters' in Wells, Quesnel, Williams Lake, 100 Mile House and rural voters outside Wells, Quesnel, Williams Lake, 100 Mile House elect new Electoral Area Directors, School Trustees, Mayors and Councillors for the 2026-2030 Term on Saturday, October 17th, 2026

As of this writing -- those seeking re-election: 

1) Quesnel Mayor Ron Paull

2) Williams Lake Mayor Surinderpal Rathor

3) 100 Mile House Mayor Maureen Pinkney

4) Williams Lake City Councillor Micheal Moses 

5) Cariboo Regional District Area "D" Director Steve Forseth

6) Cariboo Regional District Area "F" Director Maureen LeBourdais 

As of this writing -- those NOT seeking re-election: 

1) Wells Mayor Ed Coleman 

2) Williams Lake City Councillor Angie Delainey

3) Williams Lake City Councillor Joan Flaspohler 

4) Williams Lake City Councillor Jazmyn Lyons

Meanwhile -- Councillors in the Districts' of Wells and 100 Mile House; Councillors in the City of Quesnel, School Trustees for School Districts #27 (Cariboo-Chilcotin) and #28 (Quesnel), Cariboo RD Area Directors for Areas A,B,C,E,G,H,I,J,K,L and Williams Lake City Councillors Scott Nelson and Sheila Boehm have not publicly declared their intentions for the local general elections in October while Billie Sheridan and Dr. Rafiullah Sahibzada have publicly declared their intentions to run for a seat on Williams Lake City Council; Rocky Nenka has publicly declared running for Mayor of Wells as well as former Cariboo RD Area "B" Director Heloise Dixon-Warren (2011-2014) has publicly declared her intention to seek the Cariboo RD Electoral Area "B" Director position in the October 2026 Cariboo Regional District Local General Election

If you had any questions about the Cariboo-Chilcotin 2026 Local Elections process, you can head over to the following websites 

1) District of Wells - website here 

2) City of Quesnel - website here

3) City of Williams Lake - website here

4) District of 100 Mile House - website here

5) Cariboo Regional District - website here

6) School District #28 (Quesnel) - website here

7) School District #27 (Cariboo-Chilcotin) - website here

8) Elections BC/2026 Local Elections -- website here

9) Explanation of the role of an Electoral Area Director (courtesy of current Columbia Shuswap RD Area "F" Director Jay Simpson but written in the context of serving on the Columbia Shuswap RD Board in mind but generally applicable to the 27 Regional Districts' in BC) -- click here

10) 2026 BC Local Government Local General Election Candidate Lists (Mayor, Councillor, Electoral Area Director or School Trustee and to be populated starting September 1, 2026) -- click here

2026 Nomination Packages for Mayors, Councillors, Electoral Area Directors'  are now available for pick-up by either incumbent or prospective candidates at the offices of Cities of Quesnel/Williams Lake, Districts' of Wells/100 Mile House and Cariboo Regional District offices in Quesnel, Williams Lake and 100 Mile House or available for download on their websites

While candidate nomination packages from School District #27 and #28 offices in Quesnel/Williams Lake for either incumbent or prospective candidates are expected to be available by the end of August 2026

The formal nomination period to return completed nomination packages is Tuesday, September 1st at 9am to Friday, September 11th, 2026 at 4pm sharp! excluding weekends.  Chief Election Officers for Cariboo-Chilcotin Local Governments' or Boards' of Education are legally prevented from receiving fully completed nomination packages before September 1st, 2026 and after September 11th, 2026 

General Voting Day to elect new Mayors, Councillors, Electoral Area Directors' and School Trustees for a new term of 2026-2030 is set for Saturday, October 17, 2026

Wells Mayor Ed Coleman won't seek re-election in October 2026

Courtesy of My Cariboo Now:

Ed Coleman is retiring from politics and will not be running for Mayor of Wells in October of 2026

“Just ready for it. I’ve enjoyed being in local politics, but 7 years with Quesnel and 5 with Wells, it’s time to switch back to, I have a company that I used to work in so I’m just going to shift back to that, but I’ll see everything through my term.”

Coleman says he feels the Council has accomplished quite a bit during his time.

“The bigger ones is our waste water system, we’ve got it stabilized, and we know what the longer term investment is going to look like with the province. It’s 5 million dollars work done there and another 32 to complete it in the future. The Lowhee Berm to prevent flooding, that’s a 10 million dollar project, so we’re 90% through that project again with government support, our water plant got a million dollar upgrade so water is properly treated now and everything is safe there. We’ve got a really good start on refurbishing our community building, which the school is in, the 1942 school building, and we’ve had excellent support on that project. We got the outdoor rink completed, and then we’ve been working hard on negotiations with Osisko Development on the implementation of the mine. It’s a very complicated project that is right smack in the middle of a small community, so that process has been a lot of work.”

Coleman says they have also worked with West Fraser Timber on the wildfire interface and doing lots of work with them.

He says another highlight was just reorganizing the organization as a whole so that they were staffed properly, and they now have the right to-do lists and they’ve got a financially stable organization.

Coleman says he is also proud of the 150-year charter that the District signed with the Lhtako Dene Nation that guarantees that the two governments will work together for several generations to come.

In terms of challenges, he says it was all about building up trust levels.

“When you get a community that is struggling with all of its deferred infrastructure and the security of basic services, you know proper snow removal, all those kind of things, and just the autonomy with COVID and things like that, it’s mainly just trying to pull up the trust levels. One you get your trust levels up then things move along, they start moving, and the province, they were just 100% supportive. They sent up a liaison to help me out in the beginning when I was organizing stuff.”

Coleman feels he is leaving the District in good shape and there seems to be good interest in Wells for people wanting to come to the Council table.

He was first elected Mayor of Wells in February of 2022 during a by-election, and he was then re-elected in October of that year.

LGLA 2022 Annual Leadership Forum

As a current holder of the LGLA/Local Government Leadership Academy's Level 2 Advanced Certificate in Local Government Leadership -- I strongly encourage all BC Local Government Elected Officials to attend the 2022 LGLA Annual Leadership Forum entitled "Leadership Under Pressure: Reflections on An Extraordinary Term as leaders in BC Local Government should take the MO of Constant Learning to best serve your constituents

On the Agenda:

* Keynote Address -- Dr. Bonnie Henry: BC's Provincial Health Officer

* Status of Indigenous Realities in British Columbia

* Economic Recovery post COVID-19 in Small and Large Communities

* Navigating Social Media Conversation in Terse Public Engagement Climate

* Impacts of Climate Change

* What did I learn this term (2018-2022) to make me a better leader?

* Updates from BC Liberals/BC Greens as well as from BC's Municipal Affairs Minister - Hon. Josie Osborne

The event will be in person and demonstration of full COVID-19 vaccination status will be required.  Full Agenda and other related information can be accessed here

After no in-person events for 2 years due to the COVID-19 Pandemic -- it will be good to re-connect with my fellow BC Local Government Elected Officials in-person!