While the relaunch of AHSA is focused right now on our upcoming Salmon Arm local elections, there’ll always be a potpourri of local and regional posts. The Tabs at the top (the look of AHSA) as well as the content of posts will shift after these important local elections.
General Election Day is on October 17th 2026. There’re only weeks left until the official nomination period (Sept 1st – 11th) to formally register as candidate.
I’ve posted a series of tips to help get ready for leadership on the Salmon Arm council. You can easily access all those posts by clicking on Tips in the Category Cloud in the far right column 👉
It’s a legitimate & typical Q that most councillor candidates ask about … and the answer is it depends – and likely varies with who you ask! For me, for the city, it’s *usually* 15 – 20 hours per week incl. scheduled council meetings, chairing of assigned committees, touching base with residents and prep beforehand for all of that. The analogy of a rookie politico getting up-to-speed on key files being similar to trying to drink from a fire hose is more than apt. Reading & consulting on background aspects is full-on time consuming at the start. It’ll likely take a year or so for this initial phase. The time commitments didn’t change that much for me even after I managed to get a handle on core files. The hours simply transferred to more fully understanding other key issues of interest or emerging importance. The hours do change a titch depending on the time of year as well. They rarely go down. Budget deliberation time incl. prep often takes days – and that’s amidst all of the regularly scheduled meetings.
The red highlights are direct city-based meetings, inservice or input sessions. The green are my regional district commitments and the orange is mainly related to meetings with individuals. The different months are a good snapshot of my time spent.
So, Mondays are pretty well full-on afternoon council meetings (1pm for a few hours and sometimes 7pm for public hearings) or Planning time (8am- of varying length – usually 1 -2 hours). Mid-weeks for me are often touching base with staff, residents or prep’ing for other sessions. Your mileage may vary for sure but this is my typical weekly shift. Community events during the week and the weekends aren’t reflected here either.
I’ll update this list regularly as public statements are made – in order of date of announcement (as best as I can determine). The official confirmed list will be updated in mid-September. There are 6 positions on Salmon Arm council.
The nomination period to officially submit papers starts next week (Sept 1st – 11th). We’re likely to see a flurry of further announcements before the 11th. See https://timlavery.ca/2026/08/10/hx-of-candidates-for-salmon-arm-council/ for # of candidates who have run in our local elections since 2008.
Here’s the link for publicly announced Candidates for Salmon Arm Mayor https://timlavery.ca/2026/08/08/announced-candidates-for-salmon-arm-mayor/
Here’s the link for publicly announced Candidates for Salmon Arm’s two SD83 Trustee positions https://timlavery.ca/2026/08/08/announced-candidates-for-salmon-arms-school-district-83-trustee-seats/
There’s a corollary to Tip 6(a) Budget Decisions are the Key https://timlavery.ca/2026/06/24/6a-budgetary-decisions-are-a-starting-point/ that’s also about what the community and elected officials value. Rather than the aspirational wording of mission statements and campaign promises, budget line items reflect the actual oomf behind meeting (or starting to anyhow) those values & targets.
It’s still true that if it’s not in the annual budget it’s not going to get done. It’s also true that what’s of value needs to be budgeted for. If x,y or z is an espoused goal, it needs to be reflected in the budget.
The ecosystem of Aim High Salmon Arm includes this blog for longer form posts combined with this link to the AHSA FB page for short posts. Together they’ll be the core of a non-commercial hub for #SalmonArm & regional perspectives.
TIA too for forwarding both ecosystem links to any in your circle who might be interested.
… and for 2026? The charts below show historical numbers over our past 5 local elections. Note: The length of terms went from 3 years to four starting in 2014. I’m thinking we’ll be in 2011 or 2014 territory for council candidates but the next few weeks will certainly tell!
I’ll update this list regularly as public statements are made – in order of date of announcement (as best as I can determine). The official confirmed list will be updated in mid-September.
Here’s the link for publicly announced Candidates for Salmon Arm Council seats (6 positions) https://timlavery.ca/2026/08/08/announced-candidates-for-salmon-arm-council/
Here’s the link for publicly announced Candidates for Salmon Arm’s two SD83 Trustee positions https://timlavery.ca/2026/08/08/announced-candidates-for-salmon-arms-school-district-83-trustee-seats/
There are 2 trustee positions for Salmon Arm on SD #83’s five seat board. I’ll update this list regularly as public statements are made – in order of date of announcement (as best as I can determine). The official confirmed list will be updated in mid-September.
Here’s the link for publicly announced Candidates for Salmon Arm Mayor https://timlavery.ca/2026/08/08/announced-candidates-for-salmon-arm-mayor/
Here’s the link for publicly announced Candidates for Salmon Arm Council seats (6 positions) https://timlavery.ca/2026/08/08/announced-candidates-for-salmon-arm-council/
Aim High Salmon Arm 