ROTHENBURGER – The mayor holds on but who’s waiting in the wings?

THE RESIGNATION of Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson is going over, as we used to say, like a lead balloon. Or, as some might say these days, like a bucket of farts.

It took all of about three minutes after the eight councillors had voted to ask for his resignation for the mayor to say no, he wasn’t planning to resign. (After Henry Braun had delivered his report, which was followed by the motion, a break was called, at which point I asked the mayor the obvious question, and he immediately rejected the idea. Which was to be expected.)

Response to an ArmchairMayor.ca poll on the question, as of this writing, is solidly in favour of Hamer-Jackson staying in the job. Online polls like this one are certainly not scientific but it’s interesting to see the results.

RHJ also told me recently he’s thinking in terms of running for a second term. Nevertheless, speculation inevitably emerges about who would want to succeed him if he was to resign or simply not run again — or even if he does run again. Such speculation connects directly to the Bill Sarai question.

Sarai, of course, wants to be the NDP candidate in Kamloops Centre in the upcoming provincial election. He doesn’t even have the party’s nomination lined up yet, and if he does get it he still must accomplish the task of knocking off BC United’s Peter Milobar.

But he if did do that, a byelection would be needed, and that’s where mayoral hopefuls could step in, using the councillor’s seat as a stepping stone to the next civic election for mayor.

Former councillor Dieter Dudy, one of the candidates Hamer-Jackson defeated in 2022, attended the reading of the Braun report at Tuesday’s committee of the whole meeting. Dudy has said publicly he’d like to get back on council if an opportunity arises.

An opportunity will arise in October 2026 when there’s another civic election, but his use of the word “opportunity” suggests his name would be on the ballot should there be a byelection before then.

Whether he would then contest the mayoralty in 2026 remains to be seen but he’s tried for it twice before and may figure third time lucky.

Former mayor and former B.C. cabinet minister Terry Lake also came by City Hall on Braun Report day. He’s been making public comments a lot lately on political matters but he laughed it off when I asked him if he’s thinking of a return to politics.

However, at 67, he’s at the age to be thinking of retirement from his job as CEO of the B.C. Care Providers Association, and he’s a guy who has politics in his blood. You might remember that after leaving provincial politics he couldn’t stay away and ran as a Liberal federally.

Arjun Singh has also got to be on the list of possibilities, even though he’s trying to downplay it. After Braun delivered his report this week, Arjun posted that “I am enjoying non-elected life and am right now leaning strongly to the view that that part of my life is now happily over.”

Maybe, but he’s another one of these folks who loves politics. After he was defeated for a second term as councillor, he waited for the next election and made a comeback. Having then lost out on his dream job as mayor, will he be able to resist another try? Maybe for councillor at first, and maybe in a byelection if there is one.

In contemplating possible mayoral candidates for 2026, we must, of course, also cast an eye to the current crop of councillors, and two names come readily to mind. Mike O’Reilly considered a run for mayor in 2022 but opted for council instead. Circumstances may be different next time.

Coun. Katie Neustaeter is assumed to be interested in bigger things politically, and if nothing opens up at the provincial level could set her sights on the mayor’s job.

And, just for fun, let’s paint one more scenario. Milobar is somehow defeated this fall, can’t resist a chance to return to his old stomping grounds at City Hall, runs in the byelection and then contests for mayor in 2026.

In addition to these possibilities, there are numerous others in the community with name recognition who might consider it, and probably a fair number of unknowns. All in all, even this early in the game the slate of mayoralty candidates in the next election is shaping up to be a big one.

Meantime, Coun. Margot Middleton’s motion to ask for Hamer-Jackson’s resignation has drawn further attention in the past couple of days because it was scripted. She acknowledges that she had it written and ready to go but says she didn’t make a final decision to actually make the motion until the Braun report was delivered.

It makes sense that if the report had been critical of councillors, the motion wouldn’t have been viable. As it is, with the mayor making it clear he won’t resign, the question remains of whether the motion will be forwarded to a regular council meeting for rubber stamping, as would normally be the case.

Or, maybe just dropped, since it’s going to be ignored. Otherwise, the only purpose would be to try to further embarrass the mayor.

Mel Rothenburger is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor.  He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.