Thank You, Central Saanich
I am writing at 1:17 in the morning, and I know I will have more to say later. For now, I wanted to get something out there for when the sun comes up.
I am so honoured by the trust that so many people in Central Saanich have placed in me. I am deeply grateful, and I am hopeful about what we can build together.
Tonight’s preliminary results show me elected Mayor with 3,616 votes, in a close race with Pat Bryant, who received 3,257.
I want to thank Pat and his team for running a good campaign and for putting forward their ideas for our community. Elections ask a great deal of candidates, their families and volunteers, and I appreciate the work they put into this one.
I also want to recognize everyone who put their name forward for Council and School Trustee, including those who were not elected. Running for public office takes courage, time and a willingness to put yourself out there. Our community is better when people are prepared to do that.
We will also have several new faces around the Council table. I look forward to the fresh ideas and energy that a new Council will bring, along with the experience of those returning. It will also be the first Council with a majority of women since I was first elected in 2002, which is wonderful to see.
For me, this result is both an honour and a responsibility.
Throughout this campaign I have talked about being available, listening, and working with people rather than simply for them. That does not end with an election.
I will work every day to be accessible, to listen carefully, to ask questions, and to work with Council and with people throughout Central Saanich.
Thank you to everyone who voted, everyone who volunteered, everyone who opened a door, came to a coffee conversation, asked a difficult question, offered an idea, or simply took part. I am so honoured, so grateful, and so hopeful for what we can build together.
Gardens, Food, and support for Farming
My interest in local food goes back to my early years on Council. I supported community garden initiatives and a local fruit-harvesting group whose volunteers picked surplus fruit from people’s yards so it could be put to use rather than wasted.
In 2026, I brought forward a motion to connect the Keating redevelopment process with a possible food hub that could provide processing, storage and other practical infrastructure for local producers.
The common thread for me is that protecting farmland is not enough by itself. If we want farming to remain viable in Central Saanich, we also have to support the people, organizations and infrastructure that allow food to be grown, processed, stored and sold here.
We also need to get fully behind the Peninsula and Area Agricultural Commission.
PAAC exists to advise Central Saanich and other municipalities on agricultural matters and to help advance the Saanich Peninsula Agricultural Strategy. Its objectives include improving farm economics, supporting farmland stewardship, strengthening the agricultural land base and building public support for farming. Central Saanich
Our own Official Community Plan, on page 38, says Central Saanich should “continue to support and seek input from” PAAC on farm-related matters. Central Saanich
Yet in recent years Council has spent time considering whether Central Saanich should withdraw from PAAC and, as recently as 2026, questions remained about how the commission would be supported. Central Saanich
I have tried to prevent PAAC from being held back. I think the next Council should remove the barriers, provide the support it needs, and enthusiastically support a strong and active PAAC.
Protecting agricultural land is important. So is making sure the people who actually know farming have a strong voice in the decisions that affect it.
My Answers to the Times Colonist's 2026 Candidate Questionnaire
Zeb King - Central Saanich mayor candidate 2026
Zeb King
Municipality where you are running: Central Saanich
Position you are running for: Mayor
Are you associated with or running as part of a slate? If so, which one?
No
Do you live in the municipality where you are running, and if so, for how long? If not, in which municipality do you live? What is your connection to the community where you are running?
Yes. I am a third-generation Central Saanich resident. My family has deep roots here, and Central Saanich has been home for most of my life. Apart from periods away, including time teaching English in South Korea, I have lived and worked in this community for decades.
My connection is both personal and public. My family is here, this is the community I grew up in, and I have had the privilege of serving Central Saanich residents on Council for more than 20 years.
What is your job/profession, and for how long?
I am a doctoral candidate at Royal Roads University, studying political and community organizing, with a focus on how stronger relationships and community participation can strengthen democracy.
Previously, I worked as a policy analyst with the B.C. Ministry of Health for 13 years.
Tell us about your previous elected and/or community experience.
21 years on Central Saanich council
I have served 21 years on Central Saanich Council, first elected in 2002, including serving as Acting Mayor. I have represented Central Saanich on the Greater Victoria Public Library Board, the CRD Regional Water Supply Commission, the Peninsula Water Commission, the Peninsula Wastewater Commission, the CRD Solid Waste Advisory Committee, and the Victoria Family Court and Youth Justice Committee.
In 2022, I brought forward a motion for Central Saanich to seek grant funding to develop an Age-Friendly Community Plan. Council supported the motion, the municipality received the grant, and I later had the privilege of chairing the committee that developed the plan.
I have also served as Council liaison to the Central Saanich Senior Citizens’ Association, as an alternate representative on the Saanich Peninsula Accessibility Advisory Committee, and on other local and regional committees over the years, including Central Saanich’s Heritage Commission.
If you have previously held office: What have you accomplished that you’re proud of, and how much did it cost the municipality?
Council works collectively, so no individual councillor can take sole credit for an accomplishment. But I am proud of several initiatives I brought forward or helped lead over my 21 years on Council.
One was the sidewalk on Stelly’s Cross Road near Tsartlip First Nation. I went door to door talking with residents, worked to build community support, met with Tsartlip Chief and Council, and advocated for the project at Council. The project became a collaborative effort between Central Saanich and Tsartlip, with outside grant funding pursued to help pay for it. The sidewalk was completed in 2019.
I also advocated for bringing public transit into local First Nations communities, restoring the recording of individual councilor’svotes in the public record, and increasing transparency through video recording of Council meetings.
The costs varied. The sidewalk was a capital project involving outside funding as well as municipal participation. Other changes, such as recording how councillors voted, involved little or no additional municipal cost.
If you have previously held office: What do you wish the municipality had not done under your watch?
I wish Council had not expropriated the Hovey Road property and proceeded with the current municipal hall redevelopment plan. I opposed the expropriation and have voted against key decisions advancing the project.
The municipality budgeted $4.69 million for the Hovey Road land acquisition, with additional legal and related costs that have not been publicly disclosed. The current construction budget for the new facility is $64 million. I believe Council should have considered less costly alternatives and involved the public more fully before committing the municipality to a project of this scale.
Why are you running? What is your motivation?
I am running because I believe my 21 years of municipal experience can provide Central Saanich with informed, experienced leadership at an important time for our community. I know the community, the issues, the history behind many of the decisions before us, and how local government works in practice.
I want to use that experience to strengthen openness and transparency in our local government and make sure residents have a meaningful voice in shaping the community where they live.
During that time, I have had the opportunity to serve with four mayors and have learned a great deal from each of them. I want to carry those lessons and that experience forward as mayor, while bringing my own approach to leadership: listening to people, involving them in decisions, and being open about how those decisions are made.
What would you bring to council?
I would bring proven experience in municipal government. After 21 years on Council, I have a public record of decisions and votes that residents can examine for themselves. They do not have to judge me only by what I say during an election campaign; they can see how I have voted and what I have stood for over time.
I also bring a deep understanding of how a seven-member Council works. A mayor cannot govern alone. Leadership means listening, building support, finding common ground among independently elected councillors, and helping Council move forward together.
In your opinion, what are the three most important challenges facing your community?
1. Managing major financial commitments responsibly. Council’s decision to proceed with a $64-million municipal facility represents one of the largest capital commitments in the municipality’s history and will have implications for future financial priorities. The next Council will need to determine the most responsible way forward while protecting the municipality’s ability to fund other priorities.
2. Managing growth while protecting the character of Central Saanich. We need to accommodate growth and housing in the right places without losing the farmland, natural areas, village character and rural feel that make Central Saanich the community we know and love.
3. Renewing our aging infrastructure while keeping taxes affordable. We need to replace aging sewer and water lines while continuing to invest in the everyday infrastructure residents rely on, including safe sidewalks, roads, crosswalks and adequate parking. The challenge is planning and paying for that work responsibly without placing an unreasonable burden on taxpayers.
What’s your vision for your community in 10 years?
I see strong, walkable village centres with homes, shops and services close together, supported by renewed infrastructure, good roads, sidewalks, transit and adequate parking. Growth should be focused within our Urban Containment Boundary, strengthening the places we already have while protecting the farmland, natural areas and rural character that define us.
I see Keating thriving as a centre for local business, employment and innovation. I also want it to support our agricultural economy, including a local food hub where farmers and food producers can process and add value to products grown and raised here. That would keep more of the economic value in our community while strengthening local food security.
Most of all, I want Central Saanich to embrace change without losing the character, landscape and sense of community that make it distinctive.
In 10 years, I want us to have embraced change without losing the farmland, village centres, natural environment and sense of community that make Central Saanich distinctive.
What is one “big idea” you have for your community?
My big idea is to give residents a greater role in shaping the decisions that affect their community. I would like Central Saanich to move further along the IAP2 public participation spectrum, from simply consulting residents toward greater collaboration and, where appropriate, giving residents more influence over how solutions are developed.
Before the election, I brought forward a motion asking staff to explore what that could look like and provide Council with options. Council referred that question to the next Council.
The goal is not to turn every decision into a referendum. It is to find practical ways for residents to play a more meaningful role in shaping important decisions. On some significant community issues, that might include citizens’ assemblies or other forms of deliberative public participation.
I want more opportunities for residents to help shape major proposals before the options are largely settled. My big idea is to involve people earlier, when their input can have the greatest effect.
If elected, how will you balance your goals with fiscal responsibility?
First and foremost, we need to work our way through the financial situation created by the expropriation of the Hovey Road property and the proposed new municipal hall. There is an old saying that when you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging. In practical terms, that means being very cautious about adding further major commitments until the new Council has reviewed where we are, what our options are, and what can still be changed.
With a fresh set of ideas at the Council table, I believe we can find a responsible way forward.
Fiscal responsibility also means setting priorities. We need to make sure we can afford the things a municipality must provide, including addressing our aging water and sewer infrastructure, roads, sidewalks and other basic services, before taking on projects that would place an unreasonable burden on taxpayers or crowd out higher-priority needs.
For major projects, Council should look at the full lifecycle cost, including construction, financing, operating, maintenance and future renewal costs, as well as the impact of debt on future budgets and taxes, available alternatives, and opportunities for outside funding before making a commitment.
Are you in favour of increased development or densification in your community? How would you balance the need for more housing, as mandated by the province for some areas, with local concerns?
I support development and new housing. The question is where it should go and what kind of housing we are building. Central Saanich has an Official Community Plan that sets out where growth should take place, and I believe Council should treat that plan as the community’s primary guide and listen carefully to residents when changes are proposed.
I support growth within our Urban Containment Boundary, particularly where it strengthens our existing village centres. But simply building more expensive housing does not necessarily provide homes that people can afford. I would like to see more genuinely affordable housing, including co-op housing that can remain affordable over the long term.
Central Saanich has already shown that it can accommodate significant new housing. Where the Province mandates additional growth, it also has a responsibility to help municipalities pay for the infrastructure needed to support it. More homes mean additional demands on water, sewer, roads, sidewalks, parks and other municipal services. Existing property taxpayers should not be expected to carry an unreasonable share of those costs.
We can provide more housing while protecting our agricultural land, rural areas and the character of established neighbourhoods. The key is planning growth carefully, putting it in the right places, and involving the community in those decisions.
Governing is hard. How do you make decisions when the answers aren’t clear?
When the answer isn’t clear, I start by listening. I go door to door and talk with people rather than simply expecting them to come to me. I want to hear from the people affected, consider different perspectives, ask questions of staff, and understand the evidence, the options and the broader consequences before me.
Ultimately, you have to go back to your principles. If you don’t, it can be easy to follow the emerging consensus rather than exercise your own independent judgment. There are times when independent judgment means voting differently from everyone else.
I also believe there is wisdom in bringing different people and perspectives together. Good discussion can change other people’s minds, and it can change mine. If someone makes a better argument or brings forward evidence I had not considered, I am willing to change my view.
After 21 years on Council, I have learned that there isn’t always a perfect answer and reasonable people can reach different conclusions. My values have to guide me even when a decision is difficult. I make the best decision I can, explain why I made it, take responsibility for my vote, and acknowledge when I was wrong and change direction when the evidence or a better argument warrants it.
Public Participation in Practice
I remember the first time I really noticed the smell.
I was driving along the highway through Central Saanich when a heavy, rotten odour came into the car. It was hard to ignore. For people living nearby, though, this was not something they encountered for a few minutes while passing through. It was part of daily life.
By 2013, the frustration was intense.
At the town hall meeting, people described what that meant. One resident said, “You can’t eat properly, your food doesn’t taste right, your clothes smell.”
Another said she was speaking out of “my frustration and my nervousness” and asked, “Okay, now what?”
Someone else said, “I felt like I got kicked in the teeth.”
People talked about health. They talked about their homes and property values. The issue itself was complicated. Central Saanich was involved, the CRD was involved, health authorities were involved, and there were questions about who had the authority to do what.
What I remember from that period is watching people begin to find one another. Residents were comparing information. Someone had spoken with the health authority. Others had met with their MLA or written provincial ministers. People brought names of scientists and environmental engineers into the conversation. One person knew something that somebody else did not.
Council agreed to hold the town hall, and I chaired it (see video below).
As the evening went on, the discussion changed. People were not only describing what was wrong. They were offering contacts, information and ideas.
At one point I said, “There’s a lot of wisdom in this room.”
There really was.
I could see relationships forming around the problem. An individual concern was becoming something shared. People who had arrived with their own experiences were beginning to see what they knew collectively.
Near the end of the meeting, the conversation turned to democracy. I talked about representative democracy and a more direct democratic process, and about people taking greater control over an issue affecting their own community.
Someone called out, “You join us.”
I have thought about that exchange since.
Council still had work to do. We had decisions to make, powers to use and responsibilities we could not hand off to anyone else.
But I was also seeing another kind of leadership in that room. People were developing relationships, sharing what they knew and becoming more capable of acting together.
That experience is part of why I later became so interested in community organizing and in the idea of leadership as enabling people to achieve a collective purpose.
I still see that need in Central Saanich today.
We have important decisions ahead of us about growth, infrastructure, agriculture, our environment, and the kind of community we want Central Saanich to remain.
If you share this view of leadership and public participation, come and talk with me. Bring someone else who cares about an issue too. My Friday coffee is at the Emporium Café from 3:30pm to 5:00pm.
Come with a concern, an idea or a question.
A Conversation with Bill Collins on Radio Sidney
I really enjoyed sitting down with Bill Collins of Radio Sidney for a conversation about Central Saanich and the mayoral election underway.
We started by talking about my return from South Korea in 2002, when I moved back into my grandparents' home, began my master's degree, got married and ran for Council for the first time.
From there, we talked about some of the decisions facing Central Saanich, including the proposed municipal hall, development, infrastructure, housing, recreation and how residents can have a greater say in local decisions.
But I also want to say something about Radio Sidney itself.
At a time when local print media coverage is diminishing, I think what Radio Sidney is doing is fabulous. Local radio offers another place for people to hear about what's happening in their communities, ask questions and get to know the people making decisions on their behalf.
I believe in what Radio Sidney is doing, and I'd love to see it continue to grow.
In fact, if I'm elected Mayor, I'd like to make regular visits to Radio Sidney to report on what's happening at Council, discuss decisions and issues facing our community, and answer questions. I think this could be an exciting way to keep the conversation going between elections, not just during them.
For now, here's my conversation with Bill. I hope you'll give it a listen. https://soundcloud.com/user-595262273/zeb-king-central-saanich
Thank you, Bill, and everyone involved with Radio Sidney, for your commitment to our communities and for creating another space for local voices to be heard.
Bravo, Radio Sidney!
Who Voted Which Way?
(Clipping of a 2011 article in The Tyee)
When I returned to Council in 2011, one of the things I wanted to restore was something pretty basic: people should be able to see how their councillors voted.
The previous Council had changed the procedure bylaw so that the minutes no longer routinely recorded movers, seconders, or how individual councillors voted. Someone reading the minutes could see whether a motion carried or failed, but not necessarily who supported it.
I thought residents should be able to see who supported a decision and who did not.
During the 2011 election, The Tyee interviewed me about it and I thought, it is crucial for residents to know how councillors voted on things in order to ensure accountabilty.
I was elected again that November and kept pushing for more openness in how Council did its business.
It may seem like a small procedural thing, but I have always thought it matters. If we make decisions in public, people should be able to see who voted for what.
Small Things Add Up
Not everything I’ve worked on at Council has been a big policy debate.
Some of the things I’m happiest to see are much more ordinary: a sidewalk where there wasn’t one, a safer crossing, a better bus stop, or a trail connection that makes it easier to walk somewhere.
Over the years I’ve pushed for pedestrian safety improvements around Stelly’s Cross Road and Mt. Newton, better transit access, and safer connections between neighbourhoods.
These things matter because Central Saanich has changed. There is more traffic, more development, and more pressure on roads that were not designed with pedestrians in mind.
We need more sidewalks and more safe places for people to walk.
That will be one of my primary objectives if I am elected Mayor.
It is not flashy work. But if you are walking your child to school, trying to get to a bus stop, or simply trying to cross the road safely, it matters.
Thanksgiving Thoughts
Thanksgiving is a good time to remember how much of Central Saanich runs on volunteers, goodwill, and people who keep saying, “I can help with that.”
I think of the volunteers with Peninsula Streams, the people who worked to preserve the old schoolhouse, put on Music in the Park, and those with the Saanich Inlet Protection Society. I think of the Central Saanich Seniors’ Centre, which my grandmother helped start, and all the people who have kept it going since. I think of the volunteers who made the community garden such a success, and Farmlands Trust, where people grow food and give it to soup kitchens and others who need it.
There are many more.
Municipal government gets attention, but much of what makes a community work happens because somebody says, “let’s make this happen.” Then they discover that this may involve a meeting, a shovel, a grant application, some folding tables, and more time than expected.
Central Saanich’s motto is “The Land of Plenty.” Thanksgiving seems like a good time to think about that too.
We are lucky to live in a place with rich farmland and people who produce food here. So I am also thankful for our farmers, for the food they grow, and for the abundance around us.
There is a lot to be thankful for in Central Saanich.
From Early EV Advocacy to a Community Strategy
This photo is from December 2018, with Mayor Ryan Windsor, Norm Doerksen, and me, during a period when Central Saanich was starting to take electric vehicles and charging infrastructure much more seriously.
I had already been pushing the issue for a few years.
In July 2016, I brought forward a Notice of Motion asking Central Saanich to explore a Level 3 fast charging station, potentially as a public amenity connected with new development.
By February 2018, Council had directed staff to look at a community-wide EV charging strategy, including charging infrastructure in new developments and incentives for retrofitting existing buildings. The District’s later EV and E-Bike Strategy records that direction. Central Saanich EV and E-Bike Strategy Central Saanich
Around that time, I was also pushing for EV-ready infrastructure in multi-unit buildings, an electric vehicle in the municipal fleet, and better public charging.
The work kept moving.
By 2019, Central Saanich had added electric vehicles to the municipal fleet, introduced Modo carsharing with an EV, and installed more charging infrastructure.
In 2020, Mayor Ryan Windsor, Councillor Chris Graham and I jointly brought forward a Notice of Motion called “Accelerating Transportation Electrification — A Select Committee for 2020.”
We proposed creating a short-term committee so that people from the community and people with expertise in electric vehicles could help shape the District’s emerging strategy.
That committee was established. The District later described the strategy as being developed in consultation with the EV and E-Bike Strategy Committee, made up of residents and people with expertise in the field. Central Saanich climate action page Let's Talk, Central Saanich
The strategy that emerged included more than 30 actions, including more public charging and EV-ready requirements for new construction. By the end of 2020, the District reported that those new-development charging requirements had already been adopted. Central Saanich 2020 Year in Review Central Saanich
This is another good example of how municipal concepts turn into reality. They start with an idea, other councillors eventually join the effort, residents and experts contribute and staff put together the detailed work.
PNR article from 2018: https://peninsulanewsreview.com/2018/02/12/more-car-chargers-are-in-the-works-for-central-saanich/
Protecting the Right to Speak Up
(Zeb speaking to delegates of the UBCM regarding his Anti-SLAPP resolution)
One of the things I have cared about for a long time is making sure people can participate in public debate without being intimidated into silence.
In 2017, I brought forward a resolution through Central Saanich calling for stronger protection against Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, or SLAPPs.
These are lawsuits that can be used to discourage people, community groups, journalists and even local governments from speaking out on matters of public interest.
Our resolution went to the Union of BC Municipalities. Because it was a late resolution, I first had to stand up and make the case for why delegates should even agree to consider it.
Then I got to advocate for it before representatives from municipalities across British Columbia.
I loved that part of it. You make your case, people debate it, and then everyone votes.
We got it passed.
That was important because a resolution from me, one councillor, became a council resolution at the UBCM and had now become a position endorsed by municipalities from across British Columbia. UBCM records the Central Saanich resolution as endorsed in 2017.
After the vote, I also spoke briefly with the Attorney General about it. He thanked me for the anti-SLAPP resolution and said legislation would be on the government's agenda. The Province later introduced the Protection of Public Participation Act.
The Act passed and received Royal Assent on March 25, 2019. It created a process allowing courts to dismiss proceedings that arise from expression on matters of public interest unless the person bringing the case can meet the tests set out in the law, including showing substantial merit and sufficiently serious harm. BCLaws
I like this example because it shows what can start at a municipal Council table.
You can start with an issue in your own community, persuade your Council, take it to municipalities across the province, and help add another voice to a movement that eventually changes the law.
For me, the principle behind it is still pretty simple: people should be able to speak up about public issues without being frightened into silence or bullied into toeing a line.
UBCM resolution: Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation