After being denied a recount following the Saanich municipal election on Oct. 15, Rishi Sharma is adamant that more transparency is needed from the electoral district of Saanich.
Sharma has worked in public service for 21 years and has been a Saanich resident for his whole life. He ran in the most recent municipal election for Saanich council but lost by a narrow margin of eleven votes to his opponent Teale Phelps Bondaroff.
He faced a large amount of resistance when advocating for a recount from both the electoral district of Saanich and his opponent, Phelps Bondaroff. “The district came out hard, with a lawyer, and they’re supposed to be neutral,” said Sharma. “Teale Phelps Bondaroff had his own lawyer, who was saying the same things as the Saanich lawyer… for Teale Phelps Bondaroff to fight a recount, it seems odd for a candidate to do that”
“[The district] should have come forward and said what the name of the machines were and what the margin of error is for the judge, but they didn’t do that,” said Sharma, “so at the end of it, the judge said that there could be a margin of error, but without information or evidence on the machines… she couldn’t call for a recount.”
Representatives from the District of Saanich electoral committee declined to speak for an interview. However, chief election officer Angila Bains released a statement on Oct. 25 on the recount, saying “The district of Saanich would like to thank all candidates for their participation and officially congratulate our new mayor and council as they embark on this next term.”
This also raised concerns for Sharma about how difficult a recount is to pursue in Saanich. “In Saanich, there is a bylaw that was enacted where there will not be a recount unless you go to a judge. You have to have the funds and means to get a judicial recount, which could stop the recount right there for others,” said Sharma. “I just kept thinking about those who wouldn’t have the means to go to the judge in the first place. What if it was a margin of two votes, and it was a young student who just couldn’t afford it?”
There is much about the way politics are conducted in Saanich that Sharma wants to reform. He is passionate about the lack of diversity in the Saanich municipal council, as it is not representative of the diversity present in Saanich’s population. The Saanich labour union which endorses candidates, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), has no visible minorities. Sharma hoped to meet with the union to change this, however he was turned down.
Sharma remains optimistic about change in Saanich and has ambitious goals for his future in politics. He wants to run for public office again and intends on raising awareness on the issues of transparency to get more people to get out and vote.
“That makes me want to run again, to highlight all of the lack of transparency and generate a whole new group of individuals to come out and vote, because this is what’s happening, and people don’t know,” said Sharma.